Russell G. Redenbaugh (born July 14, 1945) is an American investor, speaker, and author. He served on the United States Commission on Civil Rights from 1990 to 2005. Blind from the age of sixteen due to an accident which also cost him six of his fingers, he is one of only two known blind jiu jitsu black belts in the world. [1] [2] [3] Redenbaugh is a three-time world champion in jiu jitsu, fighting sighted opponents. [4] [5] Redenbaugh is a recipient of the Louis Braille Award from the Pennsylvania Council for the Blind.
Redenbaugh was born July 14, 1945, in Salt Lake City, Utah. When he was 16, on May 19, 1962, an accidental explosion while building a model rocket removed six of his fingers and rendered him blind, along with other shrapnel injuries. Determined not to live as a dependent, Redenbaugh decided to dedicate himself to learning and accomplishment and make his own fortune. [6] He was accepted into the University of Utah, and graduated magna cum laude in 1967. [7]
Redenbaugh was rejected from graduate programs at both Harvard University and Stanford University due to his disability, [8] an experience that would contribute to his later work in civil rights. Accepted into the Wharton School, he received his Master of Business Administration with honors in 1969, finishing sixth in his class. [9]
After being repeatedly rejected for jobs due to his disability, Redenbaugh was hired as Securities Analyst at the Philadelphia investment firm of Cooke & Bieler. [10] Over the following decade, Redenbaugh helped to grow the firm from a tiny company to having assets of over $6 billion, while maintaining the number of partners at seven. He and his partners accomplished this growth through reorganizing the research to greatly improve future predictions, the beginning of his focus on policy-based investment. Redenbaugh was Chief Investment Officer of Cooke & Bieler by 1980. He continued his relationship with that firm through 1999 in various capacities. [11]
Circa 1990, Redenbaugh was seeking a position as governor of the Federal Reserve Board, and in the process, became acquainted with Senator Bob Dole. Dole appointed Redenbaugh to serve on the United States Commission on Civil Rights, as its first disabled member. [12] [13]
Redenbaugh served on the commission from 1990 until 2005, when he resigned in protest over financial mismanagement and partisanship; he recommended that the Commission be disbanded. [14] An independent conservative, [15] he was one of the longest-serving members of the panel, with a self-stated goal of affecting policy change and making it easier for people in protected classes to gain equal standing. He was a critic of the Americans With Disabilities Act and called for its reform [16] [17]
Redenbaugh also participated in hearings of the Bush v. Gore election case. He co-authored the dissent to the commission's finding that the state was guilty of influencing election results. [18] [19] [20] [21]
Upon his departure from Cooke & Bieler, Redenbaugh was temporarily bound by a noncompete contract. Unable to manage money professionally, he joined a computer startup (Action Technologies) as CEO in the late 1980s. In the mid-1990s, he contributed to that company's patented workflow method. [22] Action Technologies was ultimately unsuccessful, but along with two partners, Redenbaugh began advising other technology companies in exchange for cash and stock options.
By the late 1990s, Redenbaugh was providing management consulting to a small collection of major high-tech companies, including Applied Materials, KLA Tencor and IBM. Concurrently, he was managing his own fortune and, at the request of some contacts, began taking on investment clients. This eventually grew into an investment firm, Kairos Capital Advisors. [23] [24]
Prior to the 2008 financial crisis, Kairos focused on investing in companies (e.g. Apple). Post-crisis, the investment strategy changed, formally applying political and economic policy analysis to determine the best and worst asset classes for investment.
Kairos Capital Advisors' operating theory, developed by Redenbaugh and his partner James Juliano, is based on understanding government policy, which produces headwinds and tailwinds for asset classes. Returns are overwhelmingly guided by asset allocations: If an investor performs item selection in aggregate, the winners and losers will cancel each other out. Asset classes, by and large, will either win or lose.[ citation needed ]
With the success of this approach, Redenbaugh and partner James Juliano founded the Reading The World investment advice newsletter [25] [26] in 2012 to provide insights and applications of this approach.
In 2014, Kairos Capital Advisors began applying these analyses to the holdings of institutions and family offices.
At the age of fifty, Redenbaugh took up the practice and training of the martial art of Brazilian jiu jitsu. [27] He trained with Phil Migliarese, Saulo Ribeiro, Jean Jacques Machado and Eduardo Rocha, and to fight sighted opponents. As a blind person missing fingers, he won the World Jiu Jitsu Championships for his weight and belt in 2003, 2004 and 2005. [28] He also competed in the unlimited weight division each year, earning silver medals in 2004 and 2005. [27]
In 2010, Redenbaugh became a Brazilian jiu jitsu black belt. [29] In 2015, he earned a red stripe designation above the black belt.
Redenbaugh lives in Philadelphia. He married management consultant Natalia (Davis) Redenbaugh, [30] who died on September 3, 2018, at the age of 52. [31] He has three children from previous marriages.
