A Look At Robyn Denholm, The Woman Who Will Replace Elon Musk As Tesla Chair

CEO Elon Musk led Tesla Inc TSLA through a remarkable third quarter, which yielded significant revenue growth and a profit widely unexpected by Street experts.

But those benchmarks weren’t enough to fully pardon Musk’s mercurial leadership. As mandated by the Securities and Exchange Commission, Tesla has officially replaced its long-time chairman.

Early Thursday, the company named Robyn Denholm the board’s new chair, filling a seat Musk vacated back in September.

Who Is Denhelm?

Denholm boasts a history in both automotive and tech through terms at Toyota Motor Corp TM, Juniper Networks, Inc. JNPR and Sun Microsystems. Most recently, she served as CFO and head of strategy at Telstra Corporation Ltd TLS — Australia’s largest telecom firm.

From these positions, she gleaned financial understanding critical to public companies.

“She is widely credited with leading a team that drove significant increases in Juniper’s revenues, overseeing Juniper’s corporate transformation during her nine-year tenure as Chief Financial and Operations Officer,” the Tesla announcement read.

Denholm joined the Tesla board as an independent director in 2014, and Musk attributed the firm’s recent profitability in part to her contributions.

What’s Next?

At the completion of her six-month notice with Telstra, Denholm will commit full-time focus to Tesla. At that time, she will receive 8,000 Tesla stock options per year with a cash retainer of $300,000, according to CNBC.

In the interim, she will temporarily leave her role as chair of Tesla’s Audit Committee.

Tesla's stock closed Wednesday at $348.16 per share.

Related Links:

Tesla Analysts Weigh In On Musk's SEC Lawsuit

Vertical Group's Gordon Johnson On Tesla: 'Fraud Is In The DNA'