The Tesla Motors Team

Elon Musk
Chairman, Product Architect and CEO

Elon co-founded Tesla and continues to oversee the company's product strategy -- including the design, engineering and manufacturing of more and more affordable electric vehicles for mainstream consumers. As Chairman and Product Architect, he helped design the ground-breaking Tesla Roadster, for which he won an Index and a Global Green award, the latter presented by Mikhail Gorbachev. In October 2008, he took on the additional responsibility of CEO, overseeing daily operations as the company was ramping up Roadster production and accelerating the development of its second vehicle, the Model S.

Elon launched Tesla's regional sales and service centers across two continents and in May 2009 secured a $50 million investment and strategic partnership from Germany's Daimler. He spearheaded a successful cost-down program that enabled Tesla to achieve profitability in July 2009. He guides development of the Model S, the all-electric family sedan that will be produced in Southern California in an assembly facility that will employ approximately 1,000 workers.

Elon has been fascinated by electric cars for two decades. After earning bachelor's degrees in physics and business from the University of Pennsylvania, he worked briefly on ultracapacitors at Pinnacle Research in Silicon Valley to understand their potential as an energy storage mechanism for EVs. He planned to do graduate studies at Stanford in materials science and applied physics but put school on hold to start Internet companies Zip2 and PayPal. In addition to his Tesla duties, he serves as CEO and CTO of SpaceX, and he's Chairman of SolarCity.

JB Straubel
Chief Technical Officer

The story of JB's career started at a junkyard in Wisconsin, where, at the age of 14, he discovered a discarded electric golf cart and decided to rebuild it. Thus began a lifelong fascination with energy work and electric vehicles.

As a co-founder of Tesla, JB has overseen the technical and engineering design of the vehicles, focusing on the battery, motor, power electronics, and high-level software sub-systems. Additionally, he evaluates new technology, manages vehicle systems testing, and handles technical interface with key vendors.

Prior to Tesla, JB was the CTO and co-founder of the aerospace firm, Volacom, which designed a specialized high-altitude electric aircraft platform using a novel power plant. At Volacom, JB invented and patented a new long-endurance hybrid electric propulsion concept that was later licensed to Boeing. Before Volacom, JB worked at Rosen Motors as a propulsion engineer developing a new hybrid electric vehicle drivetrain based on a micro turbine and a high-speed flywheel. JB was also part of the early team at Pentadyne, where he designed and built a first-generation 150kW power inverter, motor-generator controls, and magnetic bearing systems.

Armed with a bachelor's in energy systems engineering and an master's in energy engineering from Stanford University, JB left the cold winters of Wisconsin for good. He now lives in Menlo Park, Calif., where he continues to indulge his passion for electric transportation: he built an electric Porsche 944 that held a world EV racing record, a custom electric bicycle, and a pioneering hybrid trailer system. JB is also an accomplished pilot.

Deepak Ahuja
Chief Financial Officer

Deepak brings more than 15 years of global automotive financial experience to the Tesla team. As Chief Financial Officer, Deepak brings invaluable insight of a well-versed industry veteran to help Tesla become a leading automobile company in the world.

Prior to joining Tesla Motors, Deepak was the Controller of Small Cars Product Development at Ford with the goal of bringing several exciting fuel efficient automobiles to the North American market. Previously, Deepak was CFO for Ford of Southern Africa, a $3 Billion subsidiary where he oversaw the finance, legal and IT functions. Prior to that, Deepak served as CFO for Auto Alliance International, a joint venture between Ford and Mazda with over $4 billion in revenue. His career at Ford included assignments in all aspects of the business, including Manufacturing, Marketing and Sales, Treasury, Acquisition and Divestitures.

Before joining Ford, Deepak worked as an engineer for Kennametal, Inc. near Pittsburgh, PA for almost 6 years and developed two new ceramic composites cutting tools for machining of aluminum alloys in aerospace and automotive industries.

