John Overdeck
Birth nameJohn Albert Overdeck
Birth datec. 1970
EducationStanford University (BS, MS)
Known forCo-founder and co-chairman of Two Sigma Investments
SpouseLaura Bilodeau (m. 2002; ended 2022)

John Albert Overdeck (born 1969)[1] is an American billionaire hedge fund manager. Overdeck is the co-founder and co-chairman of Two Sigma Investments, a New York City-based hedge fund that uses a variety of technological methods, including artificial intelligence, machine learning, and distributed computing for its trading strategies.[2][3][4][5] In 2016, Overdeck reported $375 million in earnings[6] and as of May 2017, Two Sigma Investments has $41 billion in assets under management.[7]

In March 2019, he was named one of the highest-earning hedge fund managers and traders by Forbes.[8]

Early life

Overdeck is the son of Dr. John M. Overdeck of Columbia, Maryland, a retired senior mathematician at Fort Meade, Maryland, for the National Security Agency, and the late Betsey Lombard Overdeck, who was a director of Computer Sciences Corporation.[9]

Overdeck went to Wilde Lake High School in Columbia, Maryland. In 1986, he was an International Mathematics Olympiad silver medalist.[10] He then earned a bachelor's degree in mathematics and a master's degree in statistics, both from Stanford University.[11]

Prior to co-founding Two Sigma Investments, Overdeck was a managing director at D.E. Shaw & Co., and a vice president at Amazon.com.[3]

Two Sigma Investments

Overdeck founded Two Sigma Investments in 2001 with David Siegel and Mark Pickard, who is now retired.[12][13] The company's main office is in New York City with branch offices in Houston, London, and Hong Kong.[14] In January 2015, the firm had $34.21 billion in assets under management and as of May 2017, the firm had $41 billion.[7][15]

Two Sigma Investments also operates a market-making business, owns a Bermuda reinsurance company, and runs a venture capital arm.[1]

Wealth

In March 2017, Overdeck ranked 9th on Forbes' Highest-Earning Hedge Fund Managers.[6]

As of March 2019, his net worth was $6.1 billion,[1][16] making him one of the highest-earning hedge fund managers and traders by Forbes.[8]

Board memberships

Overdeck is acting chair of the National Museum of Mathematics,[3] director of the Robin Hood Foundation,[3] on the board of trustees of the Institute for Advanced Study,[17] and a board member of the Hamilton Insurance Group.[18]

Personal life

On October 12, 2002, Overdeck married Laura Bilodeau, then a principal consultant for Stanford Research Institute;[9] she went on to found Bedtime Math.[19] They have three children and live in Millburn, New Jersey.[1][16][19] Laura Overdeck initiated divorce proceedings in early 2022 citing “irreconcilable differences”. According to The Wall Street Journal, they do not have a prenuptial agreement.[20] Laura Overdeck also sued over the family's lawyers moving various family assets into trusts in Wyoming, saying it appeared to be a way to hide assets from her and the children.[21]

Overdeck competed in the 2019 National Museum of Mathematics's Masters Tournament, which raised almost $1 million, and placed third.[11]

Philanthropy

In 2011, Overdeck and his wife Laura established the Overdeck Family Foundation, an organization that funds educational research and STEM education.[3][22] The foundation's overall goal is to enable all American children to unlock their potential by strengthening learning in and out of school.[23]

The Overdecks' education philanthropy focuses on four key issue areas: "early impact", "exceptional educators", "innovative schools", and "inspired minds".[24] They have made gifts to Robin Hood Foundation for work by MDRC to study the long-term effects of various early childhood programs. The Overdecks have also supported the Harlem Children's Zone within its early impact strategy and the Khan Academy.[24] Other grantees have included the NJ STEM Teaching Fellowship, and Governor's School for the Sciences at Drew University in New Jersey.[25] Laura Overdeck is an alumna of Governor's School and was instrumental in saving the program through private donations in 2006.[26][27]

In October 2018, The Overdeck Education Innovation Fund gifted $1 million to be distributed over the next three years by the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs for research on education issues. This is the second gift from the Overdeck Family Foundation, the first of which was $1 million donated in 2016.[23] That same month, the Overdeck Family Foundation pledged $3 million to Opportunity Insights, a policy and research institute based at Harvard University that will publish data on the probability that children will escape poverty based on where they were raised.[28][29][30]

Honors and recognition

  • 1986, Silver Medal for the U.S. in the International Mathematical Olympiad in Poland at age 16
  • 2012, Distinguished Alumni of The Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth[31]
  • 2017, Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement[32][33][34]
  • 2019, Manager Lifetime Achievement Award at Institutional Investor's 17th annual Hedge Fund Industry Awards[35]

