Lordstown Motors Announces Leadership Transition
June 14 2021 - 7:01AM
Lordstown Motors Corp. (Nasdaq: RIDE), (“Lordstown Motors” or the
“Company”), a leader in electric light duty trucks focused on the
commercial fleet market, today announced several changes to its
executive management team as the Company begins to transition from
the R&D and early production phase to the commercial production
phase of its business.
To that end, Lordstown Motors Lead Independent Director Angela
Strand has been appointed Executive Chairwoman of the Company, and
will oversee the organization’s transition until a permanent CEO is
identified, and Becky Roof, will serve as Interim Chief Financial
Officer. Steve Burns has resigned as Chief Executive Officer and
from the Company’s Board of Directors, and Chief Financial Officer
Julio Rodriguez has also resigned. All changes are effective
immediately and the Company has engaged an executive search firm to
identify a permanent CEO and CFO.
On behalf of the Board of Directors, David Hamamoto stated,
“Lordstown Motors has achieved significant milestones on the path
to developing the first and best full-size all-electric pickup
truck, the Lordstown Endurance. We thank Steve Burns for his
passion and commitment to the company. As we transition to the
commercial stage of our business – with planned commencement of
limited production in late-September – we have to put in place a
seasoned management team with deep experience leading and operating
publicly-listed OEM companies. We have complete confidence in
Angela and Becky, and our expanded leadership team, to effectively
guide the company during this interim period.”
The Company has further augmented its executive team. Key
individuals, along with their roles and responsibilities,
include:
- Rich Schmidt, President of Lordstown Motors, will continue to
oversee all day-to-day operations, including manufacturing and
engineering. Mr. Schmidt was promoted to President in November
having previously served as Lordstown’s Chief Production Officer.
He has over 30 years of automotive industry expertise, including
experiences at Toyota and Nissan, Hyundai, Volkswagen, J.D. Power,
and Tesla Motors.
- Jane Ritson-Parsons, formerly Lordstown Motors Interim Chief
Brand Officer, has been appointed Chief Operating Officer. Jane is
a highly experienced senior global executive with demonstrated
leadership and revenue building success with a successful track
record most recently at Hasbro Inc as their Group Executive, Global
Marketing.
- Carter Driscoll, formerly Lordstown Motors Head of Investor
Relations, has been promoted to Vice President, Corporate
Development, Capital Markets and Investor Relations.
- Tom Canepa, General Counsel, Shane Brown, Chief Production
Officer, Darren Post, Vice President of Engineering, John Vo, Vice
President of Propulsion, will all remain in their current roles to
continue to guide the Company’s progress.
Ms. Strand stated, “We remain committed to delivering on our
production and commercialization objectives, holding ourselves to
the highest standards of operation and performance and creating
value for shareholders. Along with the management team, I will
continue to work closely with them and the Board to execute on
Lordstown’s vision for the future of electrified transportation. I
am excited to lead the passionate and dedicated team of Lordstown
employees and to work with our valued customers, suppliers,
investors and partners and to hosting Lordstown Week, which
commences on June 21st.”
Ms. Strand, is presently the Managing Director of Strand
Strategy, an advisory firm specializing in technology, business
strategy and organization development across multiple sectors
working with corporate board executives, investors, suppliers, and
policy makers. She is considered a thought leader and expert in the
commercial electric vehicle sector, with a decade of real-world
executive and advisory experience working with fleets, fleet
management companies, OEMs, utilities, financing and infrastructure
solutions providers to successfully launch and deploy electric
trucks and end-to-end infrastructure solutions. Ms. Strand also
currently serves on the board of directors of Nuvve Corp
(NASDAQ:NVVE).
Ms. Roof will serve as Interim CFO, effective immediately. She
is a certified public accountant and seasoned financial executive
who has served as a consultant to publicly traded companies and in
an interim CFO capacity at numerous companies including Eastman
Kodak, Hudson’s Bay Company, Saks Fifth Avenue and Aceto
Corporation, a publicly traded generic pharma and specialty
chemical company.
About Lordstown Motors Corp.Lordstown Motors is
an Ohio-based original equipment manufacturer of light duty fleet
vehicles, with the purpose of transforming Ohio’s Mahoning Valley
and Lordstown, Ohio, into the epicenter of electric-vehicle
manufacturing. The company owns the 640 acre, 6.2 million square
foot Lordstown Assembly Plant where it plans to build the Lordstown
Endurance, believed to be the world’s first full-size, all-electric
pickup truck designed to serve the commercial fleet market. For
additional information visit www.lordstownmotors.com.
Forward Looking StatementsThis press release
includes forward-looking statements. These statements are made
under the “safe harbor” provisions of the U.S. Private Securities
Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements may be identified
by words such as “feel,” “believes,” expects,” “estimates,”
“projects,” “intends,” “should,” “is to be,” or the negative of
such terms, or other comparable terminology. Forward-looking
statements are statements that are not historical facts. Such
forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance
and are subject to risks and uncertainties, which could cause
actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking
statements contained herein due to many factors, including, but not
limited to: our limited operating history and our significant
projected funding needs; risks associated with the conversion and
retooling of our facility and ramp up of production; our inability
to obtain binding purchase orders from customers and potential
customers’ inability to integrate our electric vehicles into their
existing fleets; our inability to retain key personnel and to hire
additional personnel; competition in the electric pickup truck
market; our inability to develop a sales distribution network; and
the ability to protect our intellectual property rights. Any
forward-looking statements speak only as of the date on which they
are made, and Lordstown Motors undertakes no obligation to update
any forward-looking statement to reflect events or circumstances
after the date of this press release.
Contacts:
InvestorsCarter DriscolllordstownIR@icrinc.com
MediaRyan Hallettlordstownmotors@ottoandfriends.com
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