Benzinga - Amid Tesla Inc.’s (NASDAQ: TSLA) stock plunge in 2022, many, including backers, began criticizing a lack of a front-face leadership team at the electric vehicle maker.
What Happened: The March 1 Investor Day disappointed many as the Elon Musk-led company did not announce the timeline for a cheap car that many anticipated. At least it served to settle one thing for sure. The company lined up several executives at the event, who apparently are key personnel spearheading key line and staff functions, nullifying criticism that Tesla is a one-man show.
Musk may be the tech brain behind his EV venture, as his formal designation of "Technoking of Tesla" implies, but he is ably and adequately supported by a team of qualified executives.
Tesla’s Investor Relations Head Martin Viecha confirmed a slew of names shared by a Twitter user going by the handle @ajtourville, who captioned the list as “Tesla All-Star Leadership Team.”
It’s a no-brainer that Musk was on top of the list. The others who were featured include:
Drew Baglino: Baglino, a Stanford University alumnus, serves as Senior Vice President, Powertrain and Energy Engineering, at Tesla. His LinkedIn profile shows he has been with the company for over 17 years. And in his current position, he is leading engineering and technology development for Tesla batteries, motors, drive units, power electronics and energy products.
Tom Zhu: Zhu, who was serving as Tesla China head, has been given an expanded role of overseeing Tesla’s Global manufacturing operations. He introduced himself at the Investor Day as one who is in charge of global production, sales, delivery, and service, and represents all Gigafactories.
Zach Kirkhorn: Kirkhorn is Tesla’s chief financial officer, and he has been with the company since March 2010 and has risen in ranks through the finance function.
Franz von Holzhausen: Von Holzhausen is another longtime Tesla executive, having joined the company in August 2008. He currently serves as Senior Design Executive at Tesla Motors.
Lars Moravy: Moravy works as Vice President, Vehicle Engineering, at Tesla. He has been with the company for over 13 years.
Colin Campbell: Campbell, serving as VP, of Powertrain Engineering, has been with the company for over 16 years. He is also a Stanford alumnus.
Pete Bannon: Bannon is serving as a Director at Tesla Motors. He joined Tesla from Apple in February 2016.
David Lau: Lau has over a decade of experience at Tesla and currently serves as VP, Software Engineering.
Ashok Elluswamy: After Tesla’s AI chief Andrej Karpathy quit in July 2022, Elluswamy has taken charge of the division. He is designated as Director – Autopilot Software. He has close to a decade of experience with the company.
Rebecca Tinucci: Tinucci works as Head of Global Charging Infrastructure and has served Tesla for over five years.
Karn Budhiraj & Roshan Thomas: Budhiraj and Thomas, both alumni of MIT, are serving as VPs, Supply Chain.
Mike Snyder: Synder takes care of megapack production and business in his capacity as Senior Director, Megapack. He is a Tesla veteran with nearly nine years of experience with the company.
Laurie Shelby: Shelby is VP, of Environment, Health, Safety & Security and Impact.
Brandon Ehrhart: Ehrhart recently joined Tesla as its General Counsel and Corporate Secretary after being with Dish Network for over 20 years.
Viecha noted that many of his colleagues belong to this group, but due to time constraints at the Investor Day, the company had to limit the count.
Check out more of Benzinga's Future Of Mobility coverage by following this link.
Read Next: Tesla Over Anything And Everything: Analyst Says Retail Investors' Tech-Sector Priorities Clear Amid Market Meltdown
© 2023 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.