Rivian has hired a new Vice President of Investor Relations (IR), six months after Timothy Bei left the company to join the battery recycler firm Redwood Materials.
The EV maker’s Chief Financial Officer Claire McDonough said in a LinkedIn post that the electric vehicle maker has appointed Chip Newcom as vice president of investor relations.
Rivian shares skyrocketed 53% in their Nasdaq debut in November 2021, sending its market value above $100 billion. On Monday, the stock closed at $15.24, resulting in a market cap of $18.49 billion.
Newcom previously held the same role at Equinix, a US digital infrastructure company, where he worked for a decade.
“Chip has extensive experience driving IR strategy and communications, building relationships with investors and sell-side analysts and raising significant capital through equity and debt offerings,” McDonough wrote.
Prior to that, he was also at London-based bank HSBC, where he spent one year as an Analyst, and then served as Vice President of Foreign Exchange Advisory and Sales Structuring from 2008 to 2013.
Newcom holds an MBA in Finance, Accounting, and Management & Organizations, as well as a BSc in Industrial Engineering & Economics, both from Illinois’ Northwestern University.
The new executive replaces Timothy Bei, who held the role of VP of Strategic Finance, Corporate Development and IR for three years.
Bei left in March to be the Senior Vice President of Finance at Redwood Materials, a Nevada-headquartered company focused on battery recycling.
By then, Rivian appointed Derek Mulvey, its Senior Director Strategic Finance & Investor Relations, as the Vice President of Finance.
Around the same time, Rivian hired Tesla’s Vice President of Finance and Business Operations, Sreela Venkataratnam, to become its Chief Accounting Officer.
Venkataratnam had been in Tesla for over 10 years. Six months ago, he became responsible for Rivian‘s financial reporting, tax and trade, internal controls and compliance, finance transformation management, and manufacturing controllership.
Last month, the Irvine-based EV maker has hired car industry veteran Omar Rivera as VP of Corporate Quality.
Omar Rivera, who joined Rivian on August 1, has served at Hyundai’s luxury brand Genesis over the last four years as an Executive Director.
The industry veteran joined the industry 30 years ago in Detroit automakers Ford and GM. He was a Lead Engineer in Ford from 2000 to 2003.
The company is expanding its list of Vice Presidents, having also recently promoted long-time Rivian engineer Brian Gase to VP of Engineering Quality.
Gase joined Krishna Bandaru, who was hired in late 2024 as the VP of Manufacturing Engineering.
A few months earlier, the company had appointed Google veteran Sangsoo S. as its new Vice President of Infotainment Software, under the leadership of Chief Software Officer Wassym Bensaid.
Earlier this year, Rivian also promoted Marina Hoffmann from VP and Head of Communications to Chief Communications Officer.
