Tesla has nominated JB Straubel, the corporate’s former CTO who’s now operating his personal startup Redwood Supplies, as its subsequent unbiased board member.
The corporate mentioned in a regulatory submitting Thursday that Straubel, if elected by shareholders (which is sort of a certainty) would take over the spot vacated by Hiromichi Mizuno, the previous chief funding officer of Japan’s $1.5 trillion pension fund. Mizuno joined the board and its audit committee in 2020 and won’t stand for re-election.
“Thanks Elon and the Tesla board for the nomination; it’s an honor to be thought-about and to assist the sustainable power transition in as some ways as I can,” Straubel mentioned in a word to TechCrunch.
Straubel, who joined Tesla in 2004 and was CTO for 14 years, was largely considered because the quiet regular hand behind its controversial CEO Elon Musk. Straubel’s function at Tesla can’t be understated. The chief was accountable for a few of the firm’s most essential expertise, notably round batteries. His understated but regular presence alongside along with his technological acumen gave offered stability even when its CEO turned embroiled in controversy.
Throughout his tenure at Tesla, Straubel led the development and idea of Gigafactory Nevada and the manufacturing ramp of its Mannequin 3 sedan.
Straubel left Tesla in 2019. Drew Baglino, vp of expertise, took over his duties. On the time, Tesla mentioned Straubel would keep on in a senior advisor function.
After Straubel left the automaker he threw himself into scaling Redwood Supplies, a battery supplies provider and recycler that was based in 2017. Redwood Supplies, which relies in Carson Metropolis, Nevada, has since landed lots of of tens of millions in company and enterprise capital and locked in a number of high-profile buyer offers with corporations like Panasonic and Amazon.
Tesla’s shareholder assembly is scheduled for Might 16.
