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Jeff
Chamberlain
CEO
Dr. Chamberlain is a proven leader with a long record of industrial product R&D and commercialization success in energy, integrated circuit, and water treatment technology. Dr. Chamberlain’s industrial experience is complemented by his ten years leading the energy storage initiatives at Argonne National Laboratory. In collaboration with the U.S. Department of Energy, Jeff led the effort to successfully transfer advanced battery technology from Argonne to LG Chem, BASF, General Motors, Toda Kogyo, General Electric, and others. Dr. Chamberlain also led the team that was awarded $120 million from the U.S. Department of Energy to develop advanced energy storage technologies for transportation and the grid, through a U.S. consortium of innovators from MIT across the country to Berkeley and Stanford. Jeff received his Ph.D. in the Physical Chemistry of Surfaces from the Georgia Institute of Technology.
David Schroeder
Managing Partner
Dr. Schroeder has focused his career on applying science to the development of profitable product manufacturing and answering technical questions posed by industry. His diverse technical experience ranges from the understanding of problems in materials science to product development and the building of working systems. He has taken multiple products and processes from early concept to successful commercial launch and volume manufacturing in the specialty chemical and semiconductor manufacturing industries. He has served in a wide variety of environments, including technology startups, mid-size and large corporations, national laboratories, and academia. Dr. Schroeder has also worked as an independent consultant for new technology development efforts, energy efficiency standards development, and analysis of the viability of new energy technologies. Dave received his Ph.D. in Material Science and Engineering from the University of Illinois.
Zander Arkin
Managing Partner
Mr. Arkin has 30 years of energy industry finance, strategy and public policy experience, including over a decade in senior roles at Riverstone Holdings, McKinsey & Company and the Harvard Electricity Policy Group. Having dedicated a significant portion of his career to renewables, other advanced electric industry technologies as well as to analysis and development of energy industry public policy and regulation, Mr. Arkin has an in-depth knowledge and understanding of emerging opportunities and associated risk for new technologies and business models in the evolving energy and power industry. Mr. Arkin holds a Masters in Public Policy from the Kennedy School of Government.
Ladd Fritz
Chief Investment Officer
Mr. Fritz has over 19 years’ experience in the asset management business, primarily investing in the energy and industrial sectors across global markets. Prior to joining Volta, Mr. Fritz was the founder and Chief Investment Officer at Polarity Investment Partners, a hedge fund focused on the energy transition and electric economy. Previous roles included managing equity portfolios for Point72 Asset Management and BlueCrest Capital Management, after beginning his career at Blackstone. He graduated from Harvard with an AB in Economics and is a CFA charterholder.
Lew Stretch
Chief Financial Officer
Mr. Stretch has over 20 years of alternative investment operations experience. He co-founded and served as COO for Covered Finance, a healthcare specialty finance company; there he designed a complex platform of operational processes and technology integrations to facilitate the business model he helped develop. Most recently Lew served as Director – Investment Manager Services PMO at SEI Investments. Prior to that he led a consulting team that assisted Fintech companies with customized risk management software implementations, served as Head of Operational Due Diligence at William Blair and Director of Operations for Brandywine Asset Management. Lew holds a B.S. degree in Business Administration – Accounting from Millersville University and has earned the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA) designation.
Mike Sodaro
Director, Management Company Operations
Mr. Sodaro has 30 years of progressive operational and project management experience— both in the Department of Energy (DOE) national laboratory system and as a business owner. At Argonne, Mike provided operations and project management support to Jeff Chamberlain to the launch of the Argonne Collaborative Center for Energy Storage Science. Mike has proven expertise in the management of large complex projects, nuclear operations, facility management, and support services. His comprehensive knowledge of operational management has led to consistently meeting or exceeding expectations of organizational short- and long-term financial, strategic, and operational goals. Mike received his B.S. degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Illinois.
Michael Rochman
Principal
Mr. Rochman has nearly a decade of investing experience across a number of industries. He is currently Managing Director & CIO of GBR Consulting where he manages credit-oriented portfolios for high net worth individuals. Prior to founding GBR Consulting, Mr. Rochman held roles in investment banking, a publicly traded credit/equity fund, turnaround & restructuring, and financial planning & analysis. Michael holds bachelor’s degrees in accountancy and finance from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
James Frith
Principal
Dr. Frith has over a decade of experience in the energy storage industry. James spent seven years working on lithium batteries in the laboratory before moving to BloombergNEF, where he led the company’s coverage of storage technologies and their associated supply chains. Using his in-depth knowledge and understanding of the techno-economics of lithium batteries, Dr. Frith has advised governments, financial institutions, and the automotive and mining sectors as they position themselves for the low carbon economy. James holds a Ph.D in Electrochemistry from the University of Southampton.
Kara Rodby
Principal, Director of Strategic Services
Dr. Rodby is a recent graduate from MIT, having completed her PhD in Chemical Engineering. Her dissertation, performed under Professor Brushett, is titled “Bringing Redox Flow Batteries to the Grid: Techno-economic Modeling for Chemistry-Informed Design of Redox Flow Batteries.” During her PhD, she developed an array of research skills including lab work, techno-economic modeling, and supply chain analyses, all focused on electrochemical energy storage technologies. Further, her research was oriented toward bolstering deployment opportunities for these systems, considering the technical and economic factors needed to transition nascent technologies to successful, long-term commercialization and operation. Outside of this field, she is also versed in and actively organizing around diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) topics in various spaces. At Volta, Dr. Rodby works as a technical analyst performing due diligence on prospective companies and executing broader techno-economic analyses to drive investment approaches.
Alex Zhang
Principal
Alex has dedicated her career to the energy transition sector, bringing over 12 years of experience as a finance and investment professional. Most recently, she was an investment professional at Just Climate, a private equity firm focused on industrial climate solutions. Previously, Alex was a founding team member at Climate Transition Capital and a core member of Green Investment Bank’s Offshore Wind Fund, where she helped raise and deploy over $1.2bn into high-impact investments. She has deep expertise in solar, offshore wind, the battery value chain, grid technologies, and hydrogen. Alex began her career as a Power & Utility M&A analyst, specializing in renewable energy advisory and capital raising. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics from Imperial College London.
Edmund Lee
Venture Partner
Mr. Lee has more than 20 years of industry and consulting experience focused on operations improvement. He has expertise in multiple industries, including energy, high technology, and industrial. In addition to Volta, Edmund works as a Director at AlixPartners a global management consulting firm. He worked at Exelon Corporation in Strategic Supply, Corporate Strategy and Business Operations. He also represents a Korean battery equipment manufacturer. He began his career as a consultant at A.T. Kearney. Edmund is native speaker of Korean and graduated from Seoul National University and holds an MBA in finance from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
Laura Smith
Executive Assistant
Mrs. Smith has over 15 years of corporate management and administrative experience. Prior to joining Volta in 2018, Laura spent time in the private travel sector where she specialized in business travel management. Throughout her career, Laura oversaw administrative operations for multiple high-volume travel management companies. Mrs. Smith holds a bachelor’s degrees in Political Science and Spanish from Northern Illinois University.
Energy technology investment specialists
Volta's leadership and established team of professionals are experienced in identifying, developing, and investing in technology companies.
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