Tesla picks an insider to replace Musk
SAN FRANCISCO • Tesla chose Robyn Denholm to succeed Elon Musk as chair of its board, putting an independent director into the position of contending with the carmaker’s mercurial chief executive officer following his run-ins with regulators and investors.
Denholm, 55 — one of two women on Tesla’s ninemember board — will assume the role of chair effective immediately, the company said.
A director since 2014, she will leave her position as chief financial officer and head of strategy at Australian phone company Telstra Corp. at the end of her sixmonth notice period.
The appointment marks the end of an era for Musk, 47, who became chairman when he led a US$7.5 million initial investment in Tesla in April 2004.
While Musk will remain CEO and a board director, the fallout from his Twitter posts will last for years to come.
Ceding the role of chair was a condition of the accord Musk reached with the Securities and Exchange Commission in September to settle fraud charges related to his tweets on taking the company private.
In addition to agreeing to a three-year ban from serving as chair, Musk and Tesla agreed that the company would add two new independent directors to the board by late December. The Tesla board is actively continuing the search to fill those posts.
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.”