Luminar Attracts Former Executives From Lyft, Apple and Meta, Microsoft
April 12 2024 - 12:53PM
Business Wire
Luminar (Nasdaq: LAZR), a leading global automotive technology
company, today announced two new key executive hires to help guide
the company through its next phase of rapid growth.
- Dr. David Foster joins Luminar as the Executive Vice President
of Engineering. Dr. Foster's extensive experience includes
executive and leadership positions at Lyft, Apple, Microsoft,
Amazon, and other innovative technology companies. Throughout his
career, Dr. Foster has successfully launched groundbreaking
products from concept to high volume production – including such
iconic devices as the iMac, MacBook, MacPro, Kindle, and Kindle
Fire. Dr. Foster holds a BA, MA, and Doctorate in Philosophy in
Electrical Engineering and Computer Vision from the University of
Oxford.
- John Pinette joins Luminar as the Senior Vice President of
Communications. Prior to Luminar, John led global communications at
Meta. He was also Vice President for marketing and communications
at Microsoft Co-Founder Paul Allen’s Vulcan. John also led
communications at Pershing Square Capital Management and helped
guide the $20B hedge fund through the European IPO of Pershing
Square Holdings, Ltd. John served as head of communications at
Gates Ventures where he managed Bill Gates’ executive
communications and helped to launch his popular blog, The Gates
Notes. Additionally, John led the Asia-Pacific communications team
for Google, and held various senior communications roles at
Microsoft. He holds degrees in philosophy, history and
theology.
“David and John are joining Luminar at a key moment for the
company as we move to production and deployment of our LiDAR
technology on broadly available passenger cars. Industrializing a
complex, safety-critical technology at scale in the automotive
industry requires a unique skill set. It calls for a special
combination of business and engineering excellence, which David has
repeatedly demonstrated in prior roles. As our technology will soon
be on passenger cars, John’s extensive experience in managing
communications for some of the biggest brands in the world will
help us educate car buyers on the benefits of LiDAR technology and
Luminar’s focus on their safety,” said Austin Russell, Luminar
Founder and CEO.
“I am delighted to be joining Luminar at this exciting time for
the company and the industry,” said David Foster. “The products in
development at Luminar will make a profoundly positive impact on
the lives of motorists around the world. It is an honor to join the
team in the important mission of driving this critical safety
feature into every future vehicle.”
“How Luminar technology will improve driver safety is the best
kind of story to tell,” said John Pinette. “This cutting-edge
technology will have immediate benefits to our communities. I’m
excited to be joining my new colleagues in marketing and
communications to get the word out on these groundbreaking
advances.”
About Luminar
Luminar is a global automotive technology company ushering in a
new era of vehicle safety and autonomy. For the past decade,
Luminar has built an advanced hardware and software/AI platform to
enable its more than 50 industry partners, including the majority
of global automotive OEMs. From consumer vehicle programs with
Volvo Cars and Mercedes-Benz to technology partnerships including
NVIDIA and Mobileye, Luminar is poised to be the first automotive
technology company to enable next-generation safety and autonomous
capabilities for global production vehicles. For more information
please visit www.luminartech.com.
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240412443928/en/
Media Relations: Milin Mehta Press@luminartech.com
Investor Relations: Aileen Smith Investors@luminartech.com
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