James Mawson reviews the current issues in the annual Emerging Leaders countdown
The Global Corporate Venturing Emerging Leaders Awards profiles the industry’s top 50 people who have been in the industry for broadly more than five years.
It is always a joy to watch superstars emerge and become the role models for an industry. Last year’s number one-ranked GCV Emerging Leaders awardee, Dina Routhier, was promptly promoted to head of Stanley Black & Decker’s corporate venturing unit, replacing the legendary Larry Harper.
Previously, a GCV Rising Stars winner before taking top prize in the Emerging Leaders category, Routhier has continued to accelerate the impact corporate venturing and innovation has on the entrepreneurs and parent company. Through the support of James Loree, CEO of Stanley Black & Decker and a keynote speaker at this year’s GCVI Summit in California, the industrial tools company is driving results through strategic investments to partner with startups developing technologies that redefine industries. This accelerates innovation opportunities and builds competitive advantage.
This year’s winners are having similar impact in their organisations. And in society.
Economist Carlota Perez has a very clear understanding of what needs to happen next. In discussion with Tom Clark at Prospect magazine she identified the need for a common sense or paradigm to bring out the best of the technology and innovation.
Sir Ronald Cohen, chairman of the Global Steering Group on impact investing and the so-called father of European venture capital and private equity, gave the opening address at November’s GCV Symposium in London, UK, and described how the invisible heart of impact investing was driving the invisible hand of the markets.
This impact lens seems to fit as a signal for growth – even oil major ExxonMobil is now talking about requiring a carbon price to help the market function in energy. Collectively, the Emerging Leaders and other professional CVCs, increasingly trained and benchmarked through the GCV Institute, shape what the world will become.
Venture capital has supported $18 trillion of value created for US-listed companies in the past few decades with a fraction of capital and value-added support the best investors now bring to bear.
The GCV Emerging Leaders carry the responsibility and opportunity to create strategic and financial returns for the next few decades.
About the Emerging Leaders selection process
The process involved researching more than 20,000 industry professionals across more than 2,000 corporate venturing units. GCV was looking for those below the top rank of the venturing hierarchy with broadly more than five years’ experience in the industry based on their deals, career development so far, being an heir apparent or being the glue in the unit.
For both sets of stars, as well as the longer list of potential candidates and nominations received and examined, the input of their managers was important as nominators and for their feedback on why they, as an Emerging Leader, are so good.
About Global Corporate Venturing
My thanks to Liwen-Edison Fu for his work on this year’s research and supplement alongside profile writers Fernando Moncada and Alessia Argentieri, Poonum Chauhan for production, Raksha Santilal for design and Christina Riboldi and her team at CRA for the awards ceremony, and to all the team at GCV for helping to make this happen.
If there is any other help we can give through our GCV Leadership Society, our GCV Connect powered by Proseeder deals tool, our GCV Analytics platform that offers insights as a service by unlocking our proprietary data, the GCV Institute and Benchmark for specialist training at sites around the world and online, or our magazine and news service, let us know.
