Elon co-founded Tesla and continues to oversee the company's product strategy -- including the design, engineering and manufacturing of more and more affordable electric vehicles for mainstream consumers. As Chairman and Product Architect, he helped design the ground-breaking Tesla Roadster, for which he won an Index and a Global Green award, the latter presented by Mikhail Gorbachev. In October 2008, he took on the additional responsibility of CEO, overseeing daily operations as the company was ramping up Roadster production and accelerating the development of its second vehicle, the Model S.

Elon launched Tesla's regional sales and service centers across two continents and in May 2009 secured a $50 million investment and strategic partnership from Germany's Daimler. He spearheaded a successful cost-down program that enabled Tesla to achieve profitability in July 2009. He guides development of the Model S, the all-electric family sedan that will be produced in at the Tesla Factory in Northern California. The Tesla Factory will employ approximately 1,000 workers.

Elon has been fascinated by electric cars for two decades. After earning bachelor's degrees in physics and business from the University of Pennsylvania, he worked briefly on ultracapacitors at Pinnacle Research in Silicon Valley to understand their potential as an energy storage mechanism for EVs. He planned to do graduate studies at Stanford in materials science and applied physics but put school on hold to start Internet companies Zip2 and PayPal. In addition to his Tesla duties, he serves as CEO and CTO of SpaceX, and he's Chairman of SolarCity.

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The story of JB's career started at a junkyard in Wisconsin, where, at the age of 14, he discovered a discarded electric golf cart and decided to rebuild it. Thus began a lifelong fascination with energy work and electric vehicles.

As a co-founder of Tesla, JB has overseen the technical and engineering design of the vehicles, focusing on the battery, motor, power electronics, and high-level software sub-systems. Additionally, he evaluates new technology, manages vehicle systems testing, and handles technical interface with key vendors.

Prior to Tesla, JB was the CTO and co-founder of the aerospace firm, Volacom, which designed a specialized high-altitude electric aircraft platform using a novel power plant. At Volacom, JB invented and patented a new long-endurance hybrid electric propulsion concept that was later licensed to Boeing. Before Volacom, JB worked at Rosen Motors as a propulsion engineer developing a new hybrid electric vehicle drivetrain based on a micro turbine and a high-speed flywheel. JB was also part of the early team at Pentadyne, where he designed and built a first-generation 150kW power inverter, motor-generator controls, and magnetic bearing systems.

Armed with a bachelor's in energy systems engineering and an master's in energy engineering from Stanford University, JB left the cold winters of Wisconsin for good. He now lives in Menlo Park, Calif., where he continues to indulge his passion for electric transportation: he built an electric Porsche 944 that held a world EV racing record, a custom electric bicycle, and a pioneering hybrid trailer system. JB is also an accomplished pilot.

Deepak brings more than 15 years of global automotive financial experience to the Tesla team. As Chief Financial Officer, Deepak brings invaluable insight of a well-versed industry veteran to help Tesla become a leading automobile company in the world.

Prior to joining Tesla Motors, Deepak was the Controller of Small Cars Product Development at Ford with the goal of bringing several exciting fuel efficient automobiles to the North American market. Previously, Deepak was CFO for Ford of Southern Africa, a $3 Billion subsidiary where he oversaw the finance, legal and IT functions. Prior to that, Deepak served as CFO for Auto Alliance International, a joint venture between Ford and Mazda with over $4 billion in revenue. His career at Ford included assignments in all aspects of the business, including Manufacturing, Marketing and Sales, Treasury, Acquisition and Divestitures.

Before joining Ford, Deepak worked as an engineer for Kennametal, Inc. near Pittsburgh, PA for almost 6 years and developed two new ceramic composites cutting tools for machining of aluminum alloys in aerospace and automotive industries.

Deepak, his wife and two daughters have moved from Michigan to Silicon Valley, where Deepak spearheads financial initiatives out of Tesla's San Carlos headquarters. In his spare time Deepak enjoys playing racquet ball, spending time with his kids and hiking. He loves cooking Indian food on special occasions just to have fun with his friends and family.

Deepak holds bachelor's and master's degrees in materials engineering from Banaras Hindu University and Northwestern University, respectively and an MBA from Carnegie Mellon University.

Passin brings 23 years of international automotive experience to Tesla. He has led some of the most high-profile divisions at Toyota, Volvo, Mack and Renault across North America and Europe. Most recently, Passin served as general manager of production engineering for Toyota in North America.

Passin was vice president of manufacturing at Toyota's plant in Cambridge, Ontario. Passin was instrumental in the manufacturing planning and launch of the best-selling Lexus RX luxury SUV at the award-winning plant which produces over 200,000 automobiles per year and is the only Toyota site to produce a Lexus vehicle outside of Japan. He also launched manufacturing of the award-winning tenth generation Corolla, one of the most popular automotive models worldwide which is widely acknowledged as the global leader in its class for quality and durability.

