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Investor and innovator, Cathie Wood, moves headquarters from New York to St. Pete

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (WFLA) – A multi-millionaire investor and innovator is wrapping up her first work week living in the Tampa Bay area. ‘Ark Invest’s CFO and CIO, Cathie Wood, officially moved the headquarters of the company from New York to St. Pete this past weekend and acted as a Keynote Speaker at the Florida Bitcoin and Blockchain Summit at the Amalie Arena in Tampa. So who is Cathie Wood? “On my LinkedIn profile, it says ‘mother’ of course, very important,” Wood told McLarty. She continued, “However, in terms of career, I’ve been passionate about innovation and disruptive innovation.” The 65-year-old said innovation is key to growth and she hopes her company can help the Tampa Bay area thrive. “St. Pete has the opportunity to become the next Austin, Texas. A thriving city with young people who are involved in the arts, music, culture, and all things innovation,” Wood said. “We have just felt so welcomed,” Wood said Tampa Bay area businesses are residents have expressed so much excitement since her headquarters arrived in St. Pete. The new Headquarters of ‘Ark invest’ is now at 200 Central Avenue downtown. window.loadAnvato({“mcp”:”LIN”,”width”:”100%”,”height”:”100%”,”video”:”7126597″,”autoplay”:false,”expect_preroll”:true,”pInstance”:”p1″,”plugins”:{“comscore”:{“clientId”:”6036439″,”c3″:”wfla.com”,”script”:”//w3.mp.lura.live/player/prod/v3/plugins/comscore/comscoreplugin.min.js”,”useDerivedMetadata”:true,”mapping”:{“video”:{“c3″:”wfla.com”,”ns_st_st”:”wfla”,”ns_st_pu”:”Nexstar”,”ns_st_ge”:”News,News,News,Local News,Video”,”cs_ucfr”:””},”ad”:{“c3″:”wfla.com”,”ns_st_st”:”wfla”,”ns_st_pu”:”Nexstar”,”ns_st_ge”:”News,News,News,Local News,Video”,”cs_ucfr”:””}}},”dfp”:{“adTagUrl”:”https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/ads?sz=1×1000&iu=/5678/mg.wfla/news/local_news/landing&impl=s&gdfp_req=1&env=vp&output=vmap&vid=short_onecue&unviewed_position_start=1&ad_rule=1&description_url=https://www.wfla.com/news/local-news/feed/&cust_params=vid%3D7126597%26vidcat%3D/news/local_news%26bob_ck%3D[bob_ck_val]%26d_code%3Dna003″},”nielsen”:{“apid”:”PF6F249F0-D03A-4863-9CDC-A1A9A1FC2315″,”sfcode”:”dcr”,”type”:”dcr”,”apn”:”Anvato”,”environment”:”production”,”useDerivedMetadata”:true,”mapping”:{“adloadtype”:2,”adModel”:2}},”segmentCustom”:{“script”:”https://segment.psg.nexstardigital.net/anvato.js”,”writeKey”:”r8ek1VmgcKfFR0e3ybLT12UdNDdp9UjA”,”pluginsLoadingTimeout”:12}},”expectPrerollTimeout”:8,”accessKey”:”XEaYoy88zvleku6RWLF7Fjpa9Dyj8BPN”,”token”:”eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJ2aWQiOiI3MTI2NTk3IiwiaXNzIjoiWEVhWW95ODh6dmxla3U2UldMRjdGanBhOUR5ajhCUE4iLCJleHAiOjE2MzYxNTcyNzV9.uzibYsNJJFbekrp1gtE5ppnnBpklRVxMXgvtUB-DJlM”,”nxs”:{“mp4Url”:”https://tkx.mp.lura.live/rest/v2/mcp/video/7126597?anvack=Rawk5AaXd3LVZIRoV3uerCkdB3KQ0dnD&token=%7E6Sm7d5YOakS5NS9TY1miXbloGseZvo70MQ%3D%3D”,”enableFloatingPlayer”:true},”disableMutedAutoplay”:false,”recommendations”:false,”expectPreroll”:true,”titleVisible”:true,”pauseOnClick”:true,”trackTimePeriod”:60}); Wood said she founded Ark Invest in 2014 because she didn’t think there was enough research and investments being put into truly transformative innovation. She said her focus is investing in companies founded on innovation including DNA sequencing, robotics, energy storage, artificial intelligence, and blockchain technologies. “We give away our research for free on social media because we want to engage with and become a part of the communities we are researching,” Wood said. So what made Wood choose Pinellas County? “The whole Tampa Bay region seems to me all about innovation. Maybe I have been focused on it and have found it, but I found a lot of it on both sides of the bridge,” Wood said. “We wanted to move to a community where we thought we could make a real difference in terms of shaping it around innovation as much as possible and all the growth and opportunity there is around innovation.” She went on to say the employee base of ‘Ark Invest’ is very young and most of her employees have expressed wanting to be part of something important. “We believe truly transformation innovation is valued in the equity markets at roughly 14-trillion dollars globally around the world,” Wood said. She continued, that’s a little more than 10% of all the value of equities around the world. “During the next 10 years, we think the 14-trillion dollars is going to scale to something north of 200-trillion dollars. That’s the opportunity we’re going after and it’s pretty exciting,” Wood said with a smile on her face. Wood said she plans to bring innovative research, help start-up entrepreneurship, and work with the education system to help everyone in St. Pete flourish. “Incubating them in our innovation center will be very important. I also believe Ark Invest the company has become synonymous with innovation and I would hope our choice of St. Pete would register [for other incoming businesses as well],” Wood said. From toddlers to high schoolers, Wood thinks innovation should be implemented in school systems more. “Education through the lens of innovation is going to be critically important in the years ahead,” Wood said. She continued and said the education community has embraced their arrival, especially the two Innovation Center leaders as well as the Pinellas County School District Superintendent and the Director of Learning. Wood said her goal is to open new dimensions on research to better the lives of others. “I wanted to not only become a part of that and encourage it but share our research with the world. Help parents, grandparents, students get on the right side of change. Because believe me, the next 5-10 years are going to be mind-blowing,” Wood said. “Innovation is key to growth and we are on the threshold of innovation, the likes of which we have not seen since the early 1900s, telephone, electricity, and automobile. But it’s going to be more profound this time! So get on and stay on the right side of change,” Wood said. Wood said the best way to follow her latest news is to follow her on Twitter. Wood said when the company is more settled into their new building they plan to host events in St. Pete to involve the broader community.
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Written by: Christine McLarty