Christianna Wood, Senior Investment Officer, Global Equity for the last five years, has accepted a position as Chief Executive Officer of an alternative asset management business, Capital Z Asset Management, a leading hedge fund sponsor.
She will leave CalPERS in mid-February. Eric Baggesen, Senior Portfolio Manager, will succeed her as Acting Senior Investment Officer, Global Equity.
Since joining CalPERS in October 2002, Wood oversaw strong performance throughout the asset class -- managing as much as $150 billion in domestic and international public equities, including a $7.5 billion hedge fund portfolio and $7 billion in activist corporate governance funds.
Under her leadership, the pension fund’s Global Equity unit added internal capabilities in domestic small cap, international and emerging markets; increased in-house staff management of equity capital; and managed more than $5 billion in domestic enhanced indexed and other leading edge strategies.
During her tenure, CalPERS expanded corporate governance capabilities to successfully file and campaign for shareowner proposals at public companies, and increased the pension fund’s presence as a shareowner rights advocate at the federal level. Such efforts included advocacy of improved disclosure and transparency of environmental data among public companies and early stage public equity environmental investing.
“Christy has done an outstanding job for us, and we’re going to miss her,” said CalPERS Chief Investment Officer Russell Read. “She’s superbly skilled and has managed a huge, complex portfolio with great finesse and grace, resulting in great performance. We wish her all the best in her new role with Capital Z.”
Wood joined CalPERS from Denver Investment Advisors in Colorado, where she served as a Principal and Portfolio Manager and Director of Value Strategies. She also worked earlier as a principal and portfolio manager at two previous organizations where she managed investment teams and institutional portfolios of small- and mid-cap companies.
“While I will miss working with you, the Board and the staff, the position I am about to take is one about which I am truly excited,” Wood said in her resignation letter to Read. “The CEO position at the cutting edge of the most creative element in the investment industry, I believe, is too unique an opportunity to turn down.”
On January 24, 2008, Capital Z Investment Partners LLC announced the completion of a management buyout of its hedge fund sponsorship business (in partnership with Paine & Partners LLC, the San Francisco/New York private equity firm). As a result of the transaction, Capital Z Asset Management was formed to continue and expand the hedge fund sponsorship activities that Capital Z began in 1998.
CalPERS is the nation’s largest public pension fund with assets totaling more than $237 billion. The System provides retirement and health benefits to more than 1.5 million State and local public employees and their families. For more information on CalPERS, visit www.calpers.ca.gov.