Deepak, his wife and two daughters have moved from Michigan to Silicon Valley, where Deepak spearheads financial initiatives out of Tesla’s San Carlos headquarters. In his spare time Deepak enjoys playing racquet ball, spending time with his kids and hiking. He loves cooking Indian food on special occasions just to have fun with his friends and family.

Deepak holds bachelor's and master's degrees in materials engineering from Banaras Hindu University and Northwestern University, respectively and an MBA from Carnegie Mellon University.

Franz von Holzhausen
Chief Designer

As Chief Designer, Franz is responsible for driving the overall design direction of Tesla, and is charged with establishing a world class design competency for all future Tesla design concepts and production vehicles.

Prior to joining Tesla, Franz was Director of Design at the Mazda North American Design Center. While at Mazda, Franz pioneered the Nagare surface language design philosophy. The word Nagare itself is but one of 150 different ways to describe motion in the Japanese language.

The Nagare and Furai concepts were the progenitors of The visual interpretation of what has become the new design language for the Mazda brand. These two initial concepts led to the development of the Ryuga, Hakaze and Taiki As well as the Kazemai - the latest concept unveiled in Moscow. Franz also led design of the Mazda RX-8, Tribute, and Mazda5 production vehicle facelifts, and was instrumental in the design development of the 2009 Mazda6 and Mazda3.

Before spearheading design at Mazda, Franz held the Design Director position at General Motors. The Pontiac Solstice, Saturn Sky, and Opel GT are all examples of Franz’s efforts at GM. Franz began his career as Assistant Chief Designer at Volkswagen, where he was involved in projects from Concept One to the Microbus.

When not immersed in design, architecture, and fashion, Franz enjoys sailing, cycling, and snowboarding. Franz also revels in driving one of the cars in his modest collection, which ranges from American muscle to Italian finesse.

Franz began his studies at Syracuse University in the field of industrial design and graduated from Art Center College of Design in 1992 with a bachelor's degree in Transportation Design.

Peter Rawlinson
Vice President & Chief Engineer for Vehicle Engineering

Prior to Tesla, Peter led vehicle engineering at Corus Automotive, an engineering consultancy specializing in advanced engineering solutions for the global motor industry. Traditional vehicle programs Peter worked on at Corus include the X type, XJ and F-type Jaguars, Land-Rover Freelander and Discovery, Ford Fiesta, Honda Accord, BMW 5 Series and Bentley Continental. He also led development of the Think electric vehicle platform, which was done with only 5 engineers in 6 months, while still meeting cost and mass targets. Peter’s design set a new world record for best crash safety performance in the subcompact vehicle class.

Before Corus, Peter served as Chief Engineer of Advanced Engineering at Lotus, where he pioneered the use of advanced aluminum body structures, bonding cast elements with stampings and extrusions, an approach subsequently widely adopted within the industry. Vehicles using this approach include Aston Martins, the new Jaguar XJ, the current Audi A8 and the latest generation of the Audi TT.

Prior to Lotus, Peter was Manager for Advanced Drive-train and Suspension Systems at GKN Technology in the UK. At GKN, he developed an advanced drive-train layout with a forward front drive and axle-line, paving the way for safer and more spatially efficient vehicles only now emerging in the marketplace, such as the Toyota IQ.

Before GKN, Peter was Principal Engineer at Jaguar for almost a decade, responsible for advanced body structure design, layout and packaging, including crashworthiness. He was one of the first to apply computer-aided-design to automotive engineering and was an integral part of the team that advanced the integration of computer-aided-design with computer-aided analytical tools within a simultaneous engineering environment. That same methodology is being applied at Tesla.

Peter is a Mechanical Engineering graduate of Imperial College, London.

Jim Dunlay
Vice President, Powertrain Hardware Engineering

Jim came to Tesla in 2006 to lead Tesla's power electrionics team from prototype to production. In 2007 he took on additional responsibility for Tesla's battery pack, adding both design Engineering and manufacturing duties. Jim led the "on-shoring" of Tesla's battery manufacturing, which now produces battery packs for the Roadster and Daimler's Smart city car. In 2009, Jim added development responsibility for Tesla's motor and transmission.