Redenbaugh is a founding member of the Lexington Institute [32] and works with the RGR Foundation, [33] [34] an organization focused on helping other good causes with funding and support. One of these causes, the "Russell School" in northern India, is a school for blind students. the RGR Foundation also provided computers to the affiliated orphanage.
Redenbaugh was selected as an Olympic torchbearer for the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics in 2002. [35]
Brazilian jiu-jitsu is a self-defence martial art and combat sport based on grappling, ground fighting, and submission holds. BJJ approaches self-defense by emphasizing taking an opponent to the ground, gaining a dominant position, and using a number of techniques to force them into submission via joint locks or chokeholds.
Royler Gracie is a Brazilian-American retired mixed martial artist and Brazilian jiu-jitsu practitioner. Gracie ran the Gracie Humaitá school in Rio de Janeiro for many years under his father Helio's direction, and lives and teaches in San Diego, California. Considered a legend of jiu jitsu and submission wrestling, Gracie is a member of both the IBJJF Hall of Fame, and the ADCC Hall of Fame.
Rigan Machado is an 8th degree red and White belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, earning his rank under Carlos Gracie, Jr. He is a former Pan American Champion and a veteran medalist of the ADCC. Machado currently teaches out of his Beverly Hills, California academy and is instructor to several Los Angeles-based celebrity students.
Rorion Gracie is a Brazilian-born Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Grand Master, a prominent member of the Gracie family, writer, publisher, producer, lecturer, lawyer and the co-founder of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. He is the oldest son of Hélio Gracie and one of the few people in the world to hold a 9th degree red belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, and is widely recognized as one of the men responsible for introducing Gracie/Brazilian Jiu-jitsu to the United States and the world following the arrival in the US of first cousin, Carley Gracie in 1972.
Roger Gracie is a Brazilian former professional mixed martial artist (MMA) and 5th degree Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ) practitioner and coach.
Saulo Mendonça Ribeiro Filho, brother of the equally famed Xande Ribeiro, is a 6th-degree black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ). After earning a black belt in Judo, he began his training of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in Rio de Janeiro under Royler Gracie, the son of Hélio Gracie, at the famous Gracie Humaitá.
Wellington Leal Dias Santos, known by his nickname Megaton, is a Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ) practitioner, and 7th degree coral belt of the Gracie Humaitá jiu-jitsu association under Royler Gracie. Wellington originally trained under Rogerio Camoes and later at the Gracie Humaitá jiu-jitsu school in Rio de Janeiro. Wellington received his black belt at the age of 18. Wellington is currently a seventh degree coral belt under Royler Gracie.
André Luiz Leite Galvão is a Brazilian grappler and professional mixed martial artist. A 4th degree Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt under Fernando "Tererê" Augusto as well as a Judo black belt, Galvão is one of the most decorated athletes ever, having won most major international tournaments multiple times.
Marcos Oliveira is a professional Brazilian jiu-jitsu and mixed martial arts fighter from Brazil. He competes in the heavyweight division of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.
Nazareno Malegarie is an Argentine mixed martial artist, and a two-time BJJ World Champion currently competing in the Featherweight division of the Professional Fighters League. A professional MMA competitor since 2007, he has also competed for the UFC, Bellator and Pancrase.
Lucas Lepri is a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt practitioner.
Chris Haueter is a 6th degree black belt Brazilian jiu jitsu practitioner and coach. As one of the first non-Brazilians to achieve the rank of black belt and the first American black belt to compete at the World Jiu-Jitsu Championship, he is regarded as a pioneer of the sport. Haueter is also known for coining several unnamed Brazilian jiu-jitsu's positions.
Amaury Bitetti is a Brazilian mixed martial arts former fighter and promoter holding the rank of 7th degree black and red coral belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ). Considered by many as one of the best BJJ competitors of all time, Bitetti is a two-time world jiu-jitsu champion in open weight, the first-ever to win the category, and a two-time Brazilian national champion. After competing in Vale Tudo / MMA Bitetti founded the MMA fight organization Bitetti Combate.
Maybelline Masuda is a Filipino Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu practitioner. She has earned the Philippines prestige by winning and becoming the first Filipino Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu World Champion as a white belt in 2009 and for winning the Country's 1st ever gold medal at the Asian Beach Games for Ju Jitsu in 2014.
Haben Girma is an American disability rights advocate, and the first deafblind graduate of Harvard Law School.
The Gracie jiu-jitsu ranking system is a method of signifying competency and moral character of a jiu-jitsu practitioner, developed by founders Carlos and Hélio Gracie, and utilized by members of the Gracie family.
Michael Musumeci Jr. is an American submission grappler and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt competitor.
Vanessa English, is a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt competitor and instructor. In coloured belt she is a multiple-time European champion, in both Gi and No-Gi, and is the first British-born Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu competitor to win the IBJJF World Championships. English is a 2018 World Championship black belt medallist and the 2018 European Open black belt Champion.
Marcus Soares is a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu instructor and member of the Carlson Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Team. He has achieved the rank of 9th degree black belt, the highest level in the sport, and is the only grand master in Canada.