References

  1. ^ "Forbes profile: John Overdeck". Forbes. Archived 10 May 2020 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 28 May 2020.
  2. ^ Vardi, Nathan (April 3, 2017). "The Machines Are Eating Wall Street". Forbes. Archived 3 April 2017 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 8 May 2017.
  3. ^ "Meet the Overdecks". Overdeck Family Foundation. Archived 20 May 2017 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 8 May 2017.
  4. ^ Vardi, Nathan (July 11, 2014). "Two Sigma Investments Is Having a Great Year And Becoming A Hedge Fund Powerhouse". Forbes. Archived October 25, 2017 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved May 7, 2017.
  5. ^ The World's 100 richest Hedge Funds Archived 2016-11-28 at the Wayback Machine, Bloomberg Markets
  6. ^ "Highest-Earning Hedge Fund Managers 2017". Forbes. Archived 5 November 2018 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 8 May 2017.
  7. ^ "#529 John Overdeck $3.61B". Bloomberg.com. Bloomberg. Archived 12 May 2018 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 8 May 2017.
  8. ^ Vardi, Nathan. "The Highest-Earning Hedge Fund Managers And Traders". Forbes. Archived 2019-03-30 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2019-03-30.
  9. ^ "WEDDINGS/CELEBRATIONS; Laura Bilodeau, John Overdeck". New York Times. 13 October 2002. Archived 5 November 2018 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 5 November 2018.
  10. ^ "International Mathematical Olympiad". www.imo-official.org. Retrieved 2025-07-31.
  11. ^ "Top Quants Compete in Devilishly Tough Math Competition". Bloomberg.com. 27 February 2019. Archived 16 June 2019 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 12 September 2020.
  12. ^ Vardi, Nathan (July 11, 2014). "Two Sigma Investments Is Having a Great Year And Becoming A Hedge Fund Powerhouse". Forbes. Archived 25 October 2017 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 9 May 2017.
  13. ^ "John Overdeck And David Siegel Bio, Returns, Net Worth". Insider Monkey. Archived 27 April 2017 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 9 May 2017.
  14. ^ "Contact". Two Sigma. Archived 16 July 2016 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 9 May 2017.
  15. ^ "Two Sigma Investments Llc". Octafinance. Retrieved 9 May 2017.
  16. ^ "Trio Of Millburn-Short Hills Men On Forbes Billionaires List". Millburn-Short Hills, NJ Patch. 7 March 2019. Archived 30 March 2019 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 30 March 2019.
  17. ^ "John Overdeck Appointed to Institute for Advanced Study Board of Trustees". Institute for Advanced Study. Archived 2018-07-17 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2018-07-17.
  18. ^ "John Overdeck". Hamilton Group. Archived 16 July 2018 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 8 May 2017.
  19. ^ "Bedtime Math". Bedtime Math. Bedtime Math Foundation. Archived 29 October 2019 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 29 October 2019.
  20. ^ Zuckerman, Gregory & Chung, Juliet (2023-08-09). "WSJ News Exclusive | This Hedge Fund's Two Feuding Founders Are Under Pressure to Make Peace". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2023-11-16.
  21. ^ Farrell, Maureen (November 6, 2023). "Warring Billionaires, a Rogue Employee, a Divorce: One Hedge Fund's Tale of Woe". The New York Times. Retrieved November 6, 2023.
  22. ^ Flowers, Matt (October 13, 2016). "South Jersey looks to improve STEM ed". Courier Post Online. Retrieved 8 May 2017.
  23. ^ Kim, Leslie (October 9, 2018). "Wilson School fund established for education research". Daily Princetonian. Archived 16 October 2018 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 16 October 2018.
  24. ^ "John Overdeck". Inside Philanthropy. Archived 23 February 2017 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 8 May 2017.
  25. ^ "Kean University grads among 2015 Woodrow Wilson Fellowship Winners". nj. 5 August 2015. Archived 4 November 2019 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 4 November 2019.
  26. ^ "Top high school students study science at annual Governor's School". Archived 2017-05-03 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2019-11-04.
  27. ^ "Hoping for a Strong Comeback, Governor's Schools Prep for 2013". NJ Spotlight. 3 December 2012. Archived 4 November 2019 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 4 November 2019.
  28. ^ "Behind a New Institute for Economic Mobility: Powerful Data and Billionaire Donors". October 5, 2018. Archived 2018-11-12 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2018-11-12.
  29. ^ Schaffhauser, Dian (2018-11-05). "Detailed Picture of 'Inequality of Opportunity' Emerges -". THE Journal. Archived 2018-11-12 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2018-11-12.
  30. ^ "Grants Roundup: Duke University's Environmental School Receives $20 Million Grant". 10 October 2018. Archived 12 November 2018 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 12 November 2018.
  31. ^ "CTY announces inaugural distinguished alumni honorees". CYT News. Archived 2020-10-08 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2020-10-04.
  32. ^ "Golden Plate Awardees of the American Academy of Achievement". www.achievement.org. American Academy of Achievement. Archived 2016-12-15 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2020-10-04.
  33. ^ "2017 Summit Highlights Photo: 2017 honoree John Overdeck, math genius and co-founder of Two Sigma Investments, addresses the delegates.". American Academy of Achievement. Archived 2020-09-17 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2020-10-04.
  34. ^ "2019 Summit Highlights Photo: Summit Co-Host John Overdeck and the delegates at Four Seasons Hotel New York during the International Achievement Summit.". American Academy of Achievement. Archived 2020-09-19 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2020-10-04.
  35. ^ "John Overdeck and David Siegel to Receive Lifetime Achievement Award". Institutional Investor. May 6, 2019. Archived 2020-08-10 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2020-10-04.