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> His departure is the latest in a long string of high-profile executives to leave Tesla in the past year, most recently Steve McManus, a vice president in char

> His departure is the latest in a long string of high-profile executives to leave Tesla in the past year, most recently Steve McManus, a vice president in charge of engineering for car interiors and exteriors at Tesla, who joined Apple. Two other former Tesla executives, Michael Schwekutsch, and chief engineer Doug Field, have also left to join Apple. Not to understate the significance of Tesla losing Straubel, but TechCrunch's claim that Tesla is losing lots of "high-profile executives" seems like a little bit of a stretch. Steve McManus was a vice president in charge of "car interiors." It seems strange to place him on the same level of significance of their CTO.

thematt 7y ago
Since January 2018: Jason Mendez, director of manufacturing engineering Will McColl, manager of equipment engineering Jon McNeill, president of global sales and services Eric Branderiz, chief accounting officer Susan Repo, corporate treasurer and vice president of finance Jim Keller, head of Autopilot hardware engineering Georg Ell, director of Western Europe operations Matthew Schwall, director of field performance engineering Ganesh Srivats, vice president overseeing retail, delivery Sarah O'Brien, vice president of communications Gabrielle Toledano, chief people officer Dave Morton, chief accounting officer Liam O'Connor, vice president of global supply management Antoin Abou-Haydar, senior director of production and quality Justin McAnear, vice president of worldwide finance and operations Phil Rothenberg, vice president in the legal department Jeff Jones, head of global security Dan Kim, senior director of global sales Aaron Chew, director of investor relations Todd Maron, general counsel Charles Mwangi, senior director of engineering Cindy Nicola, vice president of global recruiting Dane Butswinkas, general counsel Deepak Ahuja, CFO Praveen Arichandran, director of growth Karl Wagner, senior director of global security Dave Arnold, senior director of global communications Felicia Mayo, vice president of human resources and head of diversity Peter Hochholdinger, vice president of production Steve MacManus, vice president of interior & exterior engineering
- Robotbeat 7y ago
  Statistics would be more valuable than a list of titles. How many people have titles such as “president” or “Vice President”? How does this compare to churn at other companies, statistically?
  - saiya-jin 7y ago
    yeah if you look at banking, people with titles like Vice president or Director leave all the time in relatively large numbers and it means nothing. C-suite is another story.
    - rchaud 7y ago
      Tesla isn't a bank though. People have those titles in Finance because they have ownership over a particular product division, of which there are many. Consumer loans, corporate paper, fixed income, export-import financing, commodities trading, etc.
  - nyokodo 7y ago
    Also statistical comparisons on open positions for these absent positions. Have there been management consolidation? What impact has there been to the functioning of the company?
- alasdair_ 7y ago
  30 people leaving Tesla with job titles as low as "manager" over the course of a year and a half is almost meaningless without seeing how this stacks up against other tech companies of a similar size.
  - hef19898 7y ago
    There's a potential fallicy here. Tesla should be compared to other car companies and not software companies. Because Tesla is building cars.
    - chronic7382 7y ago
      > Tesla should be compared to other car companies and not software companies. Because Tesla is building cars. Really? Because the Tesla fanboys consider Tesla a tech company. OTA updates amirite?
    - elisharobinson 7y ago
      really though how many car companies have OTA updates
      - clouddrover 7y ago
        They all will. Volkswagen is doing it for its electric cars. But that level of connectivity is not necessarily a good thing: https://www.thedrive.com/tech/29120/top-ota-expert-shows-how-state-actors-hack-into-your-car-and-what-happens-next-people-will-die https://www.thedrive.com/tech/29120/top-ota-expert-shows-how...
        elisharobinson 7y ago
        i wouldnt count on it bosh has a choke hold on any innovation in the auto software space , at this point its no secret that auto software is in the state it is because of bosch choke hold on the whole market .
        7y ago
- bufferoverflow 7y ago
  Mostly managerial positions. Meh.
- elisharobinson 7y ago
  still they made thier deliveries on time , so how important were they really ??
jaimex2 7y ago
BMW's CEO stepped down 2 weeks ago. Ford has had 4 CEOs in the last four years... not a sound from the media. The janitor at Tesla quits and its a top story about a company in turmoil.
- camillomiller 7y ago
  Even more: the BMW CEO quit basically for being completely unable to deliver on the EV roadmap and squandering the huge advantage BMW had in the field.
  - starik36 7y ago
    I don't think BMW ever had any kind of advantage in this field, never mind huge.
    - codeulike 7y ago
      The i3 was reasonably good for its time, then they disbanded the team and lost their way
    - _ph_ 7y ago
      The i3 is a car designed to be a pure electric car (not counting the optional range extender, which did cost precious space). It came to market in 2013. So BMW clearly was only second to Tesla in bringing a pure electric car to the market. The i3 did a few doubious trade-offs but overall is a nice electric car. In that sense, BMW was way ahead of most other car companies. If they had continued to bring out other models based on their tech, they would have a sizable offering of electric cars. But unfortunately, they mostly stopped development and had the i3 dev team leaving.
- praneshp 7y ago
  > Ford has had 4 CEOs in the last four years... not a sound from the media. You must not read a lot of news
- _pmf_ 7y ago
  BMW does not lose half a billion in a quarter and sells it as a huge success.
celim307 7y ago
I'd say a big draw of Tesla is their well executed styling, both inside and out. I'm not sure if his purview was design, QC, supply chain, or all of the above for interiors, but thats akin to say, the VP in charge of displays leaving apple. Big portion of the product. But I'm not in the hardware biz so /shrug
navigatesol 7y ago
There is only one executive left from their proxy filing one year ago: Elon Musk.

