Carmichael Roberts

Co-Founder Carmichael Roberts’ successes as an entrepreneur-investor in materials provide the basis for Material Impact’s investment strategy. Throughout his career, Roberts honed a unique business model of licensing university technology and commercializing it through targeted partnerships with Fortune 500 companies.

Roberts also co-leads the investment committee at Breakthrough Energy Ventures, a mission-oriented group committed to changing the world by creating and building companies that address the threat of climate change and long-term sustainability of the planet.

Roberts’s strategy as a venture investor is based on his successful career as an entrepreneur in materials innovation, blending a unique business model of licensing university technology and commercializing it through targeted partnerships with Fortune 500 companies.

Preceding his career as an investor, Roberts co-founded several ventures, in which he served as President and CEO or Chairman. Prior to his entrepreneurial career, he worked in business development at GelTex Pharmaceuticals, acquired by Genzyme for $1.3 billion, and in new product and business development at Dow Chemical (formerly Union Carbide Corporation).

Roberts was elected to the Board of Trustees of Duke University in 2013 where he currently serves as Vice Chairman. He was appointed to the Duke University Health System Board of Directors in 2017 and currently serves on the Audit and Compliance Committee. He was appointed Chairman of the Board of the Consumer Technology Association in 2022 and he also serves on the boards for WGBH, and Massachusetts General Hospital Physicians Organization.

Roberts was selected by the Aspen Institute to participate in the Finance Leaders Fellowship program as a senior leader in the venture capital industry and was recently selected as the Edison Achievement Award winner for his contributions to innovative technology solutions. He was ranked #1 on the Boston Globe’s Tech Power Players 50 list in 2022.