Our firm gets its start helmed by Richard Kayne, a top investment manager, and John Anderson, a well known businessman, a Forbes 400 billionaire, and named benefactor of UCLA’s Anderson School of Management.
History
Quality Never Goes Out of Style
Where We Come From
KAR was founded in 1984 by two successful entrepreneurs, Richard Kayne and John Anderson, for whom the University of California, Los Angeles, named its business school, The UCLA Anderson School of Management, to manage the funds of its principals and clients through non-traditional investment partnerships. The traditional investment management business conducted by KAR began in 1989 when Allan Rudnick joined the firm. Through the years, our firm has built upon our founders’ original principles: Orientation toward preservation of wealth and innovative ideas, an embrace of meticulous research, and a dedicated focus on quality in business practices and investment strategies.
Our goal at KAR is to invest in quality and to provide the highest level of client service. Contact our teams today.

Founders
- John Anderson
John E. Anderson was founder of Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management. Mr. Anderson was a successful attorney, entrepreneur, and investor in financial-services businesses. The University of California, Los Angeles, named its business management school, The Anderson School at UCLA, after him. Mr. Anderson was a well-known philanthropist with a distinguished record of service to Southern California in the areas of education, health care, and cultural enrichment, including contributions to institutions such as UCLA, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles and the YMCA of Metropolitan Los Angeles. Mr. Anderson earned a B.S. from the University of California, Los Angeles, an M.B.A. from Harvard University, and a J.D. from the Loyola Law School, Los Angeles, the graduate school of law for Loyola Marymount University.
- Richard Kayne
Richard Kayne is founder of Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management. He began his career in the mid-1960s as an analyst with Loeb Rhodes & Company in New York. Before forming Kayne Anderson Rudnick, Mr. Kayne was a principal of Cantor Fitzgerald & Company where he managed private accounts, a hedge fund, and a portion of firm capital. Mr. Kayne is a trustee and former Chairman of the Investment Committee of the UCLA Foundation and a trustee and co-chairman of the Investment Committee of the Jewish Community Foundation of Los Angeles. He earned a B.S. in Statistics from Stanford University and an M.B.A. from the University of California, Los Angeles.
- Allan M. Rudnick
Allan M. Rudnick is founder of Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management. He has over 40 years of experience in the investment management industry. Before joining Kayne Anderson Rudnick in 1989, Mr. Rudnick was Chief Investment Officer for The Pilgrim Group, overseeing both equity and fixed income mutual funds. Currently, Mr. Rudnick is a Director/Trustee of six mutual funds managed by First Pacific Advisors LLC. Additionally, he is a Director of the closed-end investment company Source Capital, listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Mr. Rudnick is active in philanthropic activities. He serves on the Board of Trustees of Children’s Hospital Los Angeles as well as on their Executive and Investment Committees. In addition, he chairs the Children’s Hospital Of Los Angeles’ Advancement Committee. He is on the Board of Directors of Los Angeles Leadership Academy Charter School in East L.A., where he is a visiting instructor in economics. He is also a member of the Cedars-Sinai Investment Committee. Mr. Rudnick previously served as President of the Bogart Pediatric Cancer Research Foundation and on the Trinity College Board of Fellows. Mr. Rudnick earned a B.A. in Economics from Trinity College and an M.B.A. from Harvard University. He is a member of the CFA Society of Los Angeles, Inc. and the CFA Institute.
Timeline
Officially registered with the SEC, we manage our first high-net-worth account for an outside client.
Allan Rudnick joins the firm and brings with him his high-quality approach to investing.
We enter into our first institutional and sub-advisory relationships. Many of these relationships still exist today.
Our flagship Small Cap Core strategy is launched.
We launch our fixed income offering and Large Cap Quality Value strategy.
We launch our first mutual fund. Today the fund family includes a total of 8 mutual funds.
We launch our Small Cap Quality Value and Small Cap Sustainable Growth strategies.
We launch our first strategy dedicated to the mid-cap asset class.
Develop a partnership with our parent company to strengthen the firm’s distribution capabilities while maintaining the autonomy of our firm and investment management.
We open our second official office location to better serve our Wealth Advisory clients in Northern California.
The International Small Cap and Global Dividend Yield strategies are incepted. Launch of the Emerging Markets Small Cap strategy follows in 2014, Global Small Cap in 2016 and International Small-Mid Cap in 2019.
We launch our all cap growth, mid cap growth and large cap growth strategies.
We have now been ranked in the top 10 for five consecutive years with the latest being our #1 ranking in 2017.
We are proud to be growing and preserving our clients’ wealth for 30 years!
An important milestone as we look to continue to help more clients achieve their financial goals.
We open our third and fourth office locations to better serve our Wealth Advisory clients.
We launch our first long/short strategy.
We open our fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth office locations to better serve our Wealth Advisory clients.
We have now been ranked in the top 10 for five consecutive years.
An important milestone as we look to continue to help more clients achieve their financial goals.
KAR reaches $22.8 billion in AUM as of December 31, 2018.
We launch our first strategy dedicated to the small-mid-cap growth asset class.
We have now been ranked #1 for two consecutive years!
We have now been ranked #1 for three consecutive years!
Becoming a PRI Signatory marks the formal launch of the firm’s ESG initiative.
KAR reaches $33.0 billion in AUM as of December 31, 2019.
We introduce our own proprietary ESG rating system.
KAR reaches $51.7 billion in AUM as of December 31, 2020.
We have now been ranked in the top 10 for nine consecutive years!
KAR reaches $65.0 billion in AUM as of December 31, 2021.
This is the 5th year we have been ranked #1. (2017-2020 & 2022)
This is our first year ranking on Forbes’ list.
We relocated to a new office up the street after 38 years in our old location!