Quick Facts
| Intro | American entrepreneur | ||
| Known for | Co-founded Tesla Motors | ||
| Is | Businessperson Entrepreneur Engineer Business executive | ||
| From | United States of America | ||
| Field | Business Engineering | ||
| Gender | male | ||
| Birth | 1 June 1964, Sacramento, Sacramento County, California, USA | ||
| Age | 59 years | ||
| Star sign | Gemini | ||
| Residence | San Francisco, San Francisco County, California, USA | ||
| Education |
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| Profiles |
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Biography
Marc Tarpenning (born June 1, 1964) is an American engineer and entrepreneur. He co-founded Tesla Inc. (then Tesla Motors) with Martin Eberhard in 2003. Marc had served as the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and subsequently the Vice President (of Electrical Engineering) of Tesla until 2008.
Early life
Marc Tarpenning was born in Sacramento, California, on June 1, 1964. He later entered University of California, Berkeley and obtained a B.S degree in computer science in 1985.
Career
After graduating from Berkeley, Tarpenning spent several years working for Textron in Saudi Arabia.
In 1997, Tarpenning and Martin Eberhard founded NuvoMedia, a company that built an early e-book, the RocketBook, in 1998. In 2000, Gemstar–TV Guide International acquired NuvoMedia for $187 million.
In 2003, Tarpenning and Martin Eberhard collaborated again and founded Tesla Motors (now Tesla Inc.). The two co-founders funded the company until early 2004, when Elon Musk led the company’s $7.5 million Series A financing round in February 2004 and became the Chairman of the Board. Tarpenning continued to serve as the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and later the Vice President of Electrical Engineering in Tesla until 2008.
After leaving Tesla, Tarpenning began to serve as an adviser or member of advisory board of several companies, including his alma mater (SkyDeck project, UC Berkeley).
