Jeffrey A. Rutherford has been director of bands at James Wood High School since 1996. Originally from Fremont, Ohio, Mr. Rutherford began his music education in the Fremont City Schools System. Upon graduating from Fremont Ross High School in 1987, Mr. Rutherford attended Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, Ohio. He studied trombone performance with Dr. Paul Hunt and Mr. David Glasmire, and conducting and band methods with Mr. Mark S. Kelly, Dr. Jay C. Jackson, and Dr. T. Patrick “Pat” Talarico. Mr. Rutherford graduated from Bowling Green State University (BGSU) in 1991 with a Bachelor of Music Education degree with a performer’s endorsement in trombone performance. In 2005 he graduated from Shenandoah University with a master’s degree in music education.

Mr. Rutherford served as music instructor for grades K–12 in the Vanlue Local School District in Vanlue, Ohio. In Vanlue Mr. Rutherford was responsible for all of the music instruction, instrumental and vocal, for all of the students of the school district. After spending the 1991–1992 and 1992–1993 school years in Vanlue, Mr. Rutherford accepted a position as director of bands at Clyde High School in the Clyde-Green Springs Exempted Village School District. In Clyde, Mr. Rutherford was director of bands for the high school bands and elementary school bands and assistant director in the junior high school bands. Mr. Rutherford served the Clyde-Green Springs Schools from 1993 to 1996. In August, 1996, Mr. Rutherford began his tenure at James Wood High School (JWHS) in Frederick County, Virginia. Over the course of his time at JWHS his bands have received Excellent and Superior ratings on the field as well as the concert stage. His jazz, concert, and marching bands annually receive invitations to perform all over the East Coast. In 2004, Mr. Rutherford founded the Winchester Musical Ambassadors, a concert band derived from student and adult musicians in the Winchester, Virginia, community. The band rehearsed in the evenings during the 2004–2005 school year and presented a concert tour in Scotland, England, and France in June 2005, performing at Oxford University in Oxford, England, St. Swithuns School in Winchester, England, and The Conservatoire de Courbevoie in Paris, France. In 2011, Tthe JWHS Symphonic Wind Ensemble was invited to perform at Avery Fisher Hall at the Lincoln Center in New York City. Two years later, the ensemble performed by invitation at Chicago Symphony Hall in Chicago, Illinois.

As a musician, Mr. Rutherford has performed as a freelance tenor and bass trombonist in Ohio as well as the Washington, D.C., area since graduating from BGSU in 1991. He has performed with the Heidleburg College Brass Band, Belfontaine Community Band and Firelands Symphony Orchestra in Ohio. In the Washington, D.C., area, he has performed with the Loudoun Symphony, Rappahannock Pops Orchestra, Riverside Concert Band, Washington Symphony Orchestra and Loudoun County Community Band. As a member of the Washington Symphony, Mr. Rutherford had the honor of performing on the lawn of the Capitol Building on September 11, 2002, in honor of those who lost their lives in the September 2001 terrorist attacks. As a member of the orchestra he also has performed many concerts and receptions at various embassies on D.C.’s Embassy Row. After a short break in performing, Mr. Rutherford resumed performing during the summer as a member of the pit orchestra for the Shenandoah Summer Music Theater. The professional musical theatre performs musical productions throughout the summer each year at Shenandoah University in Winchester, Virginia. Shows have included Singin’ in the Rain, Fiddler on the Roof, Jesus Christ Superstar, The Producers, Hairspray, West Side Story, Showboat, Oklahoma!, Seussical, White Christmas, South Pacific, Curtains, Oliver, Legally Blonde The Musical, 9 to 5, Peter Pan, Les Misérables, Chicago, Crazy for You, and Shrek, The Musical. Mr. Rutherford was inducted into the Fremont Ross High School Music Hall of Fame in 2010.

Mr. Rutherford has professional affiliations with the Music Educators National Conference, The Virginia Music Education Association, The Virginia Band and Orchestra Director’s Association, The Ohio Music Education Association, The National Band Association, The U.S. Bands Association,  Youth Education in the Arts,  The American Concert Band Association, The InternationalTrombone Association, The World Association of School Marching Bands, and The World Association for Symphonic Bands and Wind Ensembles.