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 Zeitgeist | 2.12.2019

By Rusty Guinn | February 12, 2019 | 0 Comments

Maine cashes in, investors cash out, stocks get a lift from trade hopes (version 28), the Brexit pantomime and a shadow over strawberry fields.

In the News | Week of 2.11.2019

By Rusty Guinn | February 11, 2019 | Comments Off on In the News | Week of 2.11.2019

Soft drinks, REITs, midstream companies, CROs and video games round out the start to the second half of earnings season.

The Zeitgeist | 2.11.2019

By Rusty Guinn | February 11, 2019 | 0 Comments

Why VC loves fintech for some reason, populist messages, “optimism over trade talks” take 25, and more popullsm.

Blast from the Past

By Rusty Guinn | February 9, 2019 | 10 Comments

What the rise and fall of baseball cards can and can’t tell us about bubbles and the turning of markets into utilities.

The Zeitgeist | 2.8.2019

By Rusty Guinn | February 8, 2019 | 1 Comment

Fawning Tesla press, coming storms, ESG and data, striking a balance between tasteful display of art collections and pay cuts at banks, and post-Yorkshire pudding walks.

The Zeitgeist | 2.7.2019

By Rusty Guinn | February 7, 2019 | 0 Comments

Today’s specials: Megadevelopments in Chicago, online grocery shopping, slowdowns at Apple, vagueness at Alphabet and Canadian weed.

The Zeitgeist | 2.6.2019

By Rusty Guinn | February 6, 2019 | 0 Comments

In today’s edition, it’s captain obvious takes on the ECB, is there anything active funds CAN do?, more Brexit and dead-cat bounces.

All Along the Watchtower

By Rusty Guinn | February 6, 2019 | 3 Comments

Trust in media is being debased from without and within. The Clear Eyed, Full-Hearted answer? Don’t pick and choose. Set yourself against both threats.

Credit Cycle Monitor – 1.31.2019

By Rusty Guinn | February 5, 2019 | Comments Off on Credit Cycle Monitor – 1.31.2019

Access this month’s monitor slides in Powerpoint and in PDF. Access the data in Excel. The attention on credit and credit cycles has increased slightly, but most of…

US Fiscal Policy Monitor – 1.31.2019

By Rusty Guinn | February 5, 2019 | Comments Off on US Fiscal Policy Monitor – 1.31.2019

Access this month’s monitor slides in Powerpoint and in PDF. Access the data in Excel. Attention to fiscal policy narratives has dramatically increased in January. The shutdown (and…