Roger Strauch is chair of The Roda Group, an early-stage venture capital firm he co-founded with Dan Miller in 1997. Roda invests in people, technologies, and companies that address the consequences of climate change, natural resource contamination or scarcity, and the transition to low-carbon energy. Notable investments include Svante (carbon capture), Gridtential Energy (advanced silicon batteries) and Axine Water Technologies (PFAS eradication). Roger is on the board of Chart Industries (NYSE: GTLS), which was recently acquired by Baker Hughes (NYSE: BKR) for $13.6 billion. He was formerly chair of Cool Systems (gameready.com, sold to Avanos), was CEO and Chair of Ask Jeeves (sold to NASDAQ: IAC), and CEO and a board member of Symmetricom (sold to NASDAQ: MSCC). Other tech companies Roger and Dan helped develop were sold to HP, Logitech, and American Greetings. He co-founded TCSI Corp with Dan Miller in 1983 and was its CEO, leading it from start-up to IPO and a public secondary offering. Prior to TCSI, he was a communications system engineer and project manager for Hughes Aircraft’s (now Boeing) Space and Communications Group.

In addition to his business achievements, Roger is deeply involved in supporting academic, artistic, and philanthropic institutions and initiatives. He was an executive board member of the Tony Award winning Berkeley Repertory Theatre for over 20 years, including service as board president, where he funded the Roda Theatre and received the Helen C. Barber Award for serving the theatre with unique distinction. For 25 years, Roger was an executive board member of The Simons Laufer Mathematical Sciences Institute (SLMath, formerly MSRI), a premier collaborative and privately funded research institution supported by the National Science Foundation, serving as board chair and funding the Strauch Postdoctoral Fellows. He is a member of the Engineering Dean’s College Advisory Board at the University of California, Berkeley, where he endowed the Roger A. Strauch Chair in Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences. Roger and his wife Dr. Julie Kulhanjian were named “Builders of Berkeley,” and he is the recipient of the University’s Wheeler Oak Meritorious Award. He also serves on the board of trustees of the Northside Center for Child Development in Harlem, NYC. With his brother Hans, Roger is the co-Trustee of The Mosse Foundation, which supports humanitarian, educational, and cultural enhancement initiatives worldwide, including the Mosse Global Lecture Series and academic positions that span a variety of disciplines. The Mosse Foundation has partnered with the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley for the Strauch Cleantech to Market Program, a collaboration between graduate students, startups, and industry professionals that accelerates the commercialization of leading cleantech solutions. Roger is also the leader of the Mosse Art Restitution Project, a global search for his step-family’s Nazi-looted artifacts, the largest and most successful project of its kind.

Roger is a licensed amateur radio operator who holds two patents in wireless communications, and earned degrees in electrical engineering from Cornell (BS) and Stanford (MS) Universities.

Press:

AAP Announces New Annual Strauch Early Career Fellow Appointment
Cornell College of Architecture, Art, and Planning | April 1, 2024

The Lost Maidens of Berlin
Smithsonian Magazine | June 2018

Interview with Roger Strauch, representative of the co-heirs of Rudolf Mosse
Kulturstiftung der Länder (Cultural Foundation of the German Federal States) | March 7, 2017

Nazi art theft: Germany helps Jewish collector’s heirs hunt stolen works
The Guardian | March 7, 2017