Robin Johnston is a Venture Partner in the Sustainability Practice of RIDGE-LANE LP.

Ms. Johnston served as Deputy Chief Technology Transfer Officer at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, where she oversaw day-to-day IP management and licensing activities for the Innovation and Partnerships Office (IPO). In addition, she managed IPO’s entrepreneurship programs, including Energy I-Corps, Lab-Bridge, and the Berkeley Lab Innovation Corps.

She manages JBEI industry interactions and intellectual property, which includes setting JBEI’s strategic course for technology transfer and partnerships, negotiating licenses and collaborative research terms, and incubating startups. She also works with Berkeley Lab’s Biosciences Area leadership in planning and executing strategic industry engagements for the Area.

Previously, she developed and executed a strategic plan for technology transfer and partnerships that resulted in JBEI exceeding the top three US universities in inventions and licenses, per funding dollar.

She worked with the UC Berkeley Haas School of Business to create the Cleantech to Market (C2M) program, which was piloted at Berkeley Lab and later adopted by Haas as a formal course. C2M is a partnership between graduate students, entrepreneurs, researchers, and energy professionals to accelerate the commercialization of emerging cleantech and train the next generation of cleantech leaders.

Ms. Johnston has an undergraduate degree in Chemistry from the University of Virginia and a graduate degree in Science, Technology, and Public Policy from The George Washington University.