With more than 25 years of C-level experience in public and private companies, Covington is poised to help Lightning as it transitions to being a public company and help the ‘fast-growing’ fleet electrification company succeed.
Lightning eMotors, a provider of commercial electric vehicles for fleets, has announced Teresa Covington as its new chief financial officer (CFO). Covington will join Lightning’s senior leadership team and lead the company’s finance and investor relations teams as it transitions to being a public company as a result of its announced business combination with GigCapital3.
Most recently, Covington served as CFO for asTech, a cloud-based automotive technology and diagnostic services provider. Prior to joining asTech, Covington was the head of the global finance organization at AeroVironment, a publicly traded technology company in aerospace and defense that designs, manufactures and distributes unmanned aerial vehicles. There, she served as senior vice president and chief financial officer since 2017.
“Teresa has more than 25 years of hands-on senior financial leadership in public and private engineering-driven manufacturing companies, ranging from small venture-backed startups to large Fortune 500 companies,” said Tim Reeser, chief executive officer, Lightning eMotors. “Her experience as a leader, as a public company CFO, and her passion for technology and experience in operations will be instrumental in helping us to grow our business.”
Prior to joining AeroVironment in 2011, Covington served as senior vice president and chief financial officer at Line 6, a global designer and manufacturer of musical instruments that is now part of Yamaha. She also has served in financial leadership roles at Mattel Toys Inc., Harman International Industries and Equity Marketing Inc.
Covington earned her master’s in business administration from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business, a master’s in electrical engineering from the University of Southern California and a bachelor of science in electrical engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
“Lightning eMotors is a fast-growing company and is recognized as a leader in the emerging fleet electrification business,” Covington said. “I look forward to helping the company with its upcoming SPAC business combination and becoming public and leading an incredible team of financial professionals. Lightning eMotors is helping to make this a better world by reducing climate-change causing emissions from the transportation sector. Its zero-emission vehicles are truly state-of-the-art, and I am looking forward to being a part of Lightning eMotors’ team.”
Last month, Lightning eMotors and GigCapital3, a special-purpose acquisition company or SPAC, announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement for a business combination. Upon closing of the business combination, the combined operating company will be named Lightning eMotors and will be listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol “ZEV.”
Covington will be based at Lightning eMotors’ headquarters in Loveland, Colorado.
