The month of May is American Jewish History Month, so for this entire month I will continue share the stories of important Jewish figures in American finance. Today, I will discuss Israel "Izzy" Englander who is an American billionaire hedge fund manager and philanthropist, best known as the founder and CEO of Millennium Management, one of the largest hedge funds in the world.
Born in 1948, Englander was raised in a Polish-Jewish family in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn where he was raised in a religious home and attended yeshiva. His father's entire family was killed in the Holocaust. His parents were deported to a Soviet labor camp after the war, where Englander's two older sisters were born. They then immigrated to the United States in 1947.
Englander developed an early interest in finance, trading stocks while still in high school. He pursued a degree in finance at New York University. During his college years, he interned at Oppenheimer & Co. and the New York Stock Exchange, gaining valuable experience in the financial sector.
His career began at Kaufmann, Alsberg & Co., where he specialized in trading convertible securities and options. In 1977, he founded I.A. Englander & Co., a brokerage firm. Later, in 1985, he co-founded Jamie Securities Co., but the firm dissolved in 1988.
In 1989, Englander launched Millennium Management starting with $35 million in capital. The firm initially struggled, but ultimately grew into one of the most successful hedge funds, managing over $70 billion in assets as of 2024. The firm employs a multi-strategy approach, including statistical arbitrage, fundamental long-short investing, and merger arbitrage. As of 2022, Millennium had posted the fourth highest net gains of any hedge fund since its inception in 1989.
Beyond finance, Englander is known for his philanthropic efforts, particularly in Jewish causes and medical research. His success and influence in the hedge fund industry have made him one of the wealthiest individuals in finance, with a net worth estimated at $14.2 billion as of 2025.