Tesla veteran is Zipline’s first chief business and financial officer
by October 2, 2022 10:37 am 1,226 views
Zipline, the California-based autonomous drone delivery company innovating in Northwest Arkansas, recently hired a Tesla veteran as its first chief business and financial officer.
Deepak Ahuja starts the new job on Sept. 30. He will oversee all aspects of Zipline’s global financial operations, including finance, accounting, investor relations and international sales, excluding the Africa region. Most recently, Ahuja was the CFO at Alphabet’s unit Verily Life Sciences. Before that, he was the first CFO of Tesla (2009-2015, 2017-2019), overseeing the company’s rise to profitability.
Bringing him on board should signal Zipline’s growing ambitions. Since its founding in 2014, Zipline has delivered more than 380,000 packages with more than 3.5 million products and flown more than 25 million autonomous miles.
The company has several partnerships. It delivers medical equipment and personal protective gear for Novant Health in North Carolina and health and wellness products in Northwest Arkansas for Walmart.
Zipline operates out of a Neighborhood Market store in Pea Ridge, making deliveries within a 50-mile radius.