Luminar Adds a Chief Information Officer and Three Other Execs

Luminar has announced that it has four new executives joining to help lead the LiDAR maker into a new phase of growth.

The new hires include VP of Business Operations and Alignment Sardar Gautham, Vice President of Strategic Sourcing and Materials Cheryl Zula, Head of Corporate Development & Strategy Alex Vitale, and CIO Munir Hafez.

In a press release, Luminar Founder and CEO Austin Russell said, “Each of our new leaders are at the top of their respective fields in the industry, and will be relentlessly driving Luminar towards series production as the new automotive safety and autonomy standard.”

Here are Luminar’s new leaders:

• Gautham joins Luminar from Waymo, where he served as the Head of Hardware Strategy & Execution. As Luminar’s VP of Business Operations and Alignment, he will drive cross-functional alignment and execution to help the company scale.

• Zula comes to the company from recently formed auto titan Stellantis where she served as VP of Electronics, Global Purchasing. Her new role at Luminar will place her in charge of the rapidly growing autonomous vehicle technology venture’s sourcing and supply chain efforts.

• Vitale brings a finance background with over eight years at global investment bank GCA Advisors where he served as a Managing Director and as a member of the Executive Committee. He will lead Luminar’s corporate development and corporate strategy.

• Hafez was appointed Luminar’s Chief Information Officer after holding the CIO role for Aptiv’s autonomous mobility group.

Earlier this month, Luminar released its Q2 2021 earnings report that revealed that it is raising its full-year 2021 revenue guidance to $30 to $33 million versus prior guidance of $25 to $30 million. The company also stated that it has now secured more than 85% of its series production supply chain and tooling for its Iris LiDAR system.