Joby Announces World-Class Board of Directors
July 23 2021 - 8:00AM
Business Wire
Company announces Board membership
as it prepares to merge with Reinvent Technology Partners
(NYSE:RTP)
Appoints diverse selection of accomplished
Board members with wide-ranging experience
Joby Aero, Inc. (“Joby”), a California-based company developing
all-electric aircraft for commercial passenger service, today
announced the composition of its Board of Directors in anticipation
of the company’s merger with Reinvent Technology Partners
(“Reinvent” or “RTP”) (NYSE:RTP), a special purpose acquisition
company that takes a “venture capital at scale” approach to
partnering with bold leaders and companies. Upon the closing of the
transaction, the combined company will be named Joby Aviation,
Inc., and become publicly traded, with its common stock to be
listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol
“JOBY”.
The following appointments have been made to Joby’s Board of
Directors since December 2020:
- Aicha Evans, CEO, Zoox. Aicha has more than two decades
of experience leading global engineering teams and shaping core
technologies that power the modern world. She also led Zoox’s
successful acquisition by Amazon. Prior to Zoox, Evans held
executive roles at Intel, driving its transformation from a
PC-centric to a data-centric company. In addition to Joby’s board,
Evans acts as a supervisory board member of SAP. As the CEO of a
company developing revolutionary autonomous transport technology,
Aicha’s experience is particularly relevant to Joby’s mission.
Dr. James Kuffner, CEO and Representative Director of
Woven Planet Holdings, and Member of the Board of Directors and
Operating Officer of Toyota Motor Corporation. James is best
known as a co-inventor of the Rapidly-exploring Random Tree (RRT)
algorithm, which has become a key standard benchmark for robot
motion planning. As a Research Scientist and Engineering Director
at Google, he was part of the initial engineering team that built
Google’s self-driving cars.
The following appointments are expected to be made to Joby’s
Board of Directors upon the closing of the transaction:
- Reid Hoffman, LinkedIn Co-Founder and Co-Lead Director of
Reinvent Technology Partners. Reid is an accomplished
entrepreneur and investor, who served on the founding Board of
Directors of PayPal, co-founded LinkedIn and today sits on the
Board of Directors of a wide variety of companies, including
Microsoft and Aurora. Reid is a Partner at Greylock, and Co-Lead
Director of Reinvent Technology Partners with whom Joby intends to
merge.
- Halimah DeLaine Prado, General Counsel, Google. Halimah
has spent 15 years at Google, working on some of the most complex
and important legal issues of the digital age, including a variety
of projects at Google X. Prior to her current position, Halimah was
a Vice President of Legal, managing a global team providing counsel
across Google’s products, including Ads, Search, Cloud, Hardware,
Platforms & Ecosystems, and YouTube. Halimah’s expertise in
protecting digital technologies and supporting the development of
highly-regulated hardware, such as autonomous vehicles, will be
particularly applicable to Joby.
- Laura Wright, former CFO, Southwest Airlines. Laura has
significant experience managing airline finances and operations,
having helped to establish Southwest as one of the top US airlines
across a 25 year tenure at the company. Her experience of leading
an airline through a period of high growth will be particularly
relevant to Joby as it seeks to establish and rapidly grow an
aerial ridesharing service beginning in 2024.
Commenting on the recent appointments, JoeBen Bevirt, Founder
and CEO of Joby, said, “We are incredibly humbled to have been able
to assemble such a remarkable and diverse group of world-class
leaders to guide and support Joby as we plan to enter the public
market.”
“Each of these individuals is exceptionally accomplished in
their respective fields and we’re grateful that they have chosen to
lend us their expertise.”
Following the closing of the transaction, these recent
appointees and expected appointees are expected to join three
current members of Joby’s Board of Directors:
- JoeBen Bevirt is the founder and Chief Executive Officer
of Joby and has led the team since its inception more than a decade
ago. He has dedicated his life to driving radical innovation in
electric propulsion and robotics. In 1999, he co-founded Velocity11
to develop high-performance robotic laboratory systems, which was
acquired by Agilent Technologies. In 2005, he founded Joby Inc., a
company that develops useful and delightful consumer products
including the popular Gorillapod flexible camera tripod.
- Paul Sciarra is Joby’s Executive Chairman and was its
first outside investor. Paul’s proven ability to lead
world-changing companies by building products designed around the
customer is best exhibited by his role as the co-founder and CEO of
Pinterest. After Pinterest, Paul was an entrepreneur-in-residence
at the leading venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz. Paul was
instrumental in Joby’s move to a four-passenger aircraft operating
within a service-based model.
