Kara Rodby

Kara Rodby graduated from Northwestern University with a BS in Environmental Engineering in 2017. From there, she went on to get a PhD at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Chemical Engineering, where her thesis focused on techno-economic-informed design of redox flow batteries for grid storage. She has spent the last five years at Volta Energy Technologies, a thematic venture capital firm investing in the clean energy transition, particularly focused on battery-related hard tech. She also recently filled an operator role at one of her firm's portfolio companies - Northwestern spinout NanoGraf, commercializing silicon anodes - as their Chief Strategy Officer. Kara was named a winner of Forbes 30 Under 30 in Energy in 2024. She serves on the board of Chicago's own Degrowth Institute and the Payton Alumni Community & Endowment.