Founder and CEO, Rex Teams
Peter Rex is an entrepreneur and investor. He leads Rex, directing strategy, product, and capital allocation with a long-term mindset and mission to empower. He acts as CEO for the tech initiatives to transform real estate, and operates as Executive Chairman for the investment and management businesses.
Pete has completed numerous successful ventures, as the lead and sometimes only investor. In December of 2008 through 2010, while completing a JD at Harvard Law and becoming a CPA, he began executing a large contrarian investment to buy real estate assets – including distressed notes. He bet on a long-term rebound, targeting mainly Florida and later Austin, TX.
With world-class partners and teammates, Pete built a vertically integrated operation including investment, asset management, property management and construction which numbered 500 employees and acquired 17,000+ apartments. The company distributed a billion dollars to investors and partners, ranked twice in Fortune’s top places to work, and was in the top five for most apartments under renovation nationally.
In 2019, concerned that asset pricing was reaching exuberance, Pete pivoted from aggressive buying to selling. He shut down the private equity operation and ceased accepting funds. The management team began a disciplined disposition strategy, selling the lowest quality assets first while seeking maximum price, and optimizing for a long-term hold approach with the higher quality assets. The team sold more than $1.5B through 2022.
Pete has executed numerous other successful investment trades. In late Q4 2018, he purchased Bitcoin following a major crash in cryptocurrencies and has continued to hold the position. He bought energy in mid-March 2020 following the panic crash exacerbated by a Russia-Saudi dispute. He bought hotels and other travel-related stocks during COVID. He purchased tax- advantaged land and other scarce assets as an inflation hedge in response to quantitative easing and decisions by the Trump and Biden administrations.
Pete was the first to publicly move his tech enterprise away from the West Coast during what became a great tech migration. Pete published a Wall Street Journal op-ed, which went viral, after having made the decision in May 2020.
Pete remains most bullish on disrupting the real estate industry at large, including the insurance and financial sectors. He has nine patents pending, mostly in the real estate space, and has developed expertise in every facet of tech development. He was early to recognize the potential of AI, starting R&D efforts in 2017, and has developed Natural Language Processing and Machine Learning solutions that power several Rex tech products.
Pete has always felt obligated to help those in need, dating back to visiting homebound elderly in high school with Sister Grace Imelda Gibbons and founding an organization at Georgetown University to serve the AIDS Hospice run by Mother Teresa’s nuns in Washington, DC. He credits this disposition to the teachings of Jesus and the example of his father who intentionally included him in ministry to the needy.
In 2016, Pete launched a high school for underserved communities: Cristo Rey Tampa Salesian. Fr Steve Ryan and Daniel French, as well as many associates, made the dream a reality. The school averages 200 students, with 75% in AP and 100% graduating. Students gain experience and allay tuition working at corporate sponsors.
Pete’s primary passion and source of fulfillment has been and remains entrepreneurship. He seeks to build businesses that empower people and elevate humanity. He believes his positive impact comes through inventive, well-run businesses and superior investment decision-making. The profits are then invested back into society via continued entrepreneurship and capital stewardship.
Pete has visited over 100 countries, where he had over 1,000 business meetings. He has published opinion pieces in the WSJ, Newsweek, USA Today, and more. He has been a featured guest on Bloomberg News, Tucker Carlson, and Fox Business, among others. He earned a BA in Philosophy and Government from Georgetown University, JD from Harvard Law School, and CPA. He is a Board Member of the Catholic University of America’s Busch School of Business.
He resides in Austin, TX with his wife and five children. In addition to business, he enjoys dates with his wife, roughhousing with their kids, and intellectual pursuits.