Rusty Guinn

Rusty Guinn

Co-Founder and CEO

 @WRGuinn

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 plays guitar and drums on the worship team at his church in Connecticut, and dabbles in cooking, whisky, progressive rock and beating Ben at trivia.

Articles by Rusty:

Useful Idiots

By Rusty Guinn | February 7, 2024 | 20 Comments

Yes, Virginia, western news media are often useful idiots.

But let’s be real: so is Tucker Carlson.

Men of God in the City of Man, Part 9: Pathogenesis

By Rusty Guinn | January 29, 2024 | 152 Comments

A single virus can cause disease of the body in several ways at once.

A single Narrative can cause disease in society in several ways, too.

This is the story of a new disease from an old acquaintance.

Fiat News in the Fog of War

By Rusty Guinn | October 18, 2023 | 24 Comments

The obligation of the news media when major events are unfolding should be to act with more discretion and care, not less.

They failed at this most critical task this week. Utterly.

Men of God in the City of Man, Part 2: Carriers

By Rusty Guinn | August 31, 2023 | 152 Comments

Every virus needs carriers to spread. Even a narrative virus.

We can learn a lot from what they have in common.

Men of God in the City of Man, Part 1: Virus

By Rusty Guinn | August 25, 2023 | 152 Comments

This is a story about a virus and the gain-of-function research that produced it.

It’s not what you think.

Narrative Derangement Syndrome

By Rusty Guinn | August 22, 2023 | 22 Comments

Awareness of narrative is a necessary tool for the politically engaged citizen.

Up to a point.

If obliviousness to narrative is the easiest way to shut off our brains, narrative derangement syndrome is a close second. The citizen must be vigilant against both.

Men of God in the City of Man, Part 8: Zoonosis

By Rusty Guinn | July 17, 2023 | 152 Comments

Physical viruses sometimes jump from one species to another.

Narrative viruses sometimes jump from one culture to another.

All it takes is the right virus and a susceptible host.

Men of God in the City of Man, Pt. 7: Mutation

By Rusty Guinn | July 14, 2023 | 152 Comments

Narrative viruses are not immune to events in reality world – especially when we have made those narratives part of our identity.

And when a narrative becomes part of our identity, it changes what we need to be true.

Men of God in the City of Man, Pt. 6: Pandemic

By Rusty Guinn | July 12, 2023 | 152 Comments

Surprising outcomes in reality world that seem to confirm a narrative often produce explosive growth in its scale.

But also in its scope.

Men of God in the City of Man, Pt. 5: Epidemic

By Rusty Guinn | July 10, 2023 | 152 Comments

Men of God prophesied as early as 2007 that God would make Donald Trump the President of the United States.

Our narrative virus gave these predictions fertile ground to take root.