Paul Singer is the founder and CEO of hedge fund firm Elliot Management Corporation and The Paul E. Singer Foundation with an estimated net worth of $1.3 billion. Born Paul Elliot Singer on August 22, 1944 in New York, he grew up in a Jewish family in Tenafly, New Jersey. He obtained his B.S. in psychology from the University of Rochester and a J.D. from Harvard Law School. He accepted a job as an attorney in the real estate division of the investment bank Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette in 1974.

Singer founded the hedge fund Elliot Associates L.P. in 1977 with $1.3 million from various friends and family members. Elliot Management Corporation is the overseer of Elliot Associates and Elliot International Limited. Together, they have more than $21 billion in assets under management. In 2012, the two main funds have returned more than 12%. The hedge fund has been waging a high-profile battle with Argentina over defaulted bonds, going so far in 2012 as to convince the government of Ghana to at one point take possession of an Argentine naval vessel. Other Elliot’s investments include backing the movie version of Les Mesirables and a lawsuit against Walt Disney Co., over Stan Lee’s iconic superhero characters.

Paul Singer founded the Paul E. Singer Family Foundation that supports many charitable projects including the Harvard Graduate School of Education Singer Prize for Excellence in Secondary Teaching and VH1 Save The Music Foundation, the Food Bank For New York City, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Action Fund, and the New York City Police Foundation.

Singer’s hedge fund also frequently takes activist positions such as the recent investment in Hess Corp. He is a former Wall Street lawyer and a big supporter of Republican political causes and gay rights. He has donated $425 thousand on his own money and raised another $500 thousand to support the drive for legalization of gay marriage in New York. He donated $250 thousand to the Maryland Marriage Campaign.

Paul Singer is Chairman of the Board of Trustees for the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research. He also serves on the Board of Fellows of Harvard Medical School and the Board of Directors of Commentary Magazine. He is a member of the Committee on Capital Markets Regulation.