Ginger Rothrock, senior director at HG Ventures, is one of our top 50 Emerging Leaders in corporate venturing for 2025.
Ginger Rothrock’s interest in sustainability was clear even at the very beginning of her career, when she worked as a research associate with the US Environmental Protection Agency.
“Even before the EPA, I’ve always been an environmental nerd,” she said. “I tried to make my own paper in eighth grade and use it, because that’s when recycling first started.”
Since her EPA days she has gained a PhD in chemistry, cofounded a biotech company and served as vice president of a research institute. She was working in the latter role when one day in 2018 she was contacted out of the blue to discuss a role at HG Ventures.
“And I just couldn’t say no. It was such a good opportunity,” she says.
HG Ventures, where she is a senior director, is the CVC arm of The Heritage Group, a family-owned holding company with business interests across waste management, recycling, construction and other large industrial sectors. It typically invests in materials, environmental solutions and industrial systems startups.
“Build that network across the corporate of those leaders that are willing to take the call and have the coffee and collaborate on ideas. That is probably the most important part”
The circular economy is an area Rothrock is excited about. Through her investments at HG Ventures, she sits on the board of Pretred, a company that recycles rubber tires to make road barriers – a solution to the problem of waste tires and the demand for more sustainable construction products.
“There’s still a lot [in the circular economy sector] to be done that doesn’t have solutions, but there’s opportunity. Like, a lot of potential energy there,” she says.
Rothrock says a CVC needs to balance boldness with pragmatism. Its job is to be more daring than the corporate parent, but this must be tempered with a team of diverse personalities that can provide restraint.
CVC units should “deeply understand [their] corporate and how it’s driven so [they] go close to but not off the reckless end,” she says.
“Build that network across the corporate of those leaders that are willing to take the call and have the coffee and collaborate on ideas. That’s probably the most important part.”
See the full list of Emerging Leaders 2025 here.
