Tesla has a pool of talent, and the latest addition to it is Gary Clark. Clark’s LinkedIn profile shows that before joining the company as Chief Information Officer (CIO) in February, he was employed with Juniper Networks as its Chief Technology Officer.
Top executives leaving Tesla’s IT team
Clark’s academic record is quite impressive, and so is his work experience, making him a good fit as Tesla’s CIO. He holds a Master Degree in Science from the prestigious University of Surrey and has served Barclays Global Investors as managing director and head of technology services in the past.
Last year, the employee exodus was a serious issue with Tesla, as those who left were top IT executives and managers. In January, Tesla’s previous CIO, Jay Vijayan, quit to begin his second inning as an entrepreneur with Stealth Startup Company.
Vijayan was an important part of Tesla’s top executive team, and the company’s current ERP system is a work of his efforts. Another major loss was Guru Sankararaman, who served as vice president of IT Infrastructure and Operations, notes Electrek.
Ganesh V. Iyer (a former VMware employee) also had a few months-long stint with Tesla as CIO and quit in May 2016. Tesla’s IT leadership has been impacted greatly with these departures, and now, all eyes are on Clark.
Crucial time for Tesla
During his four years at the company, Vijayan served as the backbone of Tesla’s custom e-commerce and back-end management software. Vijayan played a major role in developing the Warp software, which performs several crucial tasks for the company, such as manufacturing workflows, order processing, financial accounting and supply chain management.
According to Electrek, the EV firm is developing a new platform called Tesla 3DX, possibly for upcoming cars such as the Model 3. Whether Clark will also work on this and, if yes, what his responsibilities be are still unknown.
Clark is joining the EV firm at a crucial time when it is racing to release its first mass-market car, the Model 3. Apart from Clark, there is one more former Juniper employee working with Tesla. Former CFO/COO Robyn Denholm is a part of Tesla’s board of directors, notes Electrek.
On Tuesday, Tesla shares closed down 1.04% at $248.59. Year to date, the stock is up more than 16%, while in the last year, it is up almost 24%. The stock has a 52-week high of $287.39 and a 52-week low of $178.19.
