Rusty Guinn

Rusty Guinn

Co-Founder and CEO

Rusty Guinn is co-Founder and CEO of Second Foundation Partners, LLC, and has been a contributing author to Epsilon Theory since 2017.

Before Ben and Rusty established Second Foundation, Rusty served in a variety of investment roles in several organizations. He managed and operated a $10+ billion investment business, led investment strategy for the second largest wealth management franchise in Houston, and sat on the management committee of the 6th largest public pension fund in the United States.

Most recently, Rusty was Executive Vice President over the retail and institutional asset management businesses at Salient Partners in Houston, Texas. There he oversaw the 5-year restructuring and transition of Salient’s $10 billion money management business from legacy fund-of-funds products to a dedicated real assets franchise.

He previously served as Director of Strategic Partnerships and Opportunistic Investments at the Teacher Retirement System of Texas, a $12 billion portfolio spanning public and private investments. Rusty also served as a portfolio manager for TRS’s externally managed global macro hedge fund and long-only equity portfolios. He led diligence, process development and the allocation of billions of dollars across a wide range of indirect and principal investments.

Rusty’s career also includes roles with de Guardiola Advisors, an investment bank serving the asset management industry, and Asset Management Finance, a specialized private equity investor in asset management companies.

He is a graduate of the Wharton School, and lives on a farm in Fairfield, Connecticut with wife Pam and sons Winston and Harry. He serves as a member of the Board of Directors of the Houston Youth Symphony, and with Pam has been a long-time supporter and founding Friend of the Houston Shakespeare Festival. He also serves as a member of the Easton Volunteer Fire Company in Easton, Connecticut. Rusty spends his free time smoking meat, working his apple orchard, enjoying whisky, badly butchering progressive rock drumming and jeopardizing long-term relationships through high-stakes board games.

Articles by Rusty:

The People are Revolting

By Rusty Guinn | December 5, 2018 | 10 Comments

Just because something is true doesn’t mean that it can’t also be transformed into a Meme. That is, in fact, the usual outcome when an idea encounters resistance. But this isn’t a path to truth.

Inside the Skinner Box

By Rusty Guinn | December 3, 2018 | 8 Comments

If you want to learn how you will be nudged in the future, look to the same places: Vegas and Video Games.

Fiat News Index – November 2018

By Rusty Guinn | December 1, 2018 | 6 Comments

In our November 2018 update to the Fiat News Index, we review some topics that media outlets are even happier than usual to tell us how to think about.

Central Bank Omnipotence Monitor – 11.30.2018

By Rusty Guinn | November 30, 2018 | Comments Off on Central Bank Omnipotence Monitor – 11.30.2018

Access this month’s monitor slides in Powerpoint and in PDF. Access the monitor values in Excel. While our slower smoothed measure has moved only slightly, our November point estimate…

Inflation Monitor – 11.30.2018

By Rusty Guinn | November 30, 2018 | Comments Off on Inflation Monitor – 11.30.2018

Access this month’s monitor slides in Powerpoint and in PDF. Access the monitor values in Excel. Attention to inflation narratives continued to wane in November as drumbeats for a…

US Fiscal Policy Monitor – 11.30.2018

By Rusty Guinn | November 30, 2018 | Comments Off on US Fiscal Policy Monitor – 11.30.2018

Access this month’s monitor slides in Powerpoint and in PDF. Access the monitor values in Excel. After the usual mid-term election Narrative chatter, the importance placed on fiscal…

Trade and Tariffs Monitor – 11.30.2018

By Rusty Guinn | November 30, 2018 | Comments Off on Trade and Tariffs Monitor – 11.30.2018

Access this month’s monitor slides in Powerpoint and in PDF. Access the monitor values in Excel. Thanks to a remarkably concentrated November point-in-time measure, our attention measure rose sharply. …

Credit Cycle Monitor – 11.30.2018

By Rusty Guinn | November 30, 2018 | Comments Off on Credit Cycle Monitor – 11.30.2018

Access this month’s monitor slides in Powerpoint and in PDF. Access the monitor values in Excel. Our single point attention measure rose from floor levels in…

FAQs and Guide to Narrative

By Rusty Guinn | November 29, 2018 | Comments Off on FAQs and Guide to Narrative

Some of our terminology, exhibits and analyses may not be immediately intuitive. We’ve assembled a short guide to help you familiarize yourself with the Epsilon Theory frameworks.

Even When I Lie

By Rusty Guinn | November 28, 2018 | 28 Comments

There are three reasons a person becomes a liar: he believes that he must, he believes that he may, or he believes it serves a Greater Truth.