Redwood Materials loses COO amid layoffs, restructuring

Redwood Materials main operating serviceman Chris Lister is leaving the artillery recycling institution to retire, TechCrunch has learned — and he’s not the lone enforcement that precocious departed.

Lister, a erstwhile vice president who led operations astatine Tesla’s Nevada Gigafactory, has been with Redwood since precocious 2023. He started arsenic the company’s main proviso concatenation serviceman and was rapidly promoted to the COO relation successful 2024. The promotion enactment him person successful the org illustration to Redwood laminitis and CEO JB Straubel, who was Tesla’s longtime main exertion serviceman and presently sits connected the automaker’s board.

Redwood Materials precocious informed employees that Lister was retiring, according to an worker who was granted anonymity to talk astir the announcement. The institution confirmed Lister’s departure to TechCrunch connected Thursday. “We privation him the champion successful his retirement,” a spokesperson said via email.

News of Lister’s status comes conscionable a fewer days after TechCrunch revealed Redwood Materials precocious laid disconnected astir 10% of its workforce, oregon astir 135 employees.

Those cuts were portion of a restructuring that Straubel told employees astir successful an email viewed by TechCrunch earlier this week. He said the shuffle volition assistance enactment the company’s increasing vigor retention business. Redwood has precocious signed deals with automaker Rivian and artificial quality institution Crusoe to supply refurbished batteries that tin beryllium utilized arsenic grid storage.

Other executives person near Redwood successful caller months, too.

Bradley Mayhew, Redwood’s vice president of integrated proviso concatenation and a erstwhile Tesla employee, near the institution earlier this month, according to LinkedIn. Guillermo Urquiza, Redwood’s vice president of mechanical engineering — and different erstwhile Tesla worker — near successful March. And Carlos Lozano, the company’s vice president of manufacturing, near earlier this twelvemonth for a enactment relation astatine Panasonic, according to LinkedIn.

Mayhew, Urquiza, and Lozano didn’t respond to requests for comment. Redwood declined to specifically remark connected their departures, but noted that Straubel said successful his all-staff email that helium is trying to trim layers of absorption astatine the company.

Straubel besides told employees successful his connection that “parts of the institution person expanded faster than needed” and that helium was “more excited than ever with our way up arsenic we physique the astir integrated and cost-effective captious materials and vigor retention concern successful the world.”

“We are assured that we tin present connected our captious projects with a smaller squad that is much focused,” helium wrote. “We person successfully adapted to changes successful the marketplace that person bankrupted galore of our competitors.”