Nancy Zimmerman

Last updated
Nancy G. Zimmerman
Born1963or1964(age 59–60) [1]
Skokie, Illinois, U.S.
Alma mater Brown University
OccupationHedge fund manager
Spouse Andrei Shleifer

Nancy Zimmerman (born 1963/64) is an American hedge fund manager. She is the co-founder of Bracebridge Capital, a Boston-based hedge fund with over $12 billion of assets under management as of June 2019. The fund manages investments for foundations, pensions, high net worth individuals and endowments, including those of Yale University and Princeton University. She gained media attention in 1997 for her involvement in the Harvard Institute for International Development's Russian aide controversy and in the 2010s for her firm’s role in Argentina’s debt restructuring. [2] [3] As of 2019, she is the wealthiest female hedge fund founder in the U.S. [4]

Contents

Early life

Nancy Zimmerman was born and raised in Skokie, Illinois, the youngest of two girls. [5] She graduated from Brown University [6] in 1985. [1] [7]

Career

While attending Brown University, Zimmerman spent her summers working for O’Connor & Associates at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. After graduation she spent three years with the firm, trading currency options. [5] She later managed the interest rate option group for Goldman Sachs. [4] At Goldman, her boss was Jon Corzine, who later became the Governor of New Jersey. [5]

Bracebridge Capital

Zimmerman co-founded Bracebridge Capital [6] with Gabriel Sunshine in 1994 with $50 million in seed investment from Farallon Capital and Yale’s investment office. [8] The fund also manages investments for Princeton University. [5] As of June 2019, it had over $12 billion of assets under management. [4]

In 2016, Bracebridge and a group of hedge funds successfully contested the debt obligations of Argentina in a New York court of law. [9] Under the deal negotiated, the hedge funds received about 75% of their judgements with Bracebridge receiving 952% gains, or $1.1 billion on an investment of $120 million. [3]

Russian investments and settlement

Zimmerman's investments in Russia made national headlines in 1997 when USAID ended a $14 million grant to the Harvard Institute for International Development, headed by Zimmerman's husband, after he was accused of using the institute to help Zimmerman with her investments. [10] As part of a settlement, Zimmerman subsequently paid $1.5 million to the US government through one of her companies, Farallon Fixed Income Associates. [2] Neither Zimmerman nor her husband admitted wrongdoing. [5]

Personal life

Zimmerman is married to Andrei Shleifer, a professor of economics at Harvard University. [5] She is Jewish. [11] As of June 2019, she was worth an estimated $740 million and ranked #32 on Forbes 2019 America’s Self-Made Women List. [1]

Zimmerman serves on the board of trustees of her alma mater, Brown University, a position she previously held from 2010 to 2016. She also serves as the Chair of the Carney Institute for Brain Science Advisory Council and is a member of the board of directors of Social Finance. Previously she served on the scholar selection committee of the Institute of International Education’s Scholar Rescue Fund. [12]

Related Research Articles

A hedge fund is a pooled investment fund that holds liquid assets and that makes use of complex trading and risk management techniques to improve investment performance and insulate returns from market risk. Among these portfolio techniques are short selling and the use of leverage and derivative instruments. In the United States, financial regulations require that hedge funds be marketed only to institutional investors and high-net-worth individuals.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lawrence Summers</span> American economist and government official (born 1954)

Lawrence Henry Summers is an American economist who served as the 71st United States Secretary of the Treasury from 1999 to 2001 and as director of the National Economic Council from 2009 to 2010. He also served as president of Harvard University from 2001 to 2006, where he is the Charles W. Eliot University Professor and director of the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government at Harvard Kennedy School. In November 2023, Summers joined the board of directors of artificial general intelligence company OpenAI.

Edward Scott Lampert is an American billionaire businessman. He is the former chief executive and chairman of Sears Holdings, the founder of Transformco, and the founder, chairman, and chief executive of ESL Investments. Until May 2007, he was a director of AutoNation. He was a director of AutoZone from 1999 to 2006. As of October 2021, his net worth was estimated at US$2 billion.

