What I Learned

Money Man

Andrew Nye ’21, like many other recent Woodward graduates, is in the midst of pursuing an undergraduate degree. Unlike many of his compatriots, he is also a successful hedge fund manager. We talked to him about his experience since graduation.

How did your hedge fund, Shaw Circle Management, get started?

All of the co-founders, including myself, are students in the Finance Scholars program at the University of South Carolina. It’s an accelerated finance program that admits the top 5% of finance majors in their sophomore year. In 2022, we ran a "friends and family" pilot fund with around $300k managed; the industry term is a "long equity hedged derivatives fund." We are in the process of shifting to a more institutionalized fund with a target raise of five million. We will open trading again on July 1st.

What is your role with the fund?

I am the Chief Financial Officer. I manage the investors as they come on board, working with our Fund Administrator and legal counsel, and some other Swiss army knife tasks.

What has been the biggest adjustment in moving from Woodward to college?

Woodward does an incredible job positioning its students to succeed in the college environment, and the guidance and teaching one receives at Woodward definitely sets you up for success. The amount of unstructured time college brings was both the biggest adjustment and what I like most about it. Initially it was challenging because my day to day was largely fixed in high school. But now it gives me time to research, pursue, and work on things I am genuinely interested in.

What have you learned since graduation that you wish you knew before?

“It is not what you know, but who you know." If I went back in time, I would definitely talk to far more people because everyone is an expert in something and everyone has a perspective on life that is unique to them. Learning these unique perspectives is not only an enjoyable experience, but also shapes one’s worldview.

How do you hope to parlay your work on the Shaw Circle Management hedge fund into your future career?

I see myself continuing to scale this current fund. I have yet to experience anything as rewarding and motivating. It is truly something that I wake up every day excited to do and it allows me to constantly learn.

What goals do you have for the remainder of college?

For Shaw Circle, we plan to continue developing our family of investors while taking steps as a team to further optimize what we do. On the personal side of things, exercise and competition has always been my outlet, and I would love to start competing in triathlons and road races.

Where do you see yourself in five years?

One of my longer-term goals is to reduce the siloed nature of high finance. For the longest time the finance industry has been contained in cities like New York and San Francisco for only the largest of institutions. Having a part in the "democratization of finance" push that is being seen across the industry and bringing opportunities similar to those seen in the aforementioned cities to individuals across the southeast is something that I see myself working on.