Melissa Burghardt

Melissa Burghardt is a seasoned venture partner currently affiliated with Wedbush Ventures and Redstick Ventures, where the focus is on investing in innovative founders and teams in sustainable food production. As a principal at Connected Fields and advisor to multiple organizations, including Caldo Restaurant Technologies and Population, Melissa actively helps innovators scale their impact in sustainability. Additionally, as a limited partner in the MCJ Collective, Melissa supports climate tech startups from seed stage through Series B. Previous experience includes serving as VP of Ops Innovation at sweetgreen and COO at Miso Robotics, where Melissa played a crucial role in product and operational innovations. Melissa holds a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Caltech.