Canoo appoints former nasa chief technology officer deborah diaz and veteran ev transportation leader james chen to board of directors
Justin, texas, feb. 07, 2024 (globe newswire) -- canoo inc. (nasdaq: goev), an advancing high-tech mobility company, today announced appointments of two leaders in electric mobility, public policy, clean energy, technology, and cybersecurity to the company's board of directors. the appointments of ms. deborah diaz and mr. james chen are effective immediately. “i'm excited to strengthen the board with the additions of deborah and james,” said tony aquila, investor, executive chairman, and ceo of canoo. “as innovators and leaders, they will support canoo and its team achieve our strategic growth objectives and increase our market penetration.” deborah b. diaz previously served as former chief technology officer and deputy chief information officer at national aeronautics and space administration (nasa) and cio for science and technology at u.s. department of homeland security. ms. diaz currently serves on the board of directors of archer aviation, primis financial, and zeroavia. ms. diaz is also chief executive officer of catalyst adv, a technology and strategic growth advisory firm. she brings decades of experience in government and corporate leadership with expertise in technology governance, cybersecurity, management of complex it systems and infrastructure, and digital transformation to the canoo board of directors. james c. chen is former vice president of regulatory affairs & deputy general counsel at tesla and former vice president of public policy & chief regulatory counsel at rivian automotive. mr. chen is currently a shareholder at the law firm of babst, calland, clements and zomnir in the firm's transportation technology and energy practice. he brings extensive experience in designing and implementing solutions for complex legal, policy, and regulatory matters to the board. ms. diaz said: "canoo's innovative design, utilization of smart technology, and expert staff are very impressive. the company has built commercial orders in addition to u.s. government and military partnerships to transform future mobility. as canoo scales and manufactures more electric vehicles, there will be an increased need to assure that risk-based data and system protections are in place to create a world-class infrastructure. i am excited to be part of the canoo board and to help establish the roadmap for canoo's digital transformation journey.” mr. chen said: “what excites me about canoo is its approach of focusing on commercial fleets by taking the company's transformative technology and tailoring innovative approaches to where the demand for electrification is the greatest. that vision of combining the benefits of evs with the demand of fleet owners and operators is incredibly inspiring.” additionally, ms. josette sheeran and mr. rainer schmueckle are resigning from the board of directors with ms. sheeran leaving her role as president and moving to the role of strategic advisor to the ceo. “i look forward to continuing working with josette in her new role as strategic advisor to the ceo. josette was instrumental in the re-founding of canoo, our government partnerships such as with the state of oklahoma, and our selection by nasa to provide the crew transportation vehicles for the artemis launches,” said mr. aquila. mr. aquila added: “i appreciate rainer's service and the many years of legacy experience he brought us from his time with daimler ag and freightliner.” “the additions of ms. diaz and mr. chen to our board was a team effort and exemplify our commitment to an impressive independent board of innovators and pioneers in the mobility sector with deep skillsets that are additive to the next phase of canoo's growth,” said mr. aquila. the current independent members of the board include: thomas dattilo is an accomplished executive and advisor who held executive roles at several automotive industry companies, including ceo of viper motor car company, a chrysler company, chairman, president, and ceo of cooper tire & rubber company, and various senior positions with dana corporation. mr. dattilo is currently on the boards of l3 harris technologies and haworth. claudia romo edelman is an award-winning social entrepreneur and a catalyst for positive change. she's led marketing and advocacy initiatives for global organizations, including the united nations, unicef, and the world economic forum. currently she is founder and ceo of we are all human foundation, a foundation dedicated to advancing the agenda of equality, diversity, and inclusion. arthur kingsbury has nearly five decades of experience in business, finance, and corporate governance. he has served on the boards of solera holdings, dolan media co., remark holdings, netratings, affiliated publications, and mccaw cellular communications. foster chiang is former vice chairman of tpk holding co. currently he is on the board of tes touch embedded solutions (xiamen) co. and a member of the board of trustees of the taft school. debra von storch is a former partner at ernst & young, where she specialized in advising early-stage to rapid-growth companies. she currently serves as an advisory board member of varidesk and a board member of the north texas chapter of the national association of corporate directors.
