Kenny Troutt

Kenny A. Troutt was born in 1948 in Mount Vernon, Illinois — the town that later lent its name to his family office. The son of a bartender, he put himself through Southern Illinois University Carbondale (graduating in 1971) by selling life insurance, an early sales apprenticeship that shaped his later business model. He is a member of the Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity.

In 1988 Troutt founded Excel Communications in Dallas, a long-distance telephone company built on a multi-level / direct-sales distribution model. Excel scaled rapidly, surpassing $1 billion in sales within roughly eight years and going public in the mid-1990s. Troutt became a billionaire in 1998 when Excel was sold to Canada's Teleglobe in a deal valued at about $3.5 billion. As of March 2025, Forbes estimated his net worth at approximately $1.7 billion.

After the Excel sale, Troutt established Mount Vernon Investments (founded around 2001) as a Dallas-based single-family office to manage his wealth. The firm invests across public equities, venture and growth rounds, and real assets, and has become notably active as a limited partner and allocator to small and emerging hedge-fund managers, in addition to running the family's philanthropic initiatives. Troutt serves as its Founder & Chairman (and is also listed as CEO).

Outside of finance, Troutt is best known as the founder and sole owner of WinStar Farm, an elite 2,600-acre thoroughbred operation in Versailles, Kentucky. He launched WinStar in 2000 with business partner Bill Casner and bought out Casner's stake in 2010. WinStar has produced some of racing's biggest winners, including 2018 Triple Crown champion Justify and 2010 Kentucky Derby winner Super Saver. Troutt is also a major Republican political donor, and — notably — is reportedly allergic to horse hair despite owning one of the sport's premier farms.

• Operates primarily as a single-family office, not a traditional venture fund — capital is Troutt's own, deployed across asset classes rather than raised from outside LPs.
• Allocates across public equities, emerging/small hedge-fund managers, venture & growth-stage private companies, and real assets (including thoroughbred bloodstock and real estate).
• Direct startup activity is opportunistic and relatively infrequent; public databases document only a small number of venture deals, skewing toward health tech.
• No publicly stated formal check size, sector mandate, or "must-have" thesis is available — approaches should assume a bespoke, relationship-driven family-office process rather than a programmatic seed fund.