Redwood Materials Loses Coo Amid Layoffs, Restructuring

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

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

Redwood Materials precocious informed labor that Lister was retiring, according to an worker who was granted anonymity to speak astir nan announcement. The institution confirmed Lister’s departure to TechCrunch connected Thursday. “We wish him nan 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, aliases astir 135 employees.

Those cuts were portion of a restructuring that Straubel told labor astir successful an email viewed by TechCrunch earlier this week. He said nan shuffle will thief support nan company’s increasing power retention business. Redwood has precocious signed deals pinch automaker Rivian and artificial intelligence 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 nan 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, nan company’s vice president of manufacturing, near earlier this twelvemonth for a activity domiciled 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 he is trying to trim layers of guidance astatine nan company.

Straubel besides told labor successful his connection that “parts of nan institution person expanded faster than needed” and that he was “more excited than ever pinch our way up arsenic we build nan astir integrated and cost-effective captious materials and power retention business successful nan world.”

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