Karla Rodebush

As Senior Major Gifts Officer at the Fannie and John Hertz Foundation, Karla Rodebush is responsible for building relationships with our donor community in the Midwest and West Coast regions, by providing opportunities for donors to engage more deeply with the Hertz community and make transformational gifts to support the foundation and its fellows.

Karla joined the foundation after 14 years of alumni relations and fundraising work at the University of California, Berkeley. There, she inspired donors to endow a scholarship and mentoring program for women in STEM and chaired the Fundraising Council, a 600-member professional advancement community. In her most recent role, she served as Major Gifts Director of Parent Philanthropy and Engagement, where her pioneering spirit helped her cultivate parent communities and donors in California and across the country.

Karla began her career in higher education at the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley, as creative director and editor of the alumni newsletter and online community. At the height of the dot.com boom in 2000, she re-joined the corporate world as a business development director for a branding and design agency, developing websites and an array of established and new startup companies.

Karla has a bachelor’s degree with a double major in psychology and philosophy from the University of Missouri-Kansas City, where she was also a state volleyball champion. A former competitive road cyclist, Karla is now a tournament golfer and has been a yoga instructor for 18+ years. A volunteer gardener for Bluma Farm, a certified organic rooftop garden in Berkeley, she is also known for regularly gracing her workplace and home with beautiful flower arrangements. Karla also enjoys creative art-making, photography, gardening, and spending time with her two sons, Nick and Graeme.