Tesla’s CTO steps down amid uncertainty
J.B. Straubel, Chief Technology Officer of Tesla, joins the list of executives that have recently left the company this year.
Earlier in 2019, the company announced that the Chief Financial Officer Deepak Ahuja would be leaving the company. As far as Straubel is concerned, he will move into an advisory role while the VP of Technology, Drew Bagliano will be in charge of the daily operations.
“On a long list of executive departures, this is the worst one yet,” said Gene Munster of VC firm Loup Ventures, according to media reports.
Straubel has been heralded as one of Elon Musk’s early hires and had been with Tesla for more than 16 years.
The CFO Deepak Ahuja who replaced Jason Wheeler in 2017, was himself replaced by Zach Kirkhorn, the then VP of Finance. Moreover, Todd Maron, a confidant of Musk, announced his resignation in December 2018. Trial lawyer Dan Butswinkas replaced Maron but was replaced two months later by Jonathan Chang, then Tesla’s VP of Legal.
Apart from these movements, Tesla’s Senior VP of Engineering also left in August 2018 to become spearhead special projects at Apple. Head of Sales and Service, Jon McNeill left Tesla to work for Lyft in February 2018.
While in September 2018, the company shared that HR Chief Gabrielle Toledano would not be returning from a leave of absence and at the same time, Dave Morton, Chief Accounting Officer announced his resignation.
Tesla’s Head of Digital Product, Parag Vaish exited the company in December 2018 and Susan Repo, VP of Finance, and Eric Branderiz, top accountant left in March 2018.
In light of these departures from the company, Tesla has reported a higher quarterly loss even though they had reported high Q2 sales.
Such exits from an organization that is being heralded as the disruptor in the fields of technology and science, are putting the experts on edge. It remains to be seen how the maker of new-age cars will rise from these setbacks and re-establish the company’s record sales along with a stable workforce.