About

About Hypatia Capital

Our Vision

Hypatia Capital is an asset management investing in women in leadership.

Our vision in is one of equality.

We believe in talent and performance. We know that in order to become a high level executive of a Fortune 1000 company or a successful fund manager, talent, drive and stellar performance records are a must. If you are a woman, the bar is just that much higher. Our chosen talent pool are proven performers.

Hypatia Capital believes there should be more women at the helm of America’s largest corporations and in the investment management industry. We strive to make this a reality by focusing on investing in women in leadership in all asset classes.  We will not be satisfied until women are as well represented in the CEO suite as they are in the workforce overall.

Our Solutions

The Hypatia Women CEO ETF (NYSE: WCEO) invests in all American public companies with a female CEO, small to mega cap.

TheHypatia Women CEO Index (HWCEO) – Powered by Wilshire is designed to measure the performance of female leadership in publicly traded companies.

The Hypatia Women Hedge Fund Index (HWIX) – Powered by Wilshire is designed to measure female hedge fund performance.

Our hedge fund initiative, the Hypatia Women Fund Managers I (HWFM) is a proactive solution for qualified investors to invest directly in women hedge fund managers who meet certain rules-based criteria. Our goal is to grow the percentage of hedge fund AUM managed by women, and increase the prominence of these exceptional managers within the institutional investor community.

Our private equity initiative, currently on hiatus, includes both growth equity and buyout transactions. Our deal size is lower-middle market to middle-market transactions, where we collaborate with larger private equity funds.

Our Team

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Patricia Lizarraga

Managing Partner

Patricia Lizarraga is the managing partner of Hypatia Capital, an asset manager focused on investing in women in leadership since 2007.  Hypatia Capital Management is the issuer of the Hypatia Women CEO ETF (WCEO), an ETF investing in American public companies with female CEOs, small to mega cap.  The WCEO has been nominated for Best Thematic ETF of the Year for the ETF.com Awards, 2023.  Hypatia Capital also publishes both the Hypatia Women CEO Index, and the Hypatia Women Hedge Fund Index, both measure and promoting female performance in each asset class.  Ms. Lizarraga has over 25 years of merchant banking experience, as well as is a founder of several successful companies. Ms. Lizarraga founded the Grupo del Ande in 1997 and is a founding and former Investment Committee member of Sigma SAFI, a leading asset manager in Peru.  Prior to founding Hypatia Capital, she was a Managing Director at Credit Agricole Securities’ New York mergers & acquisitions group. She started her merchant banking career at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette.

Ms. Lizarraga serves as an independent board member of Credicorp Ltd. (NYSE:BAP), the largest financial services conglomerate in Peru,  where she is Chair of the Audit Committee, and former Chair of the Corporate Governance Committee.  She also serves on the Board of Directors of Banco de Credito del Peru, the largest bank in Peru.  She is a former trustee of the John Hancock Group of Funds. She has served as the President of the Privatization Committee of the Toll Roads of Peru.  Ms. Lizarraga is a Trustee for the Museum of Art of Lima.

Ms. Lizarraga received her Bachelor of Arts degree, cum laude, from Yale University and her Master of Business Administration from the Harvard Business School.

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John Grenawalt

Chief Operating Officer

Mr. Grenawalt is the Chief Operating Officer at Hypatia Capital. He is a member of the Investment Committee.  He is also responsible for the research operations of the Hypatia Women Hedge Fund Index – Powered by Wilshire and Hypatia Women Fund Managers I.  Mr. Grenawalt also is also responsible for leading and training our analyst intern team. He received his Bachelor of Science in Applied Economics and Management from Cornell University. 

Elizabeth Stafford

Chief Marketing Officer

Ms. Stafford is the Chief Marketing Officer at Hypatia Capital, where she is responsible for the launch and implementation of the Hypatia Investathon. Launched in 2023, the Hypatia Investathon helps narrow the gender wealth gap by providing actionable financial education to young women so they can start their investment journey early and attain financial freedom. Previously, she was CEO of babyMed, a leading fertility and pregnancy resource. While at babyMed, she oversaw the build and launch of Obie, a new fertility and pregnancy solutions provider. Previously, she was Managing Director and Head of Strategy for Sullivan and Four32C, prizewinning innovative digital marketing agencies. She started her career in marketing at Disney, Bloomingdale’s and J.Crew, and went on to lead the marketing and business development team at Condé Nast Digital. There she worked with leading brands such as Epicurious, Style.com, Vogue, GQ, Condé Nast Traveler and many others.

