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Elisha Wiesel
Born
Shlomo Elisha Wiesel

(1972-06-06) June 6, 1972 (age 53)
Alma materYale University (B.S., Computer Science, 1994)
Employer(s)ClearAlpha Technologies and its first fund -- Niche Plus
Known for
TitleChairman
Board member ofentrio; FactSet; Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity
SpouseLynn Bartner-Wiesel
Children2
Parents

Shlomo Elisha Wiesel (born June 6, 1972) is an American businessman, hedge fund manager, social activist, and philanthropist. He is the only child of Holocaust survivor, author, professor, and Nobel Peace Prize recipient Elie Wiesel. He worked for Goldman Sachs for 25 years, serving as its chief information officer for three years, until 2019. He currently co-runs the Niche Plus multi-manager hedge fund, the first fund of ClearAlpha Technologies, where he is a founding partner and the chief risk officer. He is also the chairman of Israeli fintech start-up vendor management firm entrio, and on the board of directors of American financial data and software company FactSet. In addition, he is the chairman of the board of the Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity, which he is seeking to "reboot."

Early and personal life

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Shlomo Elisha Wiesel was born in 1972.[1][2]

Elie Wiesel and Marion Wiesel, parents of Elisha Wiesel (2012)

His father, Elie Wiesel, was a Holocaust survivor, author, professor, activist, and Nobel Peace Prize recipient of Hungarian Jewish and Romanian Jewish descent, whose hometown was Sighet, Romania.[1][3][4] Elisha's paternal grandmother and his father's younger sister were killed in the gas chambers in the Auschwitz concentration camp.[4]

Elisha's mother, Marion Wiesel, was a Holocaust survivor born in Vienna, Austria, of Austrian Jewish descent, who came to the United States shortly after World War II with her family, with the help of HIAS, then known as the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society.[5][2]

The Wiesels at a 1981 convention of Bergen Belsen concentration camp Holocaust survivors

He was raised on the Upper West Side and Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City, attending Modern Orthodox yeshiva Ramaz on the Upper East Side, and suburban New Jersey.[4][6][5]

Wiesel then attended Yale University, graduating with a B.S. in computer science in 1994.[7][4] After graduating from Yale, he spent a few months doing basic military training in Israel.[7]

Wiesel and his wife Lynn Bartner-Wiesel have two children.[7][4]

Career

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Goldman Sachs

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Wiesel joined the J. Aron commodities division of Goldman Sachs in 1994, after the head of J. Aron strats (the code-writers whose computer models and algorithms power the firm's trading desks) convinced him to give up his initial preference of working in the video game industry.[8][9][1][3][10] At the time, technology was in its earliest days in banking.[11] At Goldman he worked for Lloyd Blankfein and Gary Cohn, who ended up leading the firm.[12]

He became a managing director in 2002, and a partner in 2004.[13][14] Wiesel later served as the chief risk officer of its securities division (which houses Goldman's technology-intensive trading business), and global head of its securities division desk strategists.[1][3][15]

In January 2017, when Wiesel was 44 years old, he succeeded R. Martin Chavez as Goldman's chief information officer, overseeing Engineering (the firm's Technology Division and global strategists groups).[8][16][9] Wiesel became the highest-ranked of 9,000 Goldman engineers, who accounted for 25% of the firm's total employees.[10] In July 2017, Institutional Investor named him # 10 in the "2017 Tech 40."[10]

Board memberships

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In December 2019 Wiesel left Goldman Sachs after a 25-year career at the firm.[1][3][4]

He volunteered on Michael Bloomberg's presidential campaign and also began an archive of his father's writings.[2]

In November 2020 Wiesel joined Israeli Tel Aviv-based fintech start-up vendor management firm entrio (formerly, The Floor), as chairman of its board of directors.[17][18][19][20]

In March 2023, financial digital platform and enterprise solutions provider FactSet appointed Wiesel to its board of directors.[21] The company as of 2025 had 37 offices in 20 countries, and 216,000 users.[22]

Niche Plus hedge fund

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In May 2023, Wiesel and quantitative investment firm AQR Capital Management alumnus Brian Hurst launched and began co-running the Niche Plus multimanager hedge fund, the first fund of ClearAlpha Technologies, where he is a founding partner and CRO.[23][24][25] The firm launched with commitments of several hundred million dollars from AQR founder Cliff Asness, Stable Asset Management, and other institutional investors.[24][25] The fund is focusing on niche strategies, including temperature arbitrage.[25] It will have 13 teams, running 20 different strategies.[24] The fund said it expected to collect $1 billion within a year.[24][25]

