Martin Viecha, Tesla’s longtime vice president of investor relations, announced Tuesday that he was leaving the electric car company after seven years. His departure is the third departure of a top executive from the struggling automaker in less than two weeks.
Viecha succeeded Tesla Senior Vice President Drew Baglino, who left the company last week. Baglino was one of only four named executives at Tesla and led engineering and technology development for its car batteries. Baglino had been with the company for 18 years and was well known among investors and analysts. Additionally, Rohan Patel, the company’s vice president of public policy and business development, said: said he would part ways with Tesla.
Viecha made the comments at the end of a conference call on first-quarter results, which many viewed as a crucial crossroads for the company after its worst quarter in four years. The call featured a more dovish presence from CEO Elon Musk, who had to reassure investors about Tesla’s future. Many of these investors worked closely with Viecha, who confirmed his departure in posts X and LinkedIn.
“About a month ago I spoke to Elon and [chief financial officer] Vaibhav [Taneja]“to announce that I will be retiring from the world of investor relations and moving on,” Viecha said in his post. “Working for Tesla for the last seven years has been the greatest privilege of my professional life.”
Viecha said he was leaving to “take a break and spend a lot of time with my family.”
While Tesla’s earnings release encouraged investors, sending the slumping stock up more than 12% in after-hours trading, the exits have unsettled some Tesla investors who have been critical of Musk. Especially because Viecha had solid relationships with Tesla’s investors, including those who were confused about some of Musk’s behavior.
I’ll keep talking CNBC, Wedbush tech analyst Dan Ives said Tesla needed an “adult in the room” and Musk rose to the occasion today. But Ross Gerber cautioned that Ives and others should overstate Musk’s performance on the conference call with other signals from the company, including executive departures.
“Dan, you are assuming that the conversation ends with Martin’s resignation,” said Gerber, CEO of Gerber Kawasaki Wealth & Investment Management. “You and I have been working with Martin for a long time and he is the link between management and shareholders and investors.”
According to Gerber, another executive departure from the company, especially at such a sensitive time in its history, could indicate a pattern. Musk “continues to lose experienced senior executives during this really important transition, and I think that’s concerning,” Gerber said.
However, he noted that he agrees with the vision set out by Musk, but hopes to see greater alignment between what Musk says about his vision and the reality at the automaker.
“The kicker in the room is that there is no demand for the vehicles, even if they fly,” Gerber said.
This story was originally published on Fortune.com