Nelson Obus is an American businessman, hedge fund manager and out-spoken critic of the SEC.

He is the co-founder, president and Chief Investment Officer of Wynnefield Capital, Inc., an employee-owned hedge fund, specializing in value stocks of small-cap companies.

[4][5] In 1981 he began working as an Analyst at the investment bank Lazard Freres & Co. with future Wynnefield Capital partner Joshua Landes.

[13] In May 2014, after a 12-year battle, Obus and a Wynnefield analyst were exonerated of insider trading accusations made by the SEC in a trial by jury.

He penned an op-ed on regulatory overreach for The Wall Street Journal, questioning SEC accountability and the cost of long investigations and wrongful settlements to the U.S.