Hedge fund moguls watch the Showtime hit “Billions” with an insider’s zeal, looking for plot lines and dialogue clues to tip them off to the real people behind the characters — as outrageously as they may be drawn. Viewers regularly debate which manager Bobby Axelrod represents — is he really Steve Cohen? But there may be only one person in the hedge fund world who closely resembles the character of Wendy Rhodes, the psychiatrist at fictional hedge fund Axe Capital whose calm demeanor and keen insight hold the place together through thick and thin.
That would be Elaine Crocker, the president of Moore Capital Management.
Just ask Louis Bacon, the Moore founder and CEO who hired Crocker 23 years ago.
“You remind me of Wendy a little bit,” Bacon emailed Crocker the day after watching a “Billions” episode that features Wendy Rhodes dealing with thorny compensation issues at Axe Capital and acting as the negotiator between a star portfolio manager and the boss.
Crocker, who doesn’t care for the show, takes the comparison in stride. Dressed in a black leather jacket with polka-dot cutouts, a short black skirt, and black stockings, she certainly looks the part of the show’s hip, fashion-forward female lead, despite being a few decades older. (She’s 72.)
To read the rest of my Institutional Investor profile of Elaine Crocker, please click onto the link below.
Michelle Celarier 