thematt 7y ago

Since January 2018: Jason Mendez, director of manufacturing engineering Will McColl, manager of equipment engineering Jon McNeill, president of global sales and services Eric Branderiz, chief accounting officer Susan Repo, corporate treasurer and vice president of finance Jim Keller, head of Autopilot hardware engineering Georg Ell, director of Western Europe operations Matthew Schwall, director of field performance engineering Ganesh Srivats, vice president overseeing retail, delivery Sarah O'Brien, vice president of communications Gabrielle Toledano, chief people officer Dave Morton, chief accounting officer Liam O'Connor, vice president of global supply management Antoin Abou-Haydar, senior director of production and quality Justin McAnear, vice president of worldwide finance and operations Phil Rothenberg, vice president in the legal department Jeff Jones, head of global security Dan Kim, senior director of global sales Aaron Chew, director of investor relations Todd Maron, general counsel Charles Mwangi, senior director of engineering Cindy Nicola, vice president of global recruiting Dane Butswinkas, general counsel Deepak Ahuja, CFO Praveen Arichandran, director of growth Karl Wagner, senior director of global security Dave Arnold, senior director of global communications Felicia Mayo, vice president of human resources and head of diversity Peter Hochholdinger, vice president of production Steve MacManus, vice president of interior & exterior engineering

Robotbeat 7y ago
Statistics would be more valuable than a list of titles. How many people have titles such as “president” or “Vice President”? How does this compare to churn at other companies, statistically?
- saiya-jin 7y ago
  yeah if you look at banking, people with titles like Vice president or Director leave all the time in relatively large numbers and it means nothing. C-suite is another story.
  - rchaud 7y ago
    Tesla isn't a bank though. People have those titles in Finance because they have ownership over a particular product division, of which there are many. Consumer loans, corporate paper, fixed income, export-import financing, commodities trading, etc.
- nyokodo 7y ago
  Also statistical comparisons on open positions for these absent positions. Have there been management consolidation? What impact has there been to the functioning of the company?
alasdair_ 7y ago
30 people leaving Tesla with job titles as low as "manager" over the course of a year and a half is almost meaningless without seeing how this stacks up against other tech companies of a similar size.
- hef19898 7y ago
  There's a potential fallicy here. Tesla should be compared to other car companies and not software companies. Because Tesla is building cars.
  - chronic7382 7y ago
    > Tesla should be compared to other car companies and not software companies. Because Tesla is building cars. Really? Because the Tesla fanboys consider Tesla a tech company. OTA updates amirite?
  - elisharobinson 7y ago
    really though how many car companies have OTA updates
    - clouddrover 7y ago
      They all will. Volkswagen is doing it for its electric cars. But that level of connectivity is not necessarily a good thing: https://www.thedrive.com/tech/29120/top-ota-expert-shows-how-state-actors-hack-into-your-car-and-what-happens-next-people-will-die https://www.thedrive.com/tech/29120/top-ota-expert-shows-how...
      - elisharobinson 7y ago
        i wouldnt count on it bosh has a choke hold on any innovation in the auto software space , at this point its no secret that auto software is in the state it is because of bosch choke hold on the whole market .
        7y ago
bufferoverflow 7y ago
Mostly managerial positions. Meh.
elisharobinson 7y ago
still they made thier deliveries on time , so how important were they really ??

jaimex2 7y ago

BMW's CEO stepped down 2 weeks ago. Ford has had 4 CEOs in the last four years... not a sound from the media. The janitor at Tesla quits and its a top story about a company in turmoil.

camillomiller 7y ago
Even more: the BMW CEO quit basically for being completely unable to deliver on the EV roadmap and squandering the huge advantage BMW had in the field.
- starik36 7y ago
  I don't think BMW ever had any kind of advantage in this field, never mind huge.
  - codeulike 7y ago
    The i3 was reasonably good for its time, then they disbanded the team and lost their way
  - _ph_ 7y ago
    The i3 is a car designed to be a pure electric car (not counting the optional range extender, which did cost precious space). It came to market in 2013. So BMW clearly was only second to Tesla in bringing a pure electric car to the market. The i3 did a few doubious trade-offs but overall is a nice electric car. In that sense, BMW was way ahead of most other car companies. If they had continued to bring out other models based on their tech, they would have a sizable offering of electric cars. But unfortunately, they mostly stopped development and had the i3 dev team leaving.
praneshp 7y ago
> Ford has had 4 CEOs in the last four years... not a sound from the media. You must not read a lot of news
_pmf_ 7y ago
BMW does not lose half a billion in a quarter and sells it as a huge success.

celim307 7y ago

I'd say a big draw of Tesla is their well executed styling, both inside and out. I'm not sure if his purview was design, QC, supply chain, or all of the above for interiors, but thats akin to say, the VP in charge of displays leaving apple. Big portion of the product. But I'm not in the hardware biz so /shrug

navigatesol 7y ago

There is only one executive left from their proxy filing one year ago: Elon Musk.