She named her investment firm after the Ark of the Covenant

A devout Christian, Wood found inspiration for her company while reading The One-Year Bible. She often came across passages describing the Ark of the Covenant – the chest said to have held the Ten Commandments – being taken by the Israelites into battle. On the daily devotional podcast Jesus Calling, Wood said her company was founded on faith and added: “As I began to get this idea of a firm going and realised that I was fighting this war, I knew I had to name my company ‘Ark’ for Ark of the Covenant.”

One analyst’s trash was a young Wood’s treasure

Wood’s eye for “disruptive innovation” was honed in the early days of her career at Jennison Associates. As a young equity research analyst, she didn’t have first pick of what to cover, meaning that she ended up with what others didn’t want, which at the time were emerging internet and wireless stocks. Wood saw first-hand the value of these companies and how they had the potential not just for financial returns but to transform the way the world worked. She’s since continued to identify and back disruptive innovators, with Ark focusing especially on firms in the fields of artificial intelligence, robotics, energy storage, DNA sequencing and blockchain.

She’s a big believer in a Tesla-driven future

Speaking of innovation, Wood has long been bullish on Tesla, which is the largest holding in her company’s flagship Ark Innovation ETF.

Her confidence in Elon Musk’s firm goes far beyond its current electric-vehicle output, looking instead at its prospects as an AI pioneer and autonomous ride-hailing service provider that could change the way we travel – and live – in the future.

She supported Donald Trump’s 2020 re-election

Wood backed the 45th president’s bid for re-election – a move that was seemingly incongruent with her invested interests in companies touting science-based solutions. But the Ark founder explained that she was assessing the situation “from a strict economic view”, rationalising that innovation would be better fuelled by continued lower taxes and regulations promised under Trump’s administration.

The internet loves her

Aside from being widely respected by professional investors, Wood also has a huge online fan base and is a particular favourite of the Reddit community. Part of the reason for this is because she makes information traditionally accessible only to financial elites accessible to the masses, publishing Ark research for free and openly sharing her insights and opinions on social media. She’s so popular that she’s even inspired a line of merchandise that includes T-shirts and hoodies emblazoned with the tickers of her firm’s actively managed ETFs.

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