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Seth Patinkin
Seth Patinkin is an alumnus of Indiana University (1998), where he was a Wells Scholar and recently named to its "30 under 30" list. While at Indiana University, Patinkin made contributions to dynamical systems, including two celebrated papers: Transitivity Implies Period Six and Stirring our Way to Sharkovsky's Theorem, as well as contributions to the theory of measure-preserving transformations made while he lived in Strasbourg, France, at the Universite Louis Pasteur. Patinkin subsequently completed his PhD work in mathematics at Princeton University (2002) under a fellowship from the National Science Foundation where he worked under Nobel Prize Winner John Forbes Nash, on extending Nash's theory of equilibria to a multi-player bargaining solution.
Starting in 1999, Patinkin has been involved in business applications of mathematics. Patinkin has three patents in the United States and one in Great Britain. His first business venture was a project at the Chicago Board of Trade in which his "Gamma Pi" theory was used as a platform to assist in complex decision-making involving numerous financial variables. The novel idea behind Gamma Pi was to use the rich theory behind measure-preserving automorphism of the square as a means of multi-dimensional data visualization.
A year later, Gamma Pi was utilized by Patinkin to create a new private key matching algorithm and these results were presented at the International Association of Cryptologic Research in Santa Barbara, CA. There has been some discussion that Gamma Pi signatures were used to transmit highly sensitive information between ground control and mobile troops in Iraq and Afghanistan in recent years.
While at Princeton, Patinkin teamed up with Leonid Koralov, a professor in the mathematics department, to co-found KPRG, an investment advisor which utilized proprietary stochastic analytics to take positions in hundreds of domestic equities overnight. Whereas most so-called statistical arbitrage firms do not tolerate the risk associated with overnight positions, this was KPRG's focus. KPRG grew substantially when it landed an account at the Ontario Teachers Pension Plan, based in Toronto, Ontario.
Subsequent to his work at KPRG LLC, Patinkin founded CUTTR Inc., an email discovery start-up, in late 2003, with financing from Lucio Noto, the former CEO of Exxon-Mobil, and Kelly Martin, the CEO of Elan Pharmaceuticals. CUTTR's product is based on the discovery of a new ultra-fast and portable hash algorithm, CHT, also patented by Patinkin. This CHT algorithm proved very reliable for distinguishing similar-looking email messages. CUTTR Inc. was acquired by Vericept Corporation in 2006.
More recently, Patinkin has gained notoriety for filing suit against the City of Bloomington, Indiana. Patinkin's lawsuit, Seth Patinkin v. City of Bloomington et al. (2007-cv-00482, S.D. Ind.) charges various city officials with making anti-semitic comments during zoning and safety inspections at rental properties owned by Patinkin.
Patinkin lives in Chicago, Illinois, where he works in the investment business. On the side, Patinkin is an active supporter of United States Congressman Rahm Emanuel as well as former Bloomington resident Daniel Biss, whom is running for the State Representative for the 17th District in Illinois. Patinkin is engaged to be married to Pamela M. Koszut, whom works as a corporate attorney and volunteers for the Anti-Cruelty Society. Patinkin and Koszut are actively involved in a number of charitable activities in the greater Chicago area, including the Jewish United Fund.
