The company has managed to attract five leaders with a wide range of backgrounds including automotive, technology, industrial equipment, consumer electronics and aerospace.
- Mark Vinnels has joined the company as Executive Director of Engineering and Vehicle Programs.
- Ryan Green has been named Chief Financial Officer.
- Matt Tall has been named Vice President of Manufacturing
- Christopher Brown has been named Chief Commercial Officer.
- Neil Sitron has been named as general counsel.
"We are excited to welcome these leaders to Rivian's growing high-performance team. All five have a proven track record and most importantly, a passion and curiosity that will drive success. These appointments underscore Rivian's ability to attract the top talent needed to advance the industry's shift to electric, autonomous and shared mobility," said RJ Scaringe, founder and chief executive officer of Rivian, in a press release.
Prior to joining Rivian, Mark Vinnels led the development of multiple clean sheet vehicle programs. He was previously the executive program director at McLaren from 2004 through 2017, responsible for all of McLaren's road cars, starting with the MP4-12C and extending through the 720S. Before McLaren, Vinnels was the head of vehicle programs at Group Lotus, where he led the product development of all Lotus cars.
Ryan Green joins Rivian with an extensive background in corporate finance. He was most recently the CFO of Harley Davidson's Financial Services company in North America, with previous experience at Bayer AG and Visteon/Ford.
Matt Tall has extensive manufacturing experience in all key manufacturing disciplines, as well as product engineering and business development. Most recently, Tall was the plant manager at AM General's plant in Indiana that was responsible for the assembly of the Mercedes Benz R-Class.
Chris Brown has extensive global experience in all aspects of automotive commercial operations, having held senior leadership positions with Nissan, Ford and Jaguar Land Rover in the U.S., China and the Middle East. While in China, Brown played an instrumental role in the launch of the Jaguar and Land Rover brands into the Chinese market.
Neil Sitron brings deep experience in U.S. and international private equity transactions, mergers and acquisitions, corporate compliance and governance, and securities transactions, with a focus on financial technology, transportation, government contracting and Internet of Things (IoT). He has represented clients including Goldman Sachs, Citadel Securities, NEX Group (formerly ICAP), BAE Systems, Polar Tankers and Global Environment Fund.
Rivian currently employs over 250 people, coordinated across facilities in Michigan, California and Illinois, and plans to introduce its first electric adventure vehicle, a five-passenger pickup in 2020, followed by a seven-passenger SUV.
