This content is from: Portfolio
The 2016 Hedge Fund Rising Stars: Eric Singer
Through his focus on small companies, the founder of hedge fund firm VIEX Capital Advisors drives change and returns.
Eric Singer, 42, has loved investing since his early teens. Singer got interested in the stock market when he started reading business publications, at about the time of his bar mitzvah. He grew up in New York, where his father taught economic history and his mother was a special-education teacher, and majored in history at Brandeis University near Boston. For Singer, history provided valuable tools for learning how to think about businesses and event outcomes. Outside of class he kept up with investing, discussing stocks and business with a close circle of like-minded friends. The group was further inspired by the fever of technology-focused entrepreneurship evident in Boston’s Route 128 area.
After graduation in 1995, Singer landed a job with Jonathan Steinberg at WisdomTree Asset Management in New York. Son of legendary corporate raider Saul Steinberg and husband of financial TV personality Maria Bartiromo, Steinberg now heads WisdomTree Investments, a $50 billion exchange-traded funds business. But in the late 1990s, he was doing more hedge fund investing. Working for Steinberg, Singer honed his skills as a stock picker. He gravitated toward smaller publicly listed companies, especially those in the tech sector and newer businesses without complex liabilities.
In 2014, Singer launched VIEX Capital Advisors, where he employs much the same strategy that he began to develop at WisdomTree. New York–based VIEX manages about $150 million in assets.
Early in his investment career, Singer started taking board seats at portfolio companies so he could better exert his influence. Currently, he’s a director of Numerex Corp., an Internet solutions provider headquartered in Atlanta; TigerLogic Corp., a Portland, Oregon–based software developer focused on online engagement; New York–based digital advertising firm YuMe; and IEC Electronics Corp. of Newark, New Jersey, a specialized electronics manufacturer. Key to Singer’s strategy is getting companies to focus on their strengths and maximize value for all shareholders through operating improvements as well as strategic mergers and acquisitions.
Visit the 2016 Hedge Fund Rising Stars: Ivy League Schools Pave the Way for more.
 Jessye Ball Millennium Mgmt  Sarah Berner Aristeia Capital  Jenna Bussman-Wise AIG Investments  Maureen Chang Point72 Asset Mgmt  Dennis Chenfu Pershing |
 Charles Dufresne Jr. Sciens Capital Mgmt  William Freda Graticule Asset Mgmt Asia  Samantha Greenberg Margate Capital  Mark Gurevich Ropes & Gray  Tal Gurion Mariner Glen Oaks |
 Craig Huie University of California  Yusef Kassim Blue Harbour Group  Florian Kronawitter White Square Capital  Vikram Kumar TT International  Brandon Levin Jana Partners |
 Jonathan Levin George Weiss Associates  Brett Minarik Aksia  Ian Monroe Etho Capital  Jason Morrow Utah Retirement Systems  Pierre-Adrien Nicolas Squarepoint Capital |
 Jamie Pabst Green Owl Capital Mgmt  Parag Pande Blackstone Group  Agata Praczuk MetLife  Max Saffian Fortress Investment Group  Matt Satnick MSD Partners |
 Eric Singer Viex Capital Advisors  Katina Stefanova Marto Capital  Reginald Tucker New York State Common Retirement Fund  Michael Wang Cypress Funds  Sean Wygovsky Polar Asset Mgmt Partners |