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While the typical business conference boasts a formal, almost transactional atmosphere, the Volta Foundation’s Women in Batteries Conference this year radiated a palpable sense of warmth. Panelists and keynote speakers shared personal stories as they would to friends, receiving supportive nods and sighs as attendees reflected on their own experiences.
“Coming into the industry, there’s not as many women as men,” said attendee Emily Dickens, chief commercial officer at Octet Scientific. “Whenever I find a woman, it’s always comfortable. They’re always kind, and they’re always wanting to connect with you, and so I find some of my most rich connections within the industry are with other women.”
Thursday marked the conclusion of Volta’s second Women in Batteries Conference, hosted in collaboration with Stanford University’s StorageX Initiative. The three-day event at Stanford University’s Redwood City campus expanded on last year’s one-day gathering, featuring a gala at the Hiller Aviation Museum, industry lab tours at leading battery companies and a cohort of 150 attendees — the vast majority of whom were women.
“Interestingly, at a women’s conference, the conversations are a lot more honest,” said attendee Barbara Hughes, vice president of energy storage at Forge Nano. “There’s definitely a comfort level and an honesty level there that you don’t see at a lot of other conferences.”
Founder and CEO of Pestana Solutions Jill Pestana echoed those sentiments, reflecting on a “full-circle moment” after announcing she was starting her company at last year’s conference.
“I was just overwhelmed by the support,” Pestana said. “Everyone clapped, and that clapping, trust me, it carried me through this past year of ups and a lot of downs.”
Volta first launched in 2019 as a local Bay Area in-person meet-up called Battery Brunch before expanding online to reach a broader community of battery professionals. Now, it’s the world’s largest battery network, with more than 75,000 members across 200-plus companies, according to its website.
The conference is part of Volta’s broader Women in Batteries initiative, one of 15 programs aiming to address key challenges in the field. Attendees ranged from CEOs to entry-level engineers and came from diverse sectors, including aerospace and energy storage, enabling cross-disciplinary dialogue and mentorship.
“It’s very important for women to speak up,” said Maithri Venkat, director of the Women in Batteries program. “It’s not just about women wanting to have a seat at the table, but it’s also about [women] driving major decisions that could change the trajectory of how we want to perceive battery manufacturing.”
That framing is especially relevant now, as the still relatively young battery industry sits at a “critical point” of exponential growth, said Executive Director Yen Yeh. Fostering a more inclusive, welcoming culture, he noted, remains a core part of Volta’s mission.
Despite improvements over the years, gender-based prejudices and injustices still occur and can be isolating experiences. During the “Empowering Women in Batteries: Breaking Barriers and Driving Change” panel, founder and president of The Battery Saloon Sama Aghniaey shared a story of how, upon asking her company’s CEO for advice on starting a business, his response was, “You’re not a tall white man from MIT, forget about it.”
“I left him with a message,” Aghniaey said, making eye contact with the women in the room before delivering her response. “‘Watch me.’”
Panelists also reflected on layered experiences of marginalization. Pamela Fann, founder and CEO of Integrated Solutions, discussed the challenges she’s faced as a Black woman in the field, while Kristen Wahl, department director at Argonne National Laboratory, shared her experiences dealing with workplace sexual harassment.
“Seeing all the women in this industry, especially those that are founding their own companies, or in positions of leadership — that’s really inspirational,” said Chi Cao, a Stanford Ph.D. student. “It’s something to aspire to, but also hearing everybody’s challenges and things that they’ve overcome, it’s not that different from person to person.”
At the closing keynote, Amanda Hall, CEO of Summit Nanotech, opened by recalling the moment her journey began — when someone told her, “Why are you doing this? This is too big for you.” Facing a room full of women, she ended with a slight twist on those words: “Why are you doing this? And are you ready for how big this is going to be?”
Looking ahead, Volta plans to continue building on the momentum from this year’s event, Yeh said, with the hope of in-person events like the gala being “the first one of many.”
“The environment is very different than any other conferences that we go to, and I think particularly as a woman, I feel it much more intensely,” said Volta Managing Director Linda Jing. “Every other conference, you’re the one woman surrounded by men, and I think it’s just cool to see people that are like you.”
