Former Patagonia CEO Rose Marcario resigns from Rivian’s board
Former Patagonia CEO Rose Marcario is resigning from her position on Rivian’s board of directors, according to a Friday afternoon stock exchange filing.
Rivian wrote in the filing that Marcario’s last day will be on January 1, and that she is leaving “to focus on other commitments.” Rivian’s board will shrink from eight members to seven upon her resignation.
Marcario’s departure and the downsizing of Rivian’s board comes on the eve of an important year for the company. Rivian plans to start selling its more affordable R2 SUV in the first half of 2026. The upcoming R2 is supposed to reach a much wider market than the company’s current R1 SUV and pickup truck and the EV maker has plans to make hundreds of thousands of them per year, including at a new factory in Georgia. Rivian is also looking to expand its automated driving features next year, which it detailed at last week’s inaugural Autonomy & AI Day event.
Marcario has served on Rivian’s board since January 2021, a role she took after 12 years as an executive (and eventual CEO) of Patagonia. Before her appointment, Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe often described his aim for the company to become “the Patagonia of EVs.”
Rivian said Friday that Marcario will continue her role as chair of the board of trustees overseeing the Rivian Foundation. She serves on that board alongside Scaringe, Rivian’s chief sustainability officer Anisa Kamadoli Costa, and conservationist Ed M. Norton.
Formed just before the company’s blockbuster 2021 IPO, the Rivian Foundation was initially handed 1% of the company’s equity in order to make “the natural world” a “stakeholder in [Rivian’s] success.” The foundation remained quiet for the first few years as Rivian’s stock price fell from its post-IPO highs, and announced its first $10 million in grants in 2024.
This year, the Rivian Foundation has publicized another $2.6 million in awards on its website.
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“We would like to thank her for her stewardship on the Rivian board over the past 5 years, and look forward to her continued leadership on the Rivian Foundation,” a spokesperson for the company said in a statement.
Sean O’Kane is a reporter who has spent a decade covering the rapidly-evolving business and technology of the transportation industry, including Tesla and the many startups chasing Elon Musk. Most recently, he was a reporter at Bloomberg News where he helped break stories about some of the most notorious EV SPAC flops. He previously worked at The Verge, where he also covered consumer technology, hosted many short- and long-form videos, performed product and editorial photography, and once nearly passed out in a Red Bull Air Race plane.
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