Tesla’s Top HR Exec and Diversity Advocate Leaves For Handshake

Tesla’s VP of People, Valerie Capers Workman, has reportedly left the red-hot electric vehicle (EV) manufacturer for a new role as the Chief Legal Officer at Handshake, the career search website for college students.

Workman, who reported directly to CEO and Technoking Elon Musk, first started at Tesla as an Associate General Counsel focused on compliance before leaping to the company’s HR team.

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Before her time at Tesla, Workman was the VP of Legal for Focus Brands and held compliance roles at Realogy Holdings and Wyndham Hotels and Resorts. She also held marketing and HR roles at KPMG.

“I am proud of all that I was able to accomplish at Tesla with the support of truly excellent colleagues, especially the People and Legal teams,” Workman said in an email seen by Bloomberg. Workman also stated her confidence that she had left Tesla in a better place than when she got there, “with the implementation of so many important programs for employees worldwide.”

As the VP of People, Workman has been Tesla’s leading diversity advocate and highest-ranking black executive. Under her leadership, the company published its first-ever diversity report and implemented a new employee handbook.

However, Workman also steps away from Telsa on the back of news that six women have sued the EV maker for sexual harassment they experienced while working at the company’s plant in Fremont, California. The lawsuit follows a successful $137 million racial harassment lawsuit from a former contractor who worked at the Fremont facility.