Ms. Stafford received her Bachelor of Arts degree with a dual major in History and Economics from Yale University.

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Roberto Mendoza

Advisory Board Chair

Mr. Mendoza has led a distinguished career as a financial services industry executive and as a board member and advisor to some of the world’s leading corporations, including serving 10 years as Vice Chairman of the Board and Member of the Executive Committee of JP Morgan where he worked for 30 years and led the M&A, Capital Markets and Private Equity businesses.  He subsequently co-founded a risk management firm and continued working as an advisory banker for select clients.

Currently, Roberto serves on the Boards of RFHL and Western Union. He has also served as a board member of XL Capital (Chairman), Egg (Chairman), ACE, Alicorp, Banesto, Baosteel Metal, BOC Group, Continental Airlines, Manpower, Mid Ocean, Partner Re, Prudential, Reuters, the Travelers Group, and Vitro. Mr. Mendoza also served as President of the Chatham House Foundation and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.  Mr. Mendoza earned a B.A. in history from Yale University and an M.B.A. (Baker Scholar) from Harvard Business School.

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Margaret Mager

Senior Advisor

Ms. Mager is a Senior Advisor at Hypatia Capital. Previously, she was a Managing Director at Goldman Sachs in Global Investment Research from 1995 until 2007. In this role she led a team of 19 research professionals covering more than 90 stocks across all sectors of retail. Ms. Mager was named an All Star Analyst for nine consecutive years (1999-2007) by Institutional Investor, and recognized as a top analyst in surveys by Greenwich Associates, Reuters, Starmine, and The Wall Street Journal. Her corporate and investor clients valued her industry knowledge and strategic perspective. While at Goldman Sachs, Ms. Mager assessed mergers and divestitures for strategic and financial soundness and worked on numerous primary and secondary transactions, including IPO’s of Polo Ralph Lauren, Columbia Sportswear, Carter’s Childrenswear, Coach, UnderArmour, Maidenform, J. Crew, and Lululemon.

Upon leaving Goldman Sachs she became a senior advisor to the CEO of Liz Claiborne as it restructured a portfolio of 41 branded businesses. She then joined Kekst & Company as a strategic and financial communications consultant. Earlier in her career, Ms. Mager held various investment and research positions focused on the consumer sector at General American Investors, Smith Barney, Harris Upham, Inc, and Morgan Stanley. She began her career at Macy’s, Inc. in FP&A.

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Margaret Covell

Senior Advisor, Strategy and Operations

Margaret brings over 28 years of experience working with organizations on strategy development, capability building and organizational change. In 2006, Margaret joined private equity firm Thomas H. Lee Partners (THL) as a Managing Director to build the internal Strategic Resource Group which works with portfolio company CEOs and their management teams to implement strategic initiatives, as well as operational diligence of target companies. Margaret served as a Director of the Board of Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, Inc.

Prior to joining THL, Margaret spent 15 years at the Monitor Group, a global strategy consulting firm. She was promoted to Partner in the initial Partnership cohort, and built and led the firm’s operations strategy business unit.

Margaret serves as an Executive Search Advisor with Pinnacle Search Partners within their private equity practice. In addition to her advisory work, Margaret is an Executive Fellow at the Center for Higher Ambition Leadership with a focus on the private equity space.

Margaret earned a BA in English Literature, cum laude, from Colgate University and an MBA from the Harvard Business School.

Catharine Gately

Senior Advisor

Catherine Gately is an experienced communications executive, expert storyteller and brand builder.

 

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Keitha Pansy

Senior Advisor

Keitha Y. Pansy, CPA, advises Hypatia Capital’s overall fundraising and investor relations strategy. 

Keitha has over 15 years of asset management experience from top global firms, including 12 years with BlackRock working within the Institutional Client Business, the Defined Contribution Business, and Business Operations. Prior to BlackRock, Keitha was a private banker at JPMorgan Private Bank where she managed relationships for ultra-high net worth clientele, consisting of individuals and family-offices. She also spent several years as a Senior Accountant within the Assurance and Business Advisory Group of ArthurAndersen.

Keitha graduated summa cum laude from Howard University with a BBA in Accounting, and an MBA with a focus in Finance from the Haas School of Business, UC Berkeley.