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:

The Stereogram

By Rusty Guinn | October 22, 2019 | 9 Comments

The NBA, Blizzard and others are in hot water after kowtowing to the Chinese government. America will have forgotten about both within weeks. But the awareness of just how long the CCP’s reach has become? That can’t be unseen.

ET Election Index (Candidates) – October 15, 2019

By Rusty Guinn | October 15, 2019 | 1 Comment

The 2020 Election Narrative is Identity. Through July, Bernie Sanders owned that narrative. That has changed. The on-narrative candidate is now Elizabeth Warren.

US Recession Monitor – 9.30.2019

By Rusty Guinn | October 10, 2019 | Comments Off on US Recession Monitor – 9.30.2019

Access the Powerpoint slides of this month’s ET Pro monitors here. Access the PDF version of the ET Pro monitor slides here. Access the underlying Excel data here.…

US Fiscal Policy Monitor – 9.30.2019

By Rusty Guinn | October 10, 2019 | Comments Off on US Fiscal Policy Monitor – 9.30.2019

Access the Powerpoint slides of this month’s ET Pro monitors here. Access the PDF version of the ET Pro monitor slides here. Access the underlying Excel data here.…

Trade and Tariffs Monitor – 9.30.2019

By Rusty Guinn | October 10, 2019 | Comments Off on Trade and Tariffs Monitor – 9.30.2019

Access the Powerpoint slides of this month’s ET Pro monitors here. Access the PDF version of the ET Pro monitor slides here. Access the underlying Excel data here.…

Central Bank Omnipotence Monitors – 9.30.2019

By Rusty Guinn | October 10, 2019 | Comments Off on Central Bank Omnipotence Monitors – 9.30.2019

Access the Powerpoint slides of this month’s ET Pro monitors here. Access the PDF version of the ET Pro monitor slides here. Access the underlying Excel data here.…

Inflation Monitor – 9.30.2019

By Rusty Guinn | October 10, 2019 | Comments Off on Inflation Monitor – 9.30.2019

Access the Powerpoint slides of this month’s ET Pro monitors here. Access the PDF version of the ET Pro monitor slides here. Access the underlying Excel data here.…

Politics Trump Economics Redux

By Rusty Guinn | September 23, 2019 | 4 Comments

It’s the most internally consistent Zeitgeist we have seen in 2019. And it just happens to be consistent with everything we’re reading in political / electoral news.

As Good Once As It Ever Was

By Rusty Guinn | September 20, 2019 | 2 Comments

What happens when profitless-growth-forever narratives start breaking?

We need a new drug.

Death in Slow Motion

By Rusty Guinn | September 19, 2019 | 4 Comments

The asset management industry has been dying a slow death for decades, but never seems to, you know, die.

Why?