$244 billion man to set up own green VC fund

If you spent your days pushing around £124 billion, it must be difficult to find a new career that would still get your pulse racing. Great white shark wrestler, professional russian roulette player, Naomi Campbell’s maid – the options must be somewhat limited.

None of the above, apparently – the answer is, of course, green tech.

Russell Read is the chief investment officer of the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (Calpers) and is used to handing $244 billion’s worth of raw cash for the pension fund.

But, he told The Independent he’s had enough of that particular fund and he’s off to start his own VC firm with an eye on clean tech.

According to Read, not enough money is getting to companies quickly enough – which is where his VC venture will come in.

Read told the Indy:

“We could find new sources of energy without causing the same crises that we are seeing at the moment. What is missing is investment vehicles that can identify and develop and scale up the most compelling opportunities that are being developed by research institutions and other private sector initiatives.”

Among the sectors tickling his fancy are wood biofuels, the Independent says.