Tesla has nominated JB Straubel, the company’s former CTO who is now running his own startup Redwood Materials, as its next independent board member.
The company said in a regulatory filing Thursday that Straubel, if elected by shareholders (which is almost a certainty) would take over the spot vacated by Hiromichi Mizuno, the former chief investment officer of Japan’s $1.5 trillion pension fund. Mizuno joined the board and its audit committee in 2020 and will not stand for re-election.
“Thank you Elon and the Tesla board for the nomination; it’s an honor to be considered and to help the sustainable energy transition in as many ways as I can,” Straubel said in a note to TechCrunch.
Straubel, who joined Tesla in 2004 and was CTO for 14 years, was largely viewed as the quiet steady hand behind its controversial CEO Elon Musk. Straubel’s role at Tesla cannot be unders …
