About Hypatia Capital

Our Vision

Hypatia Capital is an asset management firm 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 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 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.

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

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 Talent

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, for performance, diversification and impact. The WCEO has been nominated for Best Thematic ETF of the Year for the ETF.com Awards, 2023. 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.

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.

Our Advisory Board

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.

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.

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.

Lucia Skwarek - Advisor

Lucia Skwarek has nearly 40 years of frontline experience in financial markets. Most recently, she was responsible for Union Bank of Switzerland’s relationships with many of their largest private clients and their advisors, assisting families with over $100 mm in net worth to navigate the challenges of great wealth. Previous to UBS, Ms. Skwarek advised on asset allocations for large endowments and foundations, as well as managed the public equity portfolio for a large family office. After managing UBS Latin American Equity Group for four years, she founded and ran her own emerging market hedge fund for 4 years. Previous to UBS, Ms. Skwarek spent 14 years at JP Morgan in a variety of roles, managing emerging markets fixed income, equity, and propriety trading desks, as well as investment banking in Mexico City. She graduated from the University of California at Berkeley with a BA in Rhetoric. She is fluent in Spanish. She is most proud of her philanthropic efforts, donating 65 acres to the Rensselaer Plateau Alliance which has been transformed into the Gutierrez Family Forest, a public nature preserve in upstate New York.

Kristina Montague - Advisor

Kristina Montague is Managing Partner of the JumpFund, an early-stage fund with a mission to engage more women in angel investing and increase access to capital for female founders across the Southeast US. She is also a partner in Next Wave Impact Fund, which invests in impact ventures through a gender lens. Kristina serves on the boards of the Angel Capital Association, UT Chattanooga Rollins College of Business, Footprint Foundation, and Teach For America Nashville/Chattanooga. She is also the author of the forthcoming book Jump In: The Story of the JumpFund and Growing Women’s Capital. Her personal philosophy for both investing and philanthropy is: "Invest in the change you want to see in the world."