GE Vernova swipes Rivian CFO

Dive Brief:

• Rivian CFO Claire McDonough is stepping down from her role to join Cambridge, Mass.-based electric equipment provider GE Vernova as its finance chief, the electric company announced Thursday. She will first serve as a strategic advisor to CEO Scott Strazik effective Nov. 1, and will assume the CFO role on Jan. 1, 2027.
• McDonough will succeed Kenneth Parks, who will be retiring as CFO effective April 2, 2027 after three years in the seat, according to the filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Parks has held the role since the company spun off from General Electric in 2024, and will remain as finance chief through its remaining two 2026 earnings calls, the company said Thursday. He will transition to the role of strategic advisor in the first quarter of 2027 before his April retirement, the company said.
• Separately Thursday, Rivian said it expects to name Derek Mulvey, its current VP of finance, as interim CFO, effective on McDonough’s departure. Rivian has begun a comprehensive search process of both internal and external candidates to identify McDonough’s successor.

Dive Insight:

McDonough will be leaving for a new opportunity and to be closer to her family on the East Coast, according to Rivian. She is stepping down after six years at the Irvine, Calif.-based EV maker, where she played a “central role” in establishing the company’s financial foundation, the manufactuer’s release said.

McDonough helped to lead the business through its $13.7 billion initial public offering in November 2021 — the largest public debut of that year, according to a Bloomberg report at the time. She has also helped to build “robust capital management frameworks” and led cost-reduction initiatives aimed at achieving long-term growth, the company said.

Before the EV maker, she held various roles during a six-year tenure at JPMorgan, including as managing director and co-head of disruptive commerce, according to her LinkedIn profile. She also currently serves on the board of directors for Autozone and for Rivian and Volkswagen Technologies, a joint venture for the two automotive companies aimed at addressing challenges in the EV industry.

McDonough’s last day at Rivian will be Oct. 30, the company said. She will work closely with CEO RJ Scaringe and the remainder of the executive leadership team to help ensure a smooth transition.

“Looking back on this journey, I am filled with immense gratitude,” McDonough wrote of her time at the EV maker in a post on LinkedIn. “Thank you to RJ Scaringe and the entire leadership team for your vision, trust, and partnership. To the world-class CFO organization we built together: your rigor, dedication, and resilience have been the bedrock of everything we accomplished.”

Her interim successor Mulvey, a fellow JPMorgan alum, joined Rivian in 2021 as its director of strategic finance and investor relations, and took on his current role as VP of finance last March, according to his LinkedIn profile. He has been “instrumental” in Rivian’s strategy and has worked closely with McDonough on financial planning, strategic partnerships, and capital allocation, the company said in the Thursday release.

McDonough’s departure comes as the EV maker continues to focus on autonomous vehicles and the rollout of its latest model, its R2 vehicles. In March, the company quietly walked back its profitability targets for 2027 in association with a bump in R&D spend associated with autonomous driving technology — which McDonough noted as a key differentiator for the company, CFO Dive previously reported.

The EV company is continuing to invest in autonomous technologies, it said in its latest earnings report for the quarter ended June 30. Rivian reported $179 million in gross profit for the quarter, a $385 million improvement from the prior year period.

R&D expenses, meanwhile, reached $466 million, primarily driven by expenses to support AI and autonomy initiatives, the company said.

McDonough’s GE Vernova appointment marks the end of an “extensive” process to find Parks’ successor and identity the next CFO for the electric equipment maker’s next stage of profitable growth, the company said in the Thursday release.   

In assuming GE Vernova’s CFO seat, McDonough is set to receive an annual base salary of $1 million, according to the Thursday SEC filing. She is also eligible to receive an annual incentive opportunity of 100% of her base salary, and a long-term incentive award with a target grant value of $5.2 million, expected in 2027, according to the SEC filing.

She will also receive “make whole awards” for compensation forfeited upon leaving Rivian, including a $5 million cash sign-on payment, which must be repaid if she resigns within 12 months. The make-whole awards also include a one-time stock award comprised of both restricted stock units and performance-based stock units with a value of $14.5 million, according to the filing.