Bruce is Leppla Capital's Chairman, Founder and CIO. He's an economist, lawyer and national lecturer on the topic of financial literacy for numerous organizations, including the International Foundation of Employee Benefits and the National Conference on Public Pension Plans. Bruce contributes 5% of Leppla Capital revenues annually to the goal of improving financial literacy at low income area high schools. Leppla Capital, through its commitment to education, is dedicated to the essential, ongoing and collective effort by many to address and reduce U.S. income inequality and promote social justice.
From 1981-1999, Bruce participated in co-founding and thereafter served as CEO and President of Redwood Bank, a San Francisco-based commercial bank and trust company, which he grew into a substantial Bay Area bank and sold for 3.5x book value to a national bank. Bruce then built an insurance and employee benefits business, California Bankers’ Insurance Services. He sold his interest in the business to the California Bankers’ Association in 2002.
Bruce is a Partner at Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein LLP, one of the nation’s foremost plaintiffs’ litigation firms. He's regularly listed in Best Lawyers as one of the top 5% of U.S. lawyers, has received national awards in antitrust and securities law, and has been repeatedly selected by Lawdragon as one of the "Top 500 Lawyers in the nation -- many would say the world" -- in representing plaintiffs in financial fraud litigation. In 2004 Lawdragon named Bruce one of the Top 500 Global plaintiffs' lawyers. With his partners, he represents many of the nation’s largest private and public investment firms in recovering investment losses due to corporate misconduct. He's a member of the New York and California Bar Associations and the Editorial Board of Wall Street Lawyer.
Bruce holds 11 U.S. and international patents in technology, including a foundational patent in hybrid data indexing storage and retrieval as well as others in commercial product design. Bruce has been involved in the investment business for over 5 decades. Currently, for example, Leppla Capital manages one of Yale's many investment funds. Through the years Bruce has raised over $135 million for ventures in banking, real estate, finance and technology.
Bruce grew up in Oregon working in commercial fishing, and graduated magna cum laude with a B.A. in Economics from Yale University and a M.S. in Economics and J.D from U.C. Berkeley. He is a former member of the Yale Whiffenpoofs and the former Chairman of the San Francisco Chamber Singers. Bruce enjoys travel, fine dining, theater, singing, skiing, fly-fishing, surfing and golf.