The term “angel investor” comes from 1950s Broadway, where eager producers sought wealthy individuals to get their plays off the ground. In the 1990s, such angels became synonymous with internet start-up culture. Now, Deb Henretta, a former Proctor & Gamble executive and habitué of Fortune magazine’s list of the 50 Most Powerful Women in Business, is playing such a role for a US sporting start-up: Women’s Elite Rugby.
“I am a little bit of an angel investor,” Henretta says from her home in Cincinnati, via Zoom, “because we’re just getting started, and I happen to be someone who has an absolute love and passion for rugby.”