Distressed securities are securities over companies or government entities that are experiencing financial or operational distress, default, or are under bankruptcy. As far as debt securities, this is called distressed debt. Purchasing or holding such distressed-debt creates significant risk due to the possibility that bankruptcy may render such securities worthless.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andrei Shleifer</span> American economist

Andrei Shleifer is a Russian-American economist and Professor of Economics at Harvard University, where he has taught since 1991. Shleifer was awarded the biennial John Bates Clark Medal in 1999 for his seminal works in three fields: corporate finance, the economics of financial markets, and the economics of transition.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Citadel LLC</span> American hedge fund and financial services provider

Citadel LLC is an American multinational hedge fund and financial services company. Founded in 1990 by Ken Griffin, it has more than $62 billion in assets under management as of December 2022. The company has over 2,600 employees, with corporate headquarters in Miami, Florida, and offices throughout North America, Asia, and Europe. Founder, CEO and Co-CIO Griffin owns approximately 85% of the firm. As of December 2022, Citadel is the most successful hedge fund of all time, posting $65.9 billion in net gains since inception in 1990.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Len Blavatnik</span> Ukrainian-born British-American billionaire businessperson and philanthropist (born 1957)

Sir Leonard Valentinovich Blavatnik is a Ukrainian-born British-American businessman and philanthropist. As of January 2024, Forbes estimated his net worth at $31.3 billion. In 2017, Blavatnik received a knighthood for services to philanthropy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paul Singer (businessman)</span> American businessman (born 1944)

Paul Elliott Singer is an American hedge fund manager, activist investor, and the founder, president and co-CEO of Elliott Management. As of June 2023 his net worth is estimated at US$5.5 billion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alternative investment</span> Investments other than stocks, bonds and cash

An alternative investment, also known as an alternative asset or alternative investment fund (AIF), is an investment in any asset class excluding capital stocks, bonds, and cash. The term is a relatively loose one and includes tangible assets such as precious metals, collectibles and some financial assets such as real estate, commodities, private equity, distressed securities, hedge funds, exchange funds, carbon credits, venture capital, film production, financial derivatives, cryptocurrencies, non-fungible tokens, and Tax Receivable Agreements. Investments in real estate, forestry and shipping are also often termed "alternative" despite the ancient use of such real assets to enhance and preserve wealth. Alternative investments are to be contrasted with traditional investments.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bill Ackman</span> American billionaire hedge fund manager

William Albert Ackman is an American billionaire hedge fund manager who is the founder and chief executive officer of Pershing Square Capital Management, a hedge fund management company. His investment approach has made him an activist investor. As of January 2024, Ackman's net worth was estimated at $4 billion by Forbes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ray Dalio</span> American investor and hedge fund manager (born 1949)

Raymond Thomas Dalio is an American investor and hedge fund manager, who has served as co-chief investment officer of the world's largest hedge fund, Bridgewater Associates, since 1985. He founded Bridgewater in 1975 in New York.

Jane L. Mendillo is an American endowment fund manager. She was the president and chief executive officer of the Harvard Management Company, charged with managing Harvard University's endowment. She led the investment team from 2008 to 2014, when the endowment was valued at $36.4 billion, having recovered fully from the impact of the global financial crisis. Prior to leading the company, from 1987 to 2002, she was in charge of managing the endowment's domestic equities, venture capital, natural resources investments and charitable trusts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Farallon Capital</span> American investment management firm

Farallon Capital Management, L.L.C. is an American multi-strategy hedge fund headquartered in San Francisco, California. Founded by Tom Steyer in 1986, the firm employs approximately 230 professionals in eight countries around the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tom Steyer</span> American businessman (born 1957)

