Introduction
Nelson Saiers is an American artist and polymath. He was previously Chief Investment Officer of Saiers Capital, LLC (formerly Alphabet Management, LLC). Earlier in his career he was a Managing Director at Deutsche Bank AG. He has also penned a handful of articles for the Huffington Post on topics related to art, math, and science. Saiers is a practicing Christian and as a child lived through several wars growing up in Ethiopia and Afghanistan.
Education
In 1998, Nelson Saiers earned his Ph.D. in mathematics from the University of Virginia at the age of 23, only one year after completing his undergraduate studies. He studied algebraic topology and cobordism theory.
Financial Career
Nelson began his trading career at Susquehanna Investment Group. He also later worked at UBS and Deutsche Bank. At Deutsche Bank, Nelson was a Managing Director for proprietary derivatives.
In July 2010, Nelson left Deustche Bank to join Alphabet Management, a New York hedge fund specializing in options. He was promoted to Chief Investment Officer in March 2011, just eight months after joining the firm. Saiers' younger brother Scott also joined Alphabet in February 2012 as Head Trader.
In December 2012 Alphabet announced that the firm would be changing its name to Saiers Capital, LLC.
Art Career
Nelson's is currently a professional artist based in New York City.
Mathematics, physics, and braille play a central roll in his art. His art has been featured in solo shows at Harvard University, HG Contemporary Gallery, Studio Vendome, and The Hole's project space.
Press quotes
Nelson has been widely quoted in Bloomberg, The Wall Street Journal, Barron's, and The Financial Post on topics such as China, India, European Sovereign Debt, Facebook, Dell, and the price of gold as well as overall market trends.
Philanthropy
Nelson has an affiliation with charity: water, which attempts to provide clean water to those in developing countries. Nelson is a Founding Member of The Well, a core group of donors who support charity: water.
In October 2013, during the graffiti artist Banksy's month-long New York project "Better Out Than In," Nelson made a public offer to donate $100,000 to the Hurricane Sandy rebuilding effort if Banksy created a legal mural in New York to raise awareness for people still affected by the storm. An anonymous donor "RD" has also joined this effort, and has pledged an additional $100,000. Nelson has created a website for the effort: http://www.heybanksy.com. Whether the piece was created or not is unknown, but on October 28, Nelson decided to go forward with the $100,000 donation regardless.