Before joining Tesla, Jim spent 25 years in the computer industry developing computer systems at Sun Microsystems, manufacturing test equipment at Tandem Computers and electronic instrumentation at Hewlett Packard.

Jim has acquired several project cars including his 1969 GTO Convertible and his 1967 Jaguar E-Type. With his background in electrical engineering and his passion for cars, Jim has found a perfect home at Tesla.

Jim earned his bachelor's degree in electrical engineering and computer science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is married, has three children and spends his free time with his family.

Diarmuid O'Connell
Vice President of Business Development

Diarmuid joined Tesla in 2006, and currently serves as the Vice President of Business Development in which capacity he manages commercial relationships and all aspects of government affairs. Before joining Tesla, Diarmuid served as Chief of Staff for Political Military Affairs at the US State Department, where he was involved in policy and operational support to the U.S military in various theaters of operation.

Before his tenure in Washington, Diarmuid worked in corporate strategy as a management consultant for Accenture, as a founder of educational software developer, Real Time Learning, and as a senior executive with both McCann Erickson Worldwide and Young and Rubicam. Over the course of his career, he has managed international operations, projects and marketing for such brands as Coca Cola, Gillette, and AT&T, among others.

Diarmuid has earned a bachelor's degree from Dartmouth College, a master's degree in Foreign Policy from the University of Virginia, and an MBA from Kellogg. He lives with his wife and two children in the Bay Area and escapes to the mountains whenever possible.

John Walker
Vice President Sales North America

John was appointed Vice President Sales for North America in August 2009 and is responsible for all sales in the United States and Canada, including the coast-to-coast retail expansion and opening of new stores in world’s largest car market.

John has spent the past two decades in the global automotive industry, including assignments in South Africa, Australia, Canada and the United States. Before Tesla, John spent a decade in various sales and marketing positions at German luxury carmaker Audi. He was most recently general manager sales operations for Audi of America and previously director of sales for Audi Canada and general Manager of sales for Audi Australia.

John began his automotive career in South Africa with General Motors and BMW. His first job in the auto industry was a three-month spot-welding stint at a GM factory in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. Other than the Roadster, John’s favorite cars are the 1960s Jaguar E-type and the 1964 Ford Mustang. His first car was a 1974 Volkswagen Beetle, which he still owns.

Cristiano Carlutti
Vice President of European Sales and Operations

Cristiano oversees Tesla's fast-growing European operations from the company's EU headquarters in Windsor, UK. Before joining Tesla in January 2010, he lead mission-critical divisions at Fiat, served as CEO of an Italian start-up and served as a member of the management committee of the Organizing Committee of the XX Winter Olympic Games.

Cristiano joined Fiat in 1995 as a marketing analyst and rose to the vice president level, most recently overseeing the strategy and operations of the rent-a-car and used car department for European markets. Carlutti was also in charge of the Flagship development project, a €150 million program which established a network of company-owned dealerships throughout Europe.

He also served on the Organizing Committee of the XX Winter Olympic Games in Turin, Italy. As managing director of media operations and press chief for the 2006 games, Carlutti helped to create and manage a €13 million media operation with 20 venues serving more than 3,000 journalists. Before that he was CEO of Autocontact Italia, where he was in charge of reselling and servicing more than 90,000 vehicles per year.

Cristiano has a degree in business administration from the University Luigi Bocconi in Milan, and he's lectured on business and entrepreneurship at several universities in his native Italy. He is fluent in English, French and Italian, and he has lived in Germany, Russia, Ireland and the United States.

Ricardo Reyes
Vice President of Communications

Like a kid in a candy store, Ricardo spent his first day with Tesla at the Frankfurt Motor Show in August of 2009. Before joining Tesla, Ricardo was the head of communications and public affairs at YouTube. He previously handled litigation, competition and policy communications for Google, Inc.

