Tesla Announces Two New Board Members Without Automotive Experience

Tesla has announced the appointment of Oracle founder Larry Ellison and Walgreens executive Kathleen Thompson-Wilson to its board of directors, in compliance with its SEC settlement. Neither has any manufacturing industry experience.

In September, Tesla reached a settlement with the SEC over charges of fraud relating to a tweet in which the company’s CEO Elon Musk claimed to have the “funding secured” to take Tesla private. CNBC reported that under the terms of the deal Musk and Tesla would be forced to pay a fine of $20 million each, Musk would be barred from acting as the chairman of Tesla for two years and the company would have to appoint independent board members — although Musk would still maintain his role as CEO and he would not have to admit guilt in the matter.

Now, Tesla has announced the appointment of Oracle founder Larry Ellison and Walgreens executive Kathleen Thompson-Wilson to its board of directors, Business Insider reports. The appointment of the executives comes just six weeks after the company revealed that Robyn Denholm would be acting as board chairman. In a press release, the board stated: “In conducting a widespread search over the last few months, we sought to add independent directors with skills that would complement the current board’s experience. In Larry and Kathleen, we have added a preeminent entrepreneur and a human resources leader, both of whom have a passion for sustainable energy.”

Ellison is the founder of Oracle, a multinational computer technology corporation with a focus on business solutions and cloud technology. Although Ellison is a “big believer” in Tesla’s mission, he has no experience in the would of auto manufacturing. Similarly, Thompson-Wilson works at Kellogs for 17 years and served as the executive vice president and global human resources officer at Walgreens-Boots Alliance before joining Tesla’s board of directors, but also has no experience in the world of vehicle production.