Tom Zhu, Tesla Senior Vice President

Born in Shenyang, China, Tom Zhu bounced from Auckland University of Technology to Duke's Fuqua School of Business before cutting his teeth managing Chinese infrastructure contractors in Africa. When he joined Tesla in 2014, he started by managing Supercharger rollouts in China—essentially the grunt making sure rich people could charge their status symbols .

Zhu earned a favorable reputation from what he pulled off in Shanghai during this time. While Tesla was drowning in "production hell" and Musk was losing his mind on Twitter, he built Gigafactory Shanghai in under a year—something Detroit suits said was impossible. During COVID lockdowns, he slept on the factory floor with workers, answering emails at 4 AM and turning the place into Tesla's global efficiency monster. By 2022, Shanghai was pumping out more cars than Fremont and making the margins that kept Tesla's stock afloat.

Now Zhu now sits as Tesla's Senior Vice President of Automotive. He's been shipped to Texas to fix production there, took over North American sales, and got handed a $226 million stock grant that locks him in through 2031. Rumor has it he may even be on track to be the company’s next CEO.

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