Ricardo also spent a decade working on public policy and communications in Washington DC, including two years at law firm Bracewell and Giuliani LLC. Among the corporate and political clients he advised, he worked closely with General Motors’ suppliers as they faced major changes to their business structure. Ricardo served as Deputy Assistant US Trade Representative for Public and Media Affairs from 2001 to 2004, as a spokesman for US international trade policy. He was also managing editor of Regulation Magazine published by the Cato Institute, and worked with various public policy groups during his time in DC.

In 1996, Ricardo worked as an observer for national elections in his birth country, Nicaragua. As a kid, he spent summers pumping gas, checking fluid levels, and changing oil filters at gas stations run by his dad. Ricardo is a graduate of Rice University in Houston, Texas. He is married, with two young kids.

Mike Taylor
Vice President of Finance

Mike joined Tesla as Vice President of Finance in September 2007. Mike brings 17 years of financial expertise to the company.

Mike began his career at Goldman Sachs & Co., where he helped clients worldwide raise over $2 billion in structured debt financing. He then worked for McKinsey and Company and Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, where he helped several companies through IPOs and acquisitions. In 1994, Mike caught the technology bug and has since helped game-changing companies raise more than $250 million in public and private financings. His first foray into high tech was with Scopus Technology, for which he managed the public offering process prior to that company's acquisition by Siebel Systems. Mike also served as Vice President of Finance for network management software pioneer Micromuse, where he coordinated the IPO and several financing rounds and managed all financial planning and investor relations activities. Mike then served as Chief Financial Officer for Benchmark Capital and Vice President and Chief Financial Officer for Tropos Networks, where he helped raise more than $80 million in venture financing.

Along the way, Mike found time to earn a bachelor's degree from the University of California, Berkeley and JD/MBA from Stanford University. Mike is married and has two children. He serves on the board for the Center for the Early Intervention on Deafness.

Evelyn Chiang
Vice President of Supply Chain and IT

Evelyn, who joined Tesla in August 2007, oversees Supply Chain and Information Technology. Previously, she served as Senior Vice President of Operations of the Product and Technology Group of enterprise software giant SAP AG, where she managed global operations, including strategic business planning, portfolio management and post-merger integration. She also managed new product introductions and served as Director of Professional Services at SAP. Throughout her 19-year career, Evelyn has held various roles in operations, consulting, and business development.

Evelyn co-founded her first company at the age of 14, after working in family-owned businesses including pharmaceuticals manufacturing and retail operations. She earned her bachelor’s degree in Aeronautics and Astronautics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Matt Au
Vice President, Corporate Controller

Matt joined Tesla in July 2009, responsible for accounting and financial reporting. Previously, he was vice president of finance for Gilead Sciences, a Foster City, Calif.-based bio-pharmaceutical company focused on research and manufacturing of anti-viral therapies for HIV-positive patients. Matt spent five years with Gilead, managing more than 200 people and shepherding the company’s growth from $400 million to over $6 billion in annual sales.

Before Gilead, Matt spent nine years with KLA-Tencor, a San Jose, Calif.-based semiconductor capital equipment company. He held various finance management positions, including two years in Japan as Asia controller. Matt rose to vice president and corporate controller, managing the global accounting and financial reporting functions for KLA-Tencor as sales expanded from $200 million to over $2 billion annually. Prior to KLA-Tencor, Matt spent five years at IBM, starting as a cost accountant for a high-end disk drive plant.

Matt sits on the advisory board of the Dominican Sisters Congregation in Mission San Jose, which runs three Catholic schools in California and assists ministries in California, Germany, Mexico, and Guatemala. Matt is a big fan of the NFL and English Premier League soccer and spends many Sundays battling with his two kids in their own fantasy football league. Matt holds a bachelor’s degree in accounting from UC Berkeley, and an MBA in finance from the University of Chicago.