Vetting investment talent has long been Christianna Wood’s forte. Now the former California Public Employees’ Retirement System exec is scrutinizing hedge funds. Wood, who took over as CEO of New York–based hedge fund sponsor Capital Z Asset Management in March, spoke for the first time last month about why she left the powerful CalPERS, where she oversaw investment strategy and policy for the fund’s $150 billion portfolio of global equities. Capital Z has sponsored 17 hedge funds that currently manage more than $12 billion, and the chance to work closely with hedge fund managers developing their businesses appealed to the entrepreneurial 48-year-old native of Rochester, New York. After five years of helping drive CalPERS’s manager development and shareholder activist programs, Wood is eager to extend Capital Z’s portfolio of hedge fund holdings. “A lot of people think emerging managers are riskier,” Wood says. “While the firms may be young, their founders are often very experienced and ready to take the entrepreneurial plunge.”
