Tesla has seen a lot of senior employees leave in recent years.
As the automaker has faced production and delivery issues, investigations from the federal government, and questions about its ability to one day generate sustainable profits, departures from senior employees have added yet another challenge.
Jonathan Chang, the company's general counsel who took over the post in February 2018 amid multiple legal battles, has departed his post, Bloomberg News's Dana Hull reported Thursday.
He took over from Dane Butswinkas as Tesla sparred with the Securities and Exchange Commission in federal court, faced a suit from Walmart involving fires stemming from solar panels on store roofs, and fought a short-seller the company accused of trespassing.
These are the key names who have left Tesla or have announced their departure since the beginning of 2018, as well as when they left and where they went next (according to their LinkedIn profile or company announcements):
- January 2018 - Jason Mendez, director of manufacturing engineering: LinkedIn profile does not list next position
- January 2018 - Will McColl, manager of equipment engineering: founded WaveForm Design
- February 2018 - Jon McNeill, president of global sales and services: became COO of Lyft
- March 2018 - Eric Branderiz, chief accounting officer: became CFO of Enphase Energy
- March 2018 - Susan Repo, corporate treasurer and vice president of finance: became CFO of Topia
- April 2018 - Jim Keller, head of Autopilot hardware engineering: became head of silicon engineering at Intel
- April 2018 - Georg Ell, director of Western Europe operations: became CEO of Smoothwall
- May 2018 - Matthew Schwall, director of field performance engineering: became heady of field safety at Waymo
- July 2018 - Ganesh Srivats, vice president overseeing retail, delivery, and marketing: became CEO of Moda Operandi
- September 2018 - Sarah O'Brien, vice president of communications: became VP of executive communications at Facebook
- September 2018 - Gabrielle Toledano, chief people officer: became executive in residence at Comcast Ventures
- September 2018 - Dave Morton, chief accounting officer: became CFO of Anaplan
- September 2018 - Liam O'Connor, vice president of global supply management: became chief procurement officer and head of bikes and scooters at Lyft
- September 2018 - Antoin Abou-Haydar, senior director of production and quality: became vice president of global quality for Byton
- October 2018 - Justin McAnear, vice president of worldwide finance and operations: became CFO of 10X Genomics
- November 2018 - Phil Rothenberg, vice president in the legal department: became general counsel of Sonder
- November 2018 - Jeff Jones, head of global security: LinkedIn profile does not list next position
- November 2018 - Dan Kim, senior director of global sales, marketing, and delivery: became director of Airbnb Plus at Airbnb
- December 2018 - Aaron Chew, director of investor relations: became vice president of investor relations at Proterra
- January 2019 — Todd Maron, general counsel: LinkedIn profile does not list next position
- January 2019 — Charles Mwangi , senior director of engineering: LinkedIn profile says he is working at an unnamed startup
- February 2019 — Cindy Nicola, vice president of global recruiting: LinkedIn profile does not list next position
- February 2019 — Dane Butswinkas, general counsel: returning to his trial practice at the firm Williams & Connolly
- March 2019 — Deepak Ahuja, CFO: retired
- March 2019 — Praveen Arichandran, director of growth: joining Citizen in April to lead growth.
- April 2019 — Karl Wagner, senior director of global security: PTSD and suicide-prevention advocacy
- June 2019 — Dave Arnold, senior director of global communications: LinkedIn profile does not list next position.
- June 2019 — Felicia Mayo, vice president of human resources and head of diversity: LinkedIn profile does not list next position.
- June 2019 — Peter Hochholdinger, vice president of production: vice president of manufacturing at Lucid Motors.
- June 2019 — Steve MacManus, vice president of interior & exterior engineering: senior director at Apple
- July 2019 — Jan Oehmicke, vice president of Tesla Europe: LinkedIn profile does not list next position.
- July 2019 — JB Straubel, chief technology officer: did not announce his next position, but said he will continue to advise Tesla
- August 2019 — Stuart Bowers, vice president of engineering: "Executive in residence" at the venture capital firm Greylock Partners
- September 2019 — Sanjay Shah, senior vice president of energy operations: joining Beyond Meat as chief operations officer, the company said on September 2019.
- December 2019 - Jonathan Chang, general counsel: joining an artificial intelligence startup called SambaNova, Bloomberg's Dana Hull reported.
Have you worked for Tesla? Got a news tip? Get in touch with these reporters at mmatousek@bjinnox.com or grapier@bjinnox.com. Secure contact methods are available here and here.
