Tesla has work to do to find a president to replace Musk

A little more than a month before Elon Musk is expected to abide by an agreement with the Securities and Exchange Commission and resign as chairman of Tesla 's board of directors, one is questioning more and more about how Tesla could seek to fill this position in one of the most tumultuous periods in the history of the electric car manufacturer.

Musk has agreed to relinquish the Tesla presidency for at least three years as part of an agreement to settle charges of fraud filed with the SEC over statements he made in August about obtaining a financing to privatize Tesla at $ 420 per share. The settlement, announced on Sept. 29, allowed Musk to remain as Tesla's chief executive, but Musk and Tesla each paid a $ 20 million fine to the SEC.

US District Judge Allison Nathan still has to approve the settlement. She gave Musk and the SEC until October 11 to submit a 10-page double-spaced letter explaining why she had to sign the agreement.

Musk had 45 days from the day the SEC settlement was announced to withdraw from the Tesla presidency. Some analysts and observers of Tesla say that the company must always be rigorous in the choice of a president who, in theory, will be the boss of Musk, but will have to work with all the drama that Musk can create.

"Tesla needs to appoint a new president who can be effective with Musk's Factor X potential," said Eric Schiffer, CEO of the private investment firm Patriarch Organization. "They should not go too fast because it will take time to find it, and especially to convince the right person that he is not going to enter the realm of the impossible."

There is also a debate about what kind of background and experience the next chairman of the Tesla board should have. This is considered essential because of the way Tesla is at the crossroads between the automaker and a technology company that produces electric cars as the main product.

"They desperately need automotive experience on this board," said Rob Enderle, president of the technology research firm Enderle Group. "Most of the reasons why Tesla was unable to get the quality and quantity (of its products) at the expected levels is the lack of experience in the automotive sector."

Enderle said a potential chairman option could be envisioned by former Ford CEO Alan Mulally, who led Ford from 2006 until his retirement in 2014. Under the direction from Mulally, Ford was the only major US builder not to bail out of the federal government's 2007-2009 recession.

"He handled the controversy at Ford well," said Enderle. "He is retired but still young enough to serve and he has the strength to say" B.S. "even in Musk."

Tim Bajarin, director of technologies consulting firm Creative Strategies, agreed that "someone with leadership skills and a solid background in business management" should be at the top of Tesla's search list. . "Given some past operational issues, I would suggest that the new president really understands the supply chain (of the company)."

But when it's time to speculate on choosing the ideal candidate for Tesla, Bajarin said: "Besides (Apple's CEO), Tim Cook, who already has a job, I'm not sure. I have no idea for the moment. "