At the end of September, Elon Musk was forced to step down as the chairman of Tesla by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in a deal that also saw him pay a $20 million fine for misleading investors over taking the firm private. Now, the firm has announced that it is selecting Robyn Denholm to take over the role, effective immediately.
Denholm has served on the board of Tesla since 2014 but has also been working as the chief financial officer at Telstra, an Australian telecoms firm. In order to focus on her new role as chairman, she will be leaving Telstra in May and also give up her position as chair of the Tesla Audit Committee.
In a statement, Denholm said:
“I believe in this company, I believe in its mission and I look forward to helping Elon and the Tesla team achieve sustainable profitability and drive long-term shareholder value.”
Meanwhile, Elon Musk had this to say:
“Robyn has extensive experience in both the tech and auto industries, and she has made significant contributions as a Tesla Board member over the past four years in helping us become a profitable company. I look forward to working even more closely with Robyn as we continue accelerating the advent of sustainable energy.”
In the past, Denholm has had experience working in Australia and Silicon Valley at Telstra, Juniper Networks, and Sun Microsystems. She also has knowledge of the car industry thanks to her finance management roles at Toyota. During her time at Juniper Networks, she helped revenues increase significantly so Tesla will no doubt be hoping she benefits it in the same way.
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