Philanthropy

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Wiesel organized fundraisers and has served as a board member for Good Shepherd Services, a Brooklyn-based after-school program charity that provides support for at-risk youths and their families, at Goldman beginning in 2013.[26][1][27]

Wiesel is the Chairman of the Board of the Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity, which he is seeking to "reboot."[28][29] In February 2024, he announced that the University of South Florida St. Petersburg and the Florida Holocaust Museum would house his father's papers and artifacts.[30]

Political activity

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LGBT discrimination; Syrian refugees

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In various speeches at venues such as the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and the Museum of Jewish Heritage Wiesel has spoken in support of Syrian refugees and against the persecution of LGBT communities in Muslim countries.[31] In January 2017, he suggested that protesting against Executive Order 13769 ("Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States") was part of his father's legacy.[32]

Jewish–Black relations

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In December 2022, Wiesel attended the 15 Days of Light event hosted by New York City Mayor Eric Adams, Rev. Al Sharpton, Vista Equity Partners CEO and Carnegie Hall Chairman Robert F. Smith, Baptist Minister Conrad Tillard, and World Values Network founder and CEO Rabbi Shmuley Boteach. The celebrated Hanukkah and Kwanzaa in a unifying holiday ceremony at Carnegie Hall.[33] 

The Uyghurs

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In March 2023, Wiesel testified at a hearing on the treatment of Uyghurs before the U.S. House Select Committee on China.[34] In April 2024, together with Uyghur leaders he launched a two-day conference in New York City, which included multifaith panels and Uyghur camp survivors discussing how teachings from the Holocaust can be applied to address the Uyghur crisis, China’s media censorship and propaganda, companies benefiting from forced Uyghur labor, and forced assimilation.[28][35]

Israel; antisemitism

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Wiesel was as of 2020 a board member of the progressive Zionist organization Zioness, founded by Amanda Berman.[2][36]