During his time with Mack, Passin played a key role in transferring the production of highway trucks to Volvo's Virginia facility. At the Volvo facility, Passin successfully consolidated the production of Volvo and Mack trucks while increasing the production rate and improving quality and productivity.

Passin has a degree in Engineering from Ecole Centrale de Paris. He has also taught Dynamics and 3D Mechanics in the School of Engineering at the University of Bath, U.K.

As Chief Designer, Franz is responsible for driving the overall design direction of Tesla, and is charged with establishing a world class design competency for all future Tesla design concepts and production vehicles.

Prior to joining Tesla, Franz was Director of Design at the Mazda North American Design Center. While at Mazda, Franz pioneered the Nagare surface language design philosophy. The word Nagare itself is but one of 150 different ways to describe motion in the Japanese language.

The Nagare and Furai concepts were the progenitors of The visual interpretation of what has become the new design language for the Mazda brand. These two initial concepts led to the development of the Ryuga, Hakaze and Taiki As well as the Kazemai - the latest concept unveiled in Moscow. Franz also led design of the Mazda RX-8, Tribute, and Mazda5 production vehicle facelifts, and was instrumental in the design development of the 2009 Mazda6 and Mazda3.

Before spearheading design at Mazda, Franz held the Design Director position at General Motors. The Pontiac Solstice, Saturn Sky, and Opel GT are all examples of Franz’s efforts at GM. Franz began his career as Assistant Chief Designer at Volkswagen, where he was involved in projects from Concept One to the Microbus.

When not immersed in design, architecture, and fashion, Franz enjoys sailing, cycling, and snowboarding. Franz also revels in driving one of the cars in his modest collection, which ranges from American muscle to Italian finesse.

Franz began his studies at Syracuse University in the field of industrial design and graduated from Art Center College of Design in 1992 with a bachelor's degree in Transportation Design.

Arnnon Geshuri joined Tesla in November 2009 as the vice president of human resources and is responsible for driving HR operations and the global recruitment efforts. Previously, Arnnon was director of staffing operations for Google, where he designed the company's legendarily recruitment organization and talent acquisition strategy.

Arnnon joined Google as chief staffing architect in late 2004, when the company just emerged from its IPO and employed around 2,500 people. While he oversaw all aspects of recruitment, Google evolved into a technology powerhouse with 20,000 employees – a workplace considered the premier destination for ambitious software engineers.

Before Google, Arnnon was vice president of human resources and director of global staffing for E*TRADE Financial, where he helped recruit more than 2,000 people in 18 months and oversaw the North America HR organization, global talent programs and HR information systems. He also founded a startup and worked at Applied Materials, where he built and managed corporate-wide staffing operations as it increased 7,000 employees within 2 years.

In the early 1990s, Arnnon was an organizational effectiveness consultant for New United Motors Manufacturing (NUMMI), the Fremont, Calif.-based joint venture of Toyota and General Motors. Arnnon has a bachelor's degree in psychology from the University of California at Irvine and a master's in industrial/organizational psychology from San Jose State University.

Diarmuid joined Tesla in 2006, and currently serves as the Vice President of Business Development in which capacity he manages commercial relationships and all aspects of government affairs. Before joining Tesla, Diarmuid served as Chief of Staff for Political Military Affairs at the US State Department, where he was involved in policy and operational support to the U.S military in various theaters of operation.

Before his tenure in Washington, Diarmuid worked in corporate strategy as a management consultant for Accenture, as a founder of educational software developer, Real Time Learning, and as a senior executive with both McCann Erickson Worldwide and Young and Rubicam. Over the course of his career, he has managed international operations, projects and marketing for such brands as Coca Cola, Gillette, and AT&T, among others.

Diarmuid has earned a bachelor's degree from Dartmouth College, a master's degree in Foreign Policy from the University of Virginia, and an MBA from Kellogg. He lives with his wife and two children in the Bay Area and escapes to the mountains whenever possible.

Like a kid in a candy store, Ricardo spent his first day with Tesla at the Frankfurt Motor Show in August of 2009. Before joining Tesla, Ricardo was the head of communications and public affairs at YouTube. He previously handled litigation, competition and policy communications for Google, Inc.

Ricardo also spent a decade working on public policy and communications in Washington DC, including two years at law firm Bracewell and Giuliani LLC. Among the corporate and political clients he advised, he worked closely with General Motors' suppliers as they faced major changes to their business structure. Ricardo served as Deputy Assistant US Trade Representative for Public and Media Affairs from 2001 to 2004, as a spokesman for US international trade policy. He was also managing editor of Regulation Magazine published by the Cato Institute, and worked with various public policy groups during his time in DC.

In 1996, Ricardo worked as an observer for national elections in his birth country, Nicaragua. As a kid, he spent summers pumping gas, checking fluid levels, and changing oil filters at gas stations run by his dad. Ricardo is a graduate of Rice University in Houston, Texas. He is married, with two young kids.