- Dipender Saluja is Managing Director of Capricorn
Investment Group. He joined Joby’s board of directors in 2016 after
he led the company’s Series A financing. He has extensive
management and operations experience in the technology,
transportation, and cleantech industries. He serves as a
Commissioner of the Global Commission to End Energy Poverty, on the
Investment Council of CalStart, and on the advisory board of the
Institute on the Environment.
Earlier this week, RTP announced that an Extraordinary General
Meeting of Shareholders has been scheduled for August 5, 2021 to
vote on the approval and adoption of RTP’s business combination
with Joby.
About Joby
Joby Aero, Inc. is a California-headquartered transportation
company developing an all-electric vertical take-off and landing
aircraft which it intends to operate as part of a fast, quiet, and
convenient air taxi service beginning in 2024. The aircraft, which
has a range of 150 miles on a single charge, can transport a pilot
and four passengers at speeds of up to 200 mph. It is designed to
help reduce urban congestion and accelerate the shift to
sustainable modes of transit. Founded in 2009, Joby employs more
than 800 people, with offices in Santa Cruz, San Carlos, and
Marina, California, as well as Washington D.C. and Munich, Germany.
To learn more, visit www.jobyaviation.com.
Forward Looking Statements
This Press Release contains certain forward-looking statements
within the meaning of the federal securities laws with respect to
the proposed transaction between RTP and Joby Aviation. These
forward-looking statements generally are identified by the words
“believe,” “project,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “estimate,” in
“intend,” “strategy,” “future,” “opportunity,” “plan,” “may,”
“should,” “will,” “would,” “will be,” “will continue,” “will likely
result,” and similar expressions. Forward-looking statements are
predictions, projections and other statements about future events
that are based on current expectations and assumptions and, as a
result, are subject to risks and uncertainties. Many factors could
cause actual future events to differ materially from the
forward-looking statements in this Press Release, including but not
limited to: (i) the risk that the transaction may not be completed
in a timely manner or at all, which may adversely affect the price
of RTP’s securities, (ii) the risk that the transaction may not be
completed by RTP’s business combination deadline and the potential
failure to obtain an extension of the business combination deadline
if sought by RTP, (iii) the failure to satisfy the conditions to
the consummation of the transaction, including the adoption of the
Agreement and Plan of Merger, dated as of February 23, 2021 (the
“Merger Agreement”), by and among RTP, Joby and RTP Merger Sub
Inc., a Delaware corporation and a direct wholly owned subsidiary
of RTP, by the shareholders of RTP, the satisfaction of the minimum
trust account amount following redemptions by RTP’s public
shareholders and the receipt of certain governmental and regulatory
approvals, (iv) the lack of a third party valuation in determining
whether or not to pursue the transaction, (v) the inability to
complete the PIPE investment in connection with the transaction,
(vi) the occurrence of any event, change or other circumstance that
could give rise to the termination of the Merger Agreement, (vii)
the effect of the announcement or pendency of the transaction on
Joby Aviation’s business relationships, operating results and
business generally, (viii) risks that the proposed transaction
disrupts current plans and operations of Joby Aviation and
potential difficulties in Joby Aviation employee retention as a
result of the transaction, (ix) the outcome of any legal
proceedings that may be instituted against Joby Aviation or against
RTP related to the Merger Agreement or the transaction, (x) the
ability to maintain the listing of RTP’s securities on a national
securities exchange, (xi) the price of RTP’s securities may be
volatile due to a variety of factors, including changes in the
competitive and highly regulated industries in which RTP plans to
operate or Joby Aviation operates, variations in operating
performance across competitors, changes in laws and regulations
affecting RTP’s or Joby Aviation’s business and changes in the
combined capital structure, (xii) the ability to implement business
plans, forecasts, and other expectations after the completion of
the transaction, and identify and realize additional opportunities,
and (xiii) the risk of downturns and a changing regulatory
landscape in the highly competitive aviation industry. The
foregoing list of factors is not exhaustive. You should carefully
consider the foregoing factors and the other risks and
uncertainties described in the “Risk Factors” section of RTP’s
Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020, as
amended, the registration statement on Form S-4 (File No.
333-254988) and other documents filed by RTP from time to time with
the SEC. These filings identify and address other important risks
and uncertainties that could cause actual events and results to
differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking
statements. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date
they are made. Readers are cautioned not to put undue reliance on
forward-looking statements, and RTP and Joby Aviation assume no
obligation and do not intend to update or revise these
forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information,
future events, or otherwise. Neither RTP nor Joby Aviation gives
any assurance that either RTP or Joby Aviation or the combined
company will achieve its expectations.
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Investors: investors@jobyaviation.com +1-831-201-6006
Media: press@jobyaviation.com
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