Since November 2023, Wiesel has been a vocal defender of Israel in his capacity as chairman of the Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity. In a speech at the 92nd Street Y in Manhattan, he said that the IDF seeks to avoid civilian casualties.[37] He has said that the accusation that Israel was genocidal was blood libel, and that campus protests were "obviously antisemitic".[38]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f Popper, Nathaniel (January 9, 2017). "Goldman Sachs Names Elisha Wiesel Chief Information Officer". The New York Times. Retrieved April 18, 2017.
  2. ^ a b c d Melissa Weiss (September 2, 2020). "Elisha Wiesel turns to the next chapter in his career". Jewish Insider.
  3. ^ a b c d Crowe, Portia (January 9, 2017). "Goldman Sachs just named a new head of its giant tech division". Business Insider. Retrieved April 18, 2017.
  4. ^ a b c d e f Lewak, Doree (January 25, 2020). "Elie Wiesel's son recalls dad, 75 years after Auschwitz liberation". The New York Post. Retrieved March 8, 2020.
  5. ^ a b Shawn Macomber (April 4, 2018). "People of the Mosh: Elie Wiesel's Son Elisha On Metal Misfits, Hardcore Matinees & Forging Identity in the Punk Underground". Decibel Magazine. Retrieved March 8, 2020.
  6. ^ Joseph Berger (October 15, 1986). "Man In The News; Witness To Evil: Eliezer Weisel". The New York Times. Retrieved March 8, 2020.
  7. ^ a b c Lyman, Rick (May 12, 2017). "Elie Wiesel's Only Son Steps Up to His Father's Legacy". The New York Times. Retrieved May 12, 2017.
  8. ^ a b Liz Hoffman (January 10, 2017). "Goldman Sachs names new tech chief," Financial News.
  9. ^ a b "Careers Blog - In Conversation with Elisha Wiesel, Chief Information Officer". Goldman Sachs. November 19, 2018. Retrieved March 8, 2020.
  10. ^ a b c "The 2017 Tech 40: Elisha Wiesel". Institutional Investor. July 27, 2017. Retrieved March 8, 2020.
  11. ^ Laura Noonan (September 4, 2019). "Goldman Sachs braced for more top-level changes," The Financial Times.
  12. ^ Amanda L Gordon (September 12, 2019). "Goldman's Wiesel Exits as Bank Turns to Amazon for Tech Leader". Bloomberg. Retrieved March 8, 2020.
  13. ^ Samson, Adam (January 9, 2017). "Elisha Wiesel tapped to become Goldman's tech chief". Financial Times. Retrieved April 18, 2017.
  14. ^ Oran, Olivia (January 9, 2017). "Goldman names Elisha Wiesel as new chief information officer". Reuters. Archived from the original on January 9, 2017. Retrieved April 18, 2017.
  15. ^ Liz Hoffman (January 10, 2017). "Goldman Sachs Names New Tech Guru," The Wall Street Journal.
  16. ^ Dakin Campbell (January 9, 2017). "Goldman Promotes Elisha Wiesel to Chief Information Officer". Bloomberg. Retrieved March 8, 2020.
  17. ^ "Entrio". Startup Nation Central.
  18. ^ "Son of Elie Wiesel, former banking exec to chair Israeli fintech firm". The Jerusalem Post. November 23, 2020.
  19. ^ "Former Goldman CIO Elisha Wiesel joins The Floor". Finextra Research. November 23, 2020.
  20. ^ Irrera, Anna (November 23, 2020). "Former Goldman CIO Elisha Wiesel joins fintech startup The Floor". Reuters.
  21. ^ "FactSet Appoints Elisha Wiesel to Board of Directors". Yahoo Finance. March 24, 2023.
  22. ^ "About FactSet," FactSet.
  23. ^ Matthew Dietz (October 3, 2023). "Son of Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel to speak at Cincinnati's Union Terminal," WLWT5.
  24. ^ a b c d Amanda L Gordon (June 1, 2023). "Goldman, AQR Alumni Start Niche Hedge Fund With Backing From Cliff Asness". Bloomberg.
  25. ^ a b c d "AQR founder backs new niche hedge fund". Hedge Week. June 2, 2023.
  26. ^ Bill Brownstein (May 10, 2022). "Elisha Wiesel keeps his father’s humanitarian legacy alive ," The Montreal Gazette.
  27. ^ Robbins, Liz (October 11, 2013). "One Long Night in Puzzle City". The New York Times. Retrieved April 19, 2017.
  28. ^ a b Katherine Rosman (April 17, 2024). "A New York Conference Focuses on the Crisis of the Uyghurs; Elisha Wiesel, son of the writer Elie Wiesel, says the group’s plight has echoes of the Holocaust," The New York Times.
  29. ^ "Elisha Wiesel," Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity.
  30. ^ Bill DeYoung (February 7, 2024). "USFSP, Holocaust Museum to house Elie Wiesel archive," St. Pete Catalyst.
  31. ^ Elisha Wiesel (April 25, 2017). "My father was a witness, and now I will be a witness (op-ed)," Ynet.
  32. ^ Gordon, Amanda L. (January 30, 2017). "Elisha Wiesel Reflects on Immigrant Ban and Father's Legacy". Bloomberg. Retrieved April 19, 2017.
  33. ^ Reports, AmNews Staff (December 21, 2022). "Mayor Eric Adams, Rev. Al Sharpton, others gather for joint Kwanzaa, Hanukkah celebration". New York Amsterdam News.
  34. ^ Karina Lipsman (March 24, 2023). "VOC Testifies to US Congress on Beijing’s Genocide in Xinjiang," Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation.
  35. ^ Kylie Ora Lobell (May 6, 2024). "Elisha Wiesel and the Elie Wiesel Foundation Host Disrupting Uyghur Genocide Conference," Jewish Journal.
  36. ^ "Staff & Board of Directors". Zioness Movement.
  37. ^ Alan Zeitlin (November 10, 2023). "Elisha Wiesel: ‘Hatred Is A Stain That is Hard To Wash Out’; In a speech commemorating Kristallnacht, The Night of Broken Glass, Wiesel told a crowd at 92NY in Manhattan how his father, Elie, inspired him, and that Israel must triumph over evil," Jewish Journal.
  38. ^ "Anti-Israel protesters looking to create same fears against Jews as a century ago: Elisha Wiesel; Elie Wiesel Foundation Chairman Elisha Wiesel responds to the increase of anti-Israel protests across the U.S. and a House panel pressing Columbia University's president on anti-Israel demonstrations on campus," Fox News, April 18, 2024 (video).
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