Tesla’s Vice President of Global Communications Ricardo Reyes recently left the automaker as first reported by Bloomberg today and confirmed by Tesla. The timing of Reyes’s departure from Tesla is not ideal since the company is about to go through a crucial moment in its short history, which is sure to attract a lot of media coverage: the Model 3 unveiling.
Reyes first joined Tesla as Vice President of Global Communications and Strategic Marketing in 2009. According to his LinkedIn profile, he was managing the communications team and reporting directly to CEO Elon Musk.
He left the automaker in 2012 for a 2-year stint at Square, a financial services, merchant services aggregator and mobile payment company. In 2014, he joined Tesla again in the same role: Vice President of Global Communications.
Prior to joining Tesla, Reyes held positions in public relations for Google/Youtube, the Bush/Cheney Presidential Campaign and subsequently the White House.
According to Bloomberg, Reyes declined to comment on his departure and he has yet to update his LinkedIn profile with a new position.
His latest tweet suggests that he will be participating in the Pan Jiu-Jitsu IBJJF Championship later this week:
[tweet https://twitter.com/ricardor/status/710159555485798400 align=’center’]
Good luck Ricardo!
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Well, that’s some pretty bad timing.
Third Communications Director to bail out. Musk is probably driving them away, not letting them do their jobs…
Most likely he is not a good fit anymore. The company is growing quick, and so are their needs. It is normal (especially in his line of work)
Reyes competed his second term with the company though from my humble vantage point, things went downhill fast upon his arrival.
It’s not good that they haven’t found a suitable communications director because Tesla has been having the exact same communications problems since 2012, and communications is arguably Tesla’s biggest single weakness right now.