John Rutledge

John Rutledge was one of the principal architects of the Reagan economic plan in 1980-81 and has been an advisor to the Bush White House on both the dividend tax cut and rebuilding Iraq. Dr. Rutledge is the Chairman of the Rutledge Capital, a private equity investment firm that has invested more than $150 million in middle market manufacturing, distribution, and service companies and is a member of the Advisory Boards of B.V. Group, a venture capital, hedge fund, and real estate investment firm, and Saugatuck Capital, a private equity firm. He is also a board member of the Progress and Freedom Foundation and a senior fellow at the Pacific Research Institute. Dr. Rutledge has an active lecture practice, giving talks on global economics, financial markets, investment strategies, the impact of technology on the economy, and strategies for owning and growing the value of a business. After tours of duty in both academics and government policy, he has started, run, chaired, owned, and harvested dozens of companies, and has managed real money in both mutual funds and private equity. Dr. Rutledge served on the faculties of Tulane University and Claremont McKenna College, where he taught monetary economics, international finance, and econometrics. In 1978, Dr. Rutledge founded the Claremont Economics Institute, an economic advisory business in Claremont, California. He holds a BA from Lake Forest College and a PhD from the University of Virginia. He divides his time between Greenwich, Connecticut and Maui.