Rivian's chief financial officer Claire McDonough is departing after six years to run finance at GE Vernova, handing the electric-vehicle maker a leadership gap just as it ramps spending on autonomous driving. The move gives GE Vernova a Wall Street-seasoned executive who helped steer Rivian through a $13.7 billion listing, the largest U.S. debut of 2021, and built the capital framework that has kept the cash-burning automaker funded.
The succession chain at GE Vernova
McDonough joins the Cambridge, Mass.-based power-equipment company as a strategic advisor to chief executive Scott Strazik on Nov. 1, then takes the CFO title on Jan. 1, 2027. She replaces Kenneth Parks, who has held the role since the 2024 spin-off from General Electric and will stay through the remaining 2026 earnings calls before shifting to an advisory post in the first quarter. Parks retires April 2, 2027, capping a three-year tenure that began with the separation.
Rivian's interim plan
Rivian named Derek Mulvey, its vice president of finance, as interim CFO effective when McDonough leaves on Oct. 30. A fellow JPMorgan alum, Mulvey joined in 2021 as director of strategic finance and investor relations and was promoted to his current role last March. The company said it has opened a broad search for a permanent replacement, looking both inside and outside.
The autonomy spending backdrop
McDonough's exit coincides with a strategic inflection at Rivian. In March the company quietly abandoned its 2027 profitability targets, citing higher research outlays for autonomous technology, a priority McDonough herself had flagged as a key differentiator. The latest quarter showed the scale of that bet: research and development hit $466 million, driven by artificial-intelligence and autonomy work, while gross profit reached $179 million, a $385 million improvement from a year earlier.
What the move signals
For GE Vernova, the hire brings a finance chief who has operated inside a high-growth, capital-intensive manufacturer with a volatile stock, experience that maps neatly onto a newly independent industrial giant still defining its cost structure. For Rivian, the loss of an architect of its financial infrastructure arrives just as the autonomy pivot demands both capital discipline and investor patience. Mulvey knows the model, but the search for a permanent chief will test whether the board wants a steward or a strategist.