Tesla's VP of finance, Sendil Palani, departs after 17 years
Sendil Palani, Tesla's vice president of finance and a key player since late 2008, just announced he's stepping down.
He started as a senior financial analyst and worked his way up, finally becoming vice president in 2021.
In his farewell on X, Palani thanked Elon Musk for his "first principles thinking."
Palani's impressive resume and career trajectory
Palani isn't just a finance guy: he's got degrees from the University of Pennsylvania, the Wharton School, and Stanford University.
He worked at McKinsey before first joining Tesla; after an initial Tesla stint he had brief roles at Google and Kleiner Perkins before returning to Tesla.
Over the years, he led everything from engineering finance to business development at Tesla.
Palani's departure comes amid a wave of leadership exits at Tesla
Palani's exit is part of a bigger shake-up at Tesla: other top leaders like Raj Jegannathan, Tesla's former VP of IT and AI Infrastructure who briefly oversaw North American sales, and Siddhant Awasthi, program manager for Cybertruck and Model 3, have already departed.
Meanwhile, Tesla is betting big on AI and robotics for the future.
If you're into how big companies pivot or what happens behind the scenes at Tesla, this one's worth watching.