Thomas Fahr Steyer is an American climate investor, businessman, hedge fund manager, philanthropist, environmentalist, and liberal activist. Steyer is the co-founder and co-chair of Galvanize Climate Solutions, founder and former co-senior-managing-partner of Farallon Capital and the co-founder of OneCalifornia Bank, which became Beneficial State Bank, an Oakland-based community development bank. Farallon Capital manages $20 billion in capital for institutions and high-net-worth individuals. The firm's institutional investors include college endowments and foundations. Steyer served on the board of trustees at Stanford University from 2007 to 2017. Since 1986, he has been a partner and member of the executive committee at Hellman & Friedman, a San Francisco–based private equity firm.

The Harvard Institute for International Development (HIID) was a think-tank dedicated to helping nations join the global economy, operating between 1974 and 2000. It was a center within Harvard University, United States.

Sir Christopher Anthony Hohn KCMG is a British billionaire hedge fund manager.

Richard Andrew Deitz is an American investment manager. He is the founder and president of London-based investment firm VR Capital Group.

Bracebridge Capital is a hedge fund based in Boston, Massachusetts. It was co-founded by Nancy Zimmerman and Gabriel Sunshine. It manages funds from the endowments of Yale University and Princeton University. It also made $1.5 billion from the Argentine debt restructuring. As of February 2016, it had $10.3 billion of assets under management, making it the largest hedge fund managed by a woman in the world. Sunshine owns a 5% stake in Bracebridge as of 2017.

John Albert Overdeck is an American hedge fund manager. Overdeck is the co-founder and co-chairman of Two Sigma Investments, a New York City-based hedge fund that uses a variety of technological methods, including artificial intelligence, machine learning, and distributed computing, for its trading strategies. In 2016, Overdeck reported $375 million in earnings and as of May 2017, Two Sigma Investments has $41 billion in assets under management.

Tiger Global Management, LLC is an American investment firm founded by Chase Coleman III, a former Tiger Management employee under Julian Robertson, in March 2001. It mainly focuses on internet, software, consumer, and financial technology companies.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "2019 America's Self-Made Women: #32 Nancy Zimmerman". Forbes. Retrieved March 3, 2019.
  2. 1 2 "Harvard Agrees to Settlement in Complaint Over Investments". The New York Times. August 4, 2005. Retrieved February 26, 2020.
  3. 1 2 Julie Wernau, "Elliott Management, Other Funds Get Big Rewards on Argentina Bonds," The Wall Street Journal , March 2, 2016.
  4. 1 2 3 "#32 Nancy Zimmerman". Forbes. 3 June 2019. Retrieved 26 February 2020.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Moroney, Tom; Willmer, Sabrina (February 4, 2016). "The Secretive Hedge Fund That's Generating Huge Profits for Yale". Bloomberg. Retrieved February 17, 2020.
  6. 1 2 "Nancy Zimmerman". Forbes. Retrieved 2018-02-08.
  7. ↑ Kidwell, Sarah. "Brown Corporation Elects Three New Fellows and Six New Trustees". News from Brown. Brown University. Retrieved March 12, 2017.
  8. ↑ Finnegan Schick, "Endowment thrives off little-known hedge fund," Yale Daily News , February 8, 2016.
  9. ↑ "Argentine Congress approves deal to end debt standoff in US," Associated Press , March 30, 2016
  10. ↑ Myers, Steven Lee (May 22, 1997). "Harvard Loses A.I.D. Grant For Russians". The New York Times. Retrieved March 12, 2017. In a letter on Tuesday notifying Harvard of the suspension, A.I.D. said its inspector in Moscow had documentary evidence and statements that the two men had used the resources and staff of the program in Moscow to help Mr. Shleifer's wife, Nancy Zimmerman, make significant investments in Russia.
  11. ↑ "Harvard Chabad Women's Circle". Harvard Chabad. Retrieved March 11, 2017.
  12. ↑ "Nancy G. Zimmerman". Brown University. Retrieved 3 March 2020.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.