The people
Musk is the CEO and the face. These are the people running the programs.
Leadership
Elon Musk
Chairman and lead investor from 2004, CEO since October 2008. Owns about 20% of Tesla and holds a $1T performance award tied to an $8.5T market cap, a million robotaxis and a million Optimus robots.
Vaibhav Taneja
CFO since August 2023; came through SolarCity. 2024 pay about $139M. Delivered the capex cut and the $30B credit lines in Q3 2026.
Tom Zhu
Built Giga Shanghai in under a year; widely seen as a possible successor.
Ashok Elluswamy
Joined 2014; leads FSD and, since Milan Kovac's departure in June 2025, Optimus.
Lars Moravy
The voice of Cybercab capacity, Roadster thrusters and Semi factories on the earnings calls.
Franz von Holzhausen
Since 2008: Model S, X, 3, Y, Semi, Cybertruck, Cybercab and the new Roadster.
Konstantinos Laskaris
Says the hand is still the hardest part.
Mike Snyder
Megapack 3, Megablock and 85,000 Superchargers.
Eric Earley
Told Nevada regulators 5,000 vehicles is “a ceiling.”
Travis Axelrod
Runs the earnings calls.
Board and departures
Robyn Denholm
Chair since 2018; up for re-election December 3, 2026.
JB Straubel
CTO 2004–2019; founder of Redwood Materials; on the board since 2023.
Ira Ehrenpreis
Since 2007; chairs compensation and governance; joined SpaceX's board in February 2026.
Kimbal Musk, Joe Gebbia, James Murdoch, Kathleen Wilson-Thompson, Jack Hartung
Three directors have SpaceX ties — a point Bloomberg raised about the merger committees.
Milan Kovac ✗
Left June 6, 2025.
Peter Bannon ✗
Left August 2025 with ~20 engineers when Dojo was shut down.
Omead Afshar ✗
Out mid-2025.
Drew Baglino ✗ / Zach Kirkhorn ✗
Left April 2024 and August 2023.