Zach Kirkhorn

Zach Kirkhorn (born 1984) is a financial executive working in the automotive manufacturing industry. He served as the chief financial officer of Tesla, Inc. from 2019 until he stepped down in August 2023.^[2]

Zach Kirkhorn
Born	1984 or 1985 (age 39–40)[1]
Alma mater	University of Pennsylvania Harvard University
Occupation	Chief financial officer
Known for	Tesla, Inc.

Early life and education

Kirkhorn grew up in the suburbs of Washington, D.C.^[3]

From 2002 to 2006, Kirkhorn studied both Economics at The Wharton School and Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics at the University of Pennsylvania as part of the Jerome Fisher Program in Management and Technology.^[3] In 2013, he received an MBA from Harvard Business School.^[3]

Career

During his studies in 2005, Kirkhorn joined Microsoft as a financial analyst intern. In 2006, he did another four-month internship at Microsoft as program manager intern. After graduating in 2006, Kirkhorn worked at the consulting firm McKinsey & Company as a business analyst.^[3]

In 2010, Kirkhorn joined Tesla as a senior analyst in finance.^[3] In December 2014, he became director of finance, and in December 2018 he was appointed as vice president of finance. On January 30, 2019, Kirkhorn was announced to replace Deepak Ahuja as Tesla's new CFO on the fourth-quarter Tesla earnings call.^[4] In March 2021 he was given the title 'Master of Coin' within Tesla, a reference to the Game of Thrones title for a treasurer.^[5]

Kirkhorn stepped down from his role as CFO of Tesla in August 2023.^[2]

Personal life

In April 2018, Kirkhorn married his partner Daniel Alexander Naughton, then a senior finance manager at OpenTable.^[1] Having met at McKinsey in 2010, the couple own homes in Oakland, California and Austin, Texas.^[6][7]

References

1. "Daniel Naughton, Zachary Kirkhorn". New York Times. 6 May 2018. Retrieved 25 October 2023.
2. Elliott, Rebecca (7 August 2023). "Tesla CFO Zach Kirkhorn Steps Down Ahead of Cybertruck Launch". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 25 October 2023.
3. Rebecca Elliott (11 May 2023). "The Executive Keeping Tesla Rolling Isn't Elon Musk". The Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Wikidata Q118292559. Retrieved 2023-05-11.
4. Franck, Thomas (31 January 2017). "Surprise exit of Tesla CFO unnerves analysts: 'Significant loss of institutional knowledge'". CNBC. Retrieved 25 October 2023.
5. Fickling, David (9 August 2023). "Can Tesla's Magic Survive Without Its Wizard?". Washington Post. Retrieved 25 October 2023.
6. Hull, Dana (27 January 2021). "Elon Musk's shy 36-year-old finance chief, Zachary Kirkhorn, behind Tesla's remarkable turnaround". Economic Times India. Retrieved 25 October 2023.
7. Canales, Katie (8 April 2021). "Tesla's CFO is the latest tech executive to buy a home in Texas — see his $3.29 million lakefront Austin home". Business Insider. Retrieved 25 October 2023.