These are the 50 mid-career professionals who are influencing the corporate venturing industry.

CVC’s “jazz band” of scientists, bankers and entrepreneurs

Michael Stewart, managing partner at Microsoft’s M12 investment arm, might have the record for the number of patents personally held by a GCV Emerging Leader – 40. He is an inventor and engineer at heart, but currently leads M12’s investments in the red-hot area of AI.

Paths into corporate venturing can be non-traditional and every year the GCV Emerging Leaders list uncovers an array of people with colourful backgrounds, from ex-military personnel to former founders and scientists.

Each type of corporate investor brings their own skills. Artur Faria, CEO of Oxygea, now sadly shut down, brought a startup mentality that helped keep the team in that lean hustle mode that can be so good for innovation.

Meanwhile, at HG Ventures, the US construction and chemicals group, Ginger Rothrock has a PhD in chemistry and a history of working for the US Environmental Protection Agency. She brings that knowledge to her investments focused on industrial recycling.

Because corporate venturing requires a broad skillset, from financial nous to technical sector expertise and the soft skills of managing corporate stakeholders, everyone agrees that a strong CVC team is one that has people from a variety of backgrounds.

“We are like a jazz band – everyone has their own solo,” says Faria. The band, ultimately, plays the same piece of music.

Despite disparate backgrounds, two traits seem to unite most of our Emerging Leaders. One is that they are champion networkers, both inside and outside their corporations.

“This is a very relationship-driven ecosystem. You need to build strong rapport, confidence and position yourself outside and inside your organisation,” says Sebastian Spena, managing director at Galicia Ventures.

Emerging Leaders are also very clear in their role as champions for the startups in their portfolio. “It is all about bringing value to the founders that you are working with,” says Alex Smout, investment director at Maersk Growth.

Another key quality for Emerging Leaders is patience. Venture investing is a slow-burn business and building a reputation and a track record is something that takes time. As Sean Wright, investment principal at JLL Spark, puts it: “Remember, Rome was not built in a day. Your investment career is going to be something that proves itself over decades not a couple years.”

Emerging Leaders 2025 (alphabetically in order of surname) 

Download the 2025 GCV Emerging Leaders list here

Rising Stars cover

See GCV’s list of Rising Stars for 2025

These are early-career stars in corporate venturing