When a 30-year-old private equity firm creates its first-ever Chief AI and Data Officer role, it says something about where the industry is headed. On February 2, 2026, Waud Capital Partners announced that Prithvi Raj had joined the Chicago-based firm in exactly that capacity. The appointment is the clearest public signal yet that Reeve Waud, the firm’s founder and managing partner, intends to make data and artificial intelligence central to how WCP operates over the next decade.
Raj arrives from Newmark, where he most recently served as General Manager and Head of AI and Data, leading the commercial real estate firm’s enterprise-wide AI strategy. Before Newmark, he spent years at Microsoft, Zynga, and SquareFoot, consistently in roles focused on turning data into measurable business outcomes. His resume reads less like a typical finance hire and more like the profile of someone who has spent a career building analytics and AI capabilities inside operating companies. That is almost certainly the point.
Reeve Waud, a longtime fixture in Chicago’s private equity community, framed the hire in a statement that is worth reading carefully. “Prithvi’s experience building enterprise-grade AI and analytics capabilities will help us deepen our partnership with management teams,” he said. The word “partnership” was deliberate. WCP has spent three decades building a reputation as an operator-friendly firm, one that works alongside management rather than over them and that has begun publishing its own responsible-investing disclosures in recent years. Adding a dedicated AI leader gives the firm a new tool to help those management teams grow, rather than a mechanism for stripping out costs or replacing human judgment at portfolio companies.
For a firm with the history of WCP, that context matters. Founded in 1993, Waud Capital has completed more than 500 investments across multiple institutional funds, with sustained focus on two sectors: healthcare and software and technology. Both are data-rich industries where thoughtful AI applications can meaningfully move the needle on diligence, operations, and value creation. Healthcare brings regulatory complexity and vast clinical and claims data. Software brings recurring revenue models and native digital footprints. Raj’s remit sits squarely at the intersection.
In his own statement, Raj highlighted the fit. “WCP’s focus on healthcare and software and technology, combined with its collaborative approach, creates a powerful platform to apply AI and data in transformative ways,” he said. Translation: he is being asked to build a capability that can be applied across the portfolio and the firm’s investment process over time, rather than to run a single experiment.
What makes this hire notable within the broader private equity landscape is its timing and scale. The mega-funds, including Blackstone and KKR, have been building AI and data teams for several years. Mid-market firms have been slower to follow. WCP’s decision to install a senior, operator-caliber leader, rather than a consultant or a part-time advisor, signals a more durable commitment than many of its peers have made to date, as coverage in the PE trade press noted.
The question now is what Raj actually builds. Internally, that likely means better diligence tooling, sharper pattern recognition across 500-plus prior deals, and a firm-wide data layer that supports faster, better-informed decisions. Externally, it means portfolio companies getting structured help applying AI to their own operations rather than figuring it out alone. For Reeve Waud, whose track record has been built on patient partnership with management teams, adding that capability is less a pivot than a natural next step.
