On The Move: Executive Changes at Ford Energy, Rivian and Mission Critical Group
Ford’s newest division has a new leader.
President and CEO Jim Farley recently announced that he had hired Dave Carroll to take over as president of Ford Energy, the company’s new battery manufacturing business. Lisa Drake, a 32-year company veteran, had led that venture since early this year and will stay with Ford through year’s end to facilitate the hand-off.
Carroll had been CEO and chief renewables officer at Engie North America, which employs more than 2,000 people across its energy-transition business lines. He had spent more than six years there, during which the group grew its operating assets more than 12-fold.
“Dave brings a rare, buy-side perspective on what utilities and other customers truly require as they build out power infrastructure – exactly the skill set and insight Ford Energy needs,” Farley said. “Under Dave’s leadership, we will scale this business into one of North America’s leading energy storage providers.”
Drake will leave Ford more than three decades after coming aboard as a Ford College Graduate in powertrain engineering. During her career, she worked on the F-150 and Super Duty programs, among others, and was the chief engineer for global hybrid and battery electric vehicles before moving into several executive roles focused on technology and EV platforms.
Rivian Preps For Finance Transition
Claire McDonough, the CFO of Rivian Automotive, will leave the electric-vehicle manufacturer in late October and move to the East Coast to be closer to her family and start work at energy equipment and systems titan GE Vernova. Come Jan. 1, she will become the latter’s CFO.
McDonough, a former JPMorgan investment banker, has been Rivian’s CFO since early 2021 and helped lead the company’s initial public offering late that year. She will stay in her role until Oct. 30 and then hand the baton to Derek Mulvey, Rivian’s vice president of finance, while CEO RJ Scaringe searches for a permanent successor.
“Beyond her work on our capital roadmap, Claire has been a trusted leader and partner across the organization,” Scaringe said in a statement. “While she will be missed, I’m thrilled that Derek is taking on the interim CFO role. Derek has worked incredibly closely with me, Claire and our leadership team for several years and will enable a seamless transition.”
At GE Vernova, McDonough will take over from Ken Parks, who will stay with the company through April to help smooth the transition.
Mission Critical Makes CFO Change
Texas-based Mission Critical Group, which designs and makes switchgear, backup power systems and other energy-related equipment at nearly 20 plants across the country, has recruited Akash Raj to be its new CFO.
Raj comes to Mission Critical from real estate software venture RealPage, where he had been CFO since September 2022. Before that, he held the same role at WellSky, a healthcare software company, and worked his way up through a handful of roles at Motorola Solutions during a nearly eight-year tenure. He takes over the CFO role from Julie Peffer.
“Akash is an accomplished finance executive who brings an exceptional combination of strategic, operational, and financial leadership to MCG,” Jeff Drees, Mission Critical’s CEO, said in a statement. “We believe his experience leading complex organizations and driving financial and operational performance will be a tremendous asset to MCG and our leadership team.”
Word of Raj’s hiring comes shortly after Mission Critical completed its acquisition of Anchor Automation, a South Carolina company that boosts Drees and his team’s reach in integration, monitoring and equipment lifecycle management.
About the Author
Geert De Lombaerde
Senior Editor
A native of Belgium, Geert De Lombaerde has been in business journalism since the mid-1990s and writes about public companies, markets and economic trends for Endeavor Business Media publications, focusing on IndustryWeek, FleetOwner, Oil & Gas Journal, T&D World and Healthcare Innovation. He also curates the twice-monthly Market Moves Strategy newsletter that showcases Endeavor stories on strategy, leadership and investment and contributes to other Market Moves newsletters.
With a degree in journalism from the University of Missouri, he began his reporting career at the Business Courier in Cincinnati in 1997, initially covering retail and the courts before shifting to banking, insurance and investing. He later was managing editor and editor of the Nashville Business Journal before being named editor of the Nashville Post in early 2008. He led a team that helped grow the Post's online traffic more than fivefold before joining Endeavor in September 2021.