Guyasuta Investment Advisors, Inc.

We were founded in 1983 as Scheetz, Smith & Co. Four of Guyasuta’s current partners, Ted Scheetz, Richard Meyer, Neil Van Horn, and Don Wolff were founding partners of Scheetz, Smith. The new firm had two businesses. One was a boutique investment bank specializing in the underwriting of municipal securities in Pennsylvania. The second was asset management, which focused on a research driven specialty in convertible securities that Don Wolff and Neil Van Horn had developed when they headed the investment research department at Mellon Bank in the 1970’s and early 1980’s.

 

In 1989, Peter Mathieson joined the firm after five years at Parker/Hunter as a stockbroker. Over time Peter came to realize that the clients he wanted to work with required, and deserved, more thorough research on the companies they were investing in than what he was receiving through their research department. Peter joined the firm with the idea of utilizing the years of institutional equity research experience combined with expertise in the fixed income markets to provide high quality investment advice to individuals.

 

The idea was a success, and both the asset management and municipal finance business continued to grow. In 1994, Mellon Bank made an attractive offer to buy the municipal finance business. As part of the deal, the “Smith” of Scheetz, Smith & Co. along with Richard Meyer and the rest of the municipal finance team were to move to Mellon Bank. The asset management business was to remain, and the successor firm was to be named Scheetz, Van Horn, Wolff, and Mathieson. However, Mellon took issue with the successor firm’s name, arguing that it sounded too much like Scheetz, Smith & Co.

 

A new name was needed, without using any individual names. Lifetime residents of Pittsburgh, the partners wanted a name that reflected their local roots. Many of the obvious choices, related to rivers, steel or bridges had already been taken. Many other ideas simply did not fit. Ultimately, the partners decided on Guyasuta, the name of an eighteenth century Seneca Indian chief, who had lived in and around the Pittsburgh suburb of Fox Chapel, where the partners all resided. Within minutes of each of their homes, Guyasuta’s name marks, among other things, a road, a fire department and a Boy Scout camp.

 

In the spring of 1994, Scheetz, Smith & Co. was reinvented as Guyasuta Investment Advisors, Inc. The name change to Guyasuta was more than simply cosmetic. In the fourteen years since, our business has evolved. It has shifted its focus away from serving institutional clients and investing primarily in convertible securities to managing individual account relationships and investing in all major asset classes. In 1998 Richard Meyer re-joined the firm after fulfilling his obligations to head the municipal bond trading desk at Mellon. In 2001, Nancy Foster joined the firm as our sixth partner. We have also added additional analytical, administrative and client service staff as our business has expanded.

 

The firm’s evolution towards serving individuals has been a conscious choice for our partners. They own and manage Guyasuta because they enjoy working with individuals and their families, and being able to be in direct control of the advice and service that our clients receive. The firm is committed to providing high quality and highly confidential investment advice.