Cathie Wood’s Ark names ‘chief futurist’ as innovation-themed ETFs fall
- Brett Winton, director of research at Ark, will assume the new role of ‘chief futurist’, according to a statement issued Wednesday
- Ark is emphasising its focus on the future as its products have faltered this year under pressure from red-hot inflation and monetary tightening
Cathie Wood’s Ark Investment Management named its first “chief futurist” as the firm’s innovation-themed ETFs struggle in this year’s volatile market.
Brett Winton, director of research, will assume the new role, according to a statement Wednesday. He will “focus on the convergence between and among the five innovation platforms” Ark targets – artificial intelligence, robotics, energy storage, genomic sequencing and blockchain technology.
Ark is emphasising its focus on the future with the new position as its products have faltered this year under pressure from red-hot inflation and monetary tightening. The flagship Ark Innovation ETF has tumbled 56 per cent in 2022.
“What Cathie is selling is the future,” said Eric Balchunas, senior ETF analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence. Chief futurist is a “new kind of flashy title”.
In the statement, Wood said that the reorganisation will “develop deeper expertise in various research domains while surfacing convergences between and among technologies that are creating S-curves feeding S-curves”.
The firm also promoted four senior research analysts to directors, while hiring five research associates. The expansion could signal Ark’s confidence, that they are “breathing a sigh of relief that they were able to not see any kind of mass exodus in the fund and a lot of people stuck with them”, Balchunas said.
While some fans are also starting to lose faith, with ARKK in August seeing its biggest monthly outflow in nearly a year, the flagship fund has still seen net positive flows this year.