Rydex Investments co-founder Rob Steele is back on the mutual fund scene. After five years away from the '40 Act industry, Steele last summer started an investment management firm called Bishop Asset Management with Kevin Nugent.

The duo launched Bishop's debut mutual fund, Bishop Volatility Flex Fund, on November 19. This is the first in a batch of volatility-monetizing funds that Steele and Nugent hope to bring to market.

The Volatility Flex Fund comes in two share classes: A shares, which has an expense ratio of 133 basis points and C shares, for 209 bps. The fund employs a strategy that was managed for three years as a hedge fund by Nugent.

"We're hoping to have another fund in registration by the end of June," Steele said in an interview with The MFWire.com. "We want to apply the strategy to different asset classes that would complement our current offering. We're looking at the fixed income, emerging market and small cap areas."

Bishop's debut mutual fund is on the NTF platforms at Schwab, Fidelity and Pershing.

"The product is so well-designed for RIAs," Steele said.

Spearheading sales efforts at Bishop is Fidelity and Morningstar alum Kim Furnald, who has the title of head of intermediary distribution.

Rounding out the Bishop team are portfolio manager Bruce Pomper and operations manager Chris Baker.

Steele was a founding executive of Rydex Investments in 1993. He left the Rockville, Maryland-based firm in April 2005 and pursued interests outside of the financial services world.  

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