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ORLANDO, Florida – (BUSINESS WIRE) – Luminar Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq: LAZR), the world’s leading provider of lidar hardware and software technology for the automotive industry, today announced the addition of four industry leaders to enable the next phase of growth and implementation. Together they bring a century of professional experience in the automotive and technology industries to the table.
“We are very focused on taking Luminar to the next level in this new phase of growth and implementation. Each of our new executives are at the forefront of their respective fields and will relentlessly drive Luminar toward mass production as the new standard of automotive safety and autonomy, “said Austin Russell, Founder and CEO of Luminar.
Sardar Gautham joined Luminar to lead business operations and alignment, having most recently served as VP of Strategy and Execution at Waymo. Munir Hafez joins Luminar as Chief Information Officer (CIO) after serving as CIO at Aptiv for their autonomous mobility group. Cheryl Zula joined Luminar to lead sourcing and supply chain after serving as global supply chain and purchasing manager at Stellantis. Alex Vitale joined Luminar to lead corporate development and strategy after previously serving as Managing Director and Head of San Francisco for GCA, a boutique investment banking firm.
Sardar Gautham, Vice President of Business Operations and Alignment: In this role, Sardar will help Luminar scale by driving cross-functional alignment and execution at high speed while promoting a culture of growth. Before Luminar, he was Head of Hardware Strategy & Execution at Waymo, Google’s technology company for autonomous driving. He has successfully scaled three startup companies and brings two decades of experience in technical, program and functional management of groundbreaking technology products. Prior to Waymo, he was Vice President of the Program Management Office at Verb Surgical Inc., a medical device joint venture between J&J and Google. Prior to that, he held senior positions at GE Healthcare. Gautham holds a BE in Electrical Engineering from the University of Madras and an MS in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Iowa.
Munir Hafez, Chief Information Officer: Munir was named Luminar’s Chief Information Officer (CIO) after serving as CIO for the autonomous mobility group at Aptiv, a global automotive technology company. Prior to that, he was Vice President of Strategy and Architecture at Aptiv for two years, helping drive data analytics, enterprise architecture, innovation, vendor management and M&A worldwide. Before Aptiv, he held IT strategy functions at EY, Deloitte and PwC. Munir holds an MS in Engineering Management and a BS in Electrical Engineering from the Florida Institute of Technology.
Cheryl Zula, Vice President of Strategic Sourcing and Materials: Cheryl joins Luminar from Stellantis, where she was Vice President of Electronics, overseeing global purchasing, overseeing billions of dollars and hundreds of supplier relationships for the global automaker. She brings three decades of profit and loss accounting experience in the automotive industry in the areas of purchasing, supply chain, materials management, program management and manufacturing at OEM and Tier 1 companies. Before joining Stellantis, she held leading supply chain positions at ZF Friedrichshafen AG, a global provider of systems for cars and commercial vehicles. She started her career at Ford Motor Company. She holds an MBA in Operations Management from Lawrence Technical University and a BS in Business Administration with a major in industrial engineering from Wayne State University.
Alex Vitale, Head of Corporate Development & Strategy: Alex comes to Luminar to lead corporate development and strategy for the company. In this role, Vitale will focus on shaping and advancing Luminar’s long-term roadmap and growth through mergers and acquisitions and other strategic initiatives. Prior to joining Luminar, he spent eight years at the global investment bank GCA Advisors, where he advised strategic and financial advisory services on a wide range of transactions as a managing director and member of the executive committee for clients in the auto technology and electronics sectors. During his time at GCA, he was an advisor to Luminar for three years. Prior to joining GCA, he was Managing Director at Deutsche Bank Securities. Alex holds an MBA in Finance from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business and a BA in Economics from Williams College.
About Luminar:
Luminar Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq: LAZR) is transforming automotive safety and autonomy by delivering lidar and related software that meet the industry’s stringent requirements for performance, safety, and economy. Luminar has quickly gained over 50 industrial partners, including the majority of global automotive OEMs. In 2020, Luminar signed the industry’s first autonomous consumer vehicle production contract with Volvo Cars, which now plans to incorporate Luminar’s technology into the standard safety package of its next-generation electric SUV. Further customer wins are SAIC, Daimler Truck AG, Intels Mobileye, Pony.ai and Airbus UpNext. Luminar was founded in 2012 and has around 400 employees with offices in Palo Alto, Orlando, Colorado Springs, Detroit and Munich. For more information, please visit www.luminartech.com.
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