Lordstown Motors shuffled the top of its executive ranks, including naming longtime auto executive Edward Hightower the company’s CEO. Hightower, who enjoyed tenures with General Motors and Ford, becomes the first Black CEO of a modern U.S. automaker with the promotion.
The move to elevate Hightower from just the company’s president — he’s also a member of the Lordstown board of directors — is just one of several adjustment the long-struggling EV maker made among its senior officials.
The company’s previous CEO, Daniel Ninivaggi, is now executive chairman of the board, and he plans ot focus on corporate strategy, partnerships and capital raising. Hightower, in addition to his new duties, remains CEO of MIH EV Design LLC, LMC’s product development joint venture with Foxconn.
The moves are designed, in part, to ensure the company remains on track to produce Lordstown’s first vehicle, the Endurance by the end of the year.
A new leader
“We now have a focused leadership team with vast experience in developing, launching and commercializing vehicles,” said Hightower in a statement. “I’ve just returned from two weeks in Taiwan meeting with Foxconn and exploring our joint product development opportunities.
“I look forward to strengthening our partnership and confirming our first vehicle program over the next several months. The LMC team also remains laser focused on launching the Endurance this quarter, with commercial deliveries expected in the fourth quarter.”
Hightower’s move into the CEO’s role is a noteworthy event, although he’s technically not the first Black CEO of an automaker. That honor belongs to C.R. Patterson, who formed C.R. Patterson & Sons, which built its first car in 1914. Working with his son, Frederick, the company produced the Patterson-Greenfield Automobile until 1918, when it began producing buses. The company lasted until 1939 and is still the only Black-owned automaker in U.S. history.
Additional appointments
A shift in the responsibilities and titles between Ninivaggi and Hightower weren’t the only moves announced. Other changes include:
- Donna Bell, a former Ford Motor Co. executive with almost 30 years of automotive product development and technology innovation leadership experience, has been appointed Executive Vice President, Product Creation, Engineering and Supply Chain, effective immediately.
- Andrew Reyntjes, a 30-year veteran of the automotive and commercial fleet industry, was appointed Senior Vice President, Sales, Service and Marketing, effective June 29.
- Jill Coniglio-Kirk was appointed Vice President of People & Culture, effective June 20. She has more than 20 years of experience in automotive human resources roles and building out early-stage organizations.
- Jane Ritson-Parsons will be transitioning out of the role of Chief Commercial Officer and become an advisor to the company.
Ninivaggi stressed having the right people in the right places, is critical the success of the company in the near term as well as in the future.
“Since joining Lordstown Motors, recruiting an experienced and talented management team has been a key priority. With the recent closing of the Foxconn transactions and the launch of our new Foxconn joint venture, Lordstown Motors has shifted to a more engineering and product development focused OEM,” he said in a statement.
“As the Endurance gets closer to production and we select partners for our first joint venture vehicle, our commercial strategy will also be critical. Andrew will accelerate the development of our commercial fleet partnerships.
“Finally, we are in an industry with emerging technologies and the need for constant innovation. Jill will be a key member of our senior management team, with a particular focus on recruiting and developing the best EV engineering talent.”
Still searching for the right people
Ninivaggi’s focus on finding the right folks for the job has been part of the problem for the nascent EV maker for much of the last 12 months. The former Icahn Enterprises CEO himself has been with the company less than a year.
In June 2021, the company’s founder and CEO Steve Burns, as well as then-CFO Julio Rodriguez, resigned from the company. They left days after the Ohio-based company warned there was “substantial doubt” it would have enough money to remain in business for the next year. The company also faces an investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission into claims that it misled investors.Prior to that, short-seller group, Hindenburg Research released a report questioning Lordstown’s optimistic sales projections. According to Hindenburg, the “fake” orders were used to help Lordstown raise capital. It has since come out that most, if not all, of the automaker’s sales claims are questionable.
Why does first have to override competence. Not one word of talent only that he is black. What has he achieved at GM and Ford? Was he a first there and they got tired of carrying him?
I’m curious about the tone of your comment, Ron, which ties being black with not being very good. Why would you imply he wasn’t up to snuff rather than, for example: “Was he sought out because of his capabilities?” Or, perhaps, “Is he the sort of talent that is best suited to entrepreneurial ventures?” I’m hoping there was no negative implication here. In fact, he has a very solid rep and appears to be willing to take personal risk.
Paul E>