Management

Stephen J. Girsky is president and CEO of Nikola Corporation, a global leader in zero-emissions transportation and energy supply and infrastructure solutions.

Girsky served as managing director of VectoIQ, LLC, an independent advisory firm based in New York. He served as president and CEO of VectoIQ Acquisition Corp. I from its incorporation