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Luminar scales global automotive team, onboards five top industry execs

Date Announced: 28 Jul 2020

Tom Fennimore joins as CFO and Matthew Simoncini joins the Board of Directors.

PALO ALTO, Calif. -- Luminar technologies has announced a significant expansion of its leadership as it drives into its next phase of growth in automotive. Over the next 18 months, the company is scaling its technology into series production, starting with Volvo in 2022, and will begin shipping its Iris sensing and perception platform within the year.

The company’s new Chief Financial Officer, Tom Fennimore, previously Global Head of Automotive for Goldman Sachs and most recently at Jefferies Group, LLC. Over the last 25 years, Tom led many of the industry’s most significant and successful financial endeavors, including the likes of Tesla and Mobileye’s IPOs.

Matthew Simoncini, the former President, CEO, and Director at Lear Corporation joins Luminar’s Board of Directors.

Marc Losewitz and Aaron Jefferson, former ZF Group executives in ADAS, join Luminar as Vice President of Automotive Business Development and Vice President of Product, respectively.

Marc led the global Active and Passive Safety product lines with direct responsibility for building and maintaining over a $1B P&L. Aaron led the cross-functional global Product Management organization with a focus on ADAS and related products.

European business

Also joining the automotive business team is Jason Rudd, who served for 11 years at Mobileye as Senior Director OEM and Tier1 Sales. Jason will be driving Luminar’s growing European business presence and programs. This new leadership establishes a deeper presence for Luminar in Detroit as well as the EU.

“We’ve been rapidly evolving from a tech development company working with R&D programs to now the first company enabling autonomy in automotive series production. This enables us to attract the top leaders across the industry as we establish a greater presence in automotive and focus on rapid execution and scale,” said Austin Russell, Founder and CEO of Luminar Technologies. “There is no precedent or playbook for what we’re building, so having the best strategic minds to solve complex problems and execute solutions is paramount to our long-term success.”

Prior to these additions, Luminar also appointed Lonnie Bernardoni as Vice President, Supply Chain to ramp up the company’s production of its Iris sensing technology for 2022 series production. Lonnie was previously Vice President of Supply Chain and Operations at Magic Leap, establishing highly sophisticated optical manufacturing processes and a supply chain capable of high volume. 

Contact


Luminar Technologies
1891 Page Mill Rd
Palo Alto
CA 94304
United States

E-mail: info@luminartech.com

Web Site: www.luminartech.com

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