Founder, CEO and CIO, ARK Invest
Cathie Wood founded ARK Invest around a single idea: invest in disruptive innovation and accept the volatility that comes with it. Her funds had a spectacular 2020, an equally spectacular fall afterwards, and have been the subject of fierce debate ever since. ARK is unusually transparent: the funds' daily trades are simply published.
Wood is the sharpest contrast with the value investors on this list, and that is exactly what makes her useful. Where Buffett and Smith talk about defensible profit margins, she talks about technologies not yet making a profit. Put the two views side by side and you see the tension the whole market currently turns on.
Starts at Capital Group as an economist, after studying in Los Angeles.
Spends eighteen years at Jennison Associates as economist and portfolio manager.
Becomes manager of global thematic strategies at AllianceBernstein.
Founds ARK Invest after her employer rejects her idea for active innovation ETFs.
Her flagship fund soars and ARK becomes globally known.
The funds lose a large part of their value as rates rise.
Quotes still to be added. Only add them together with a source and a date.
Updated: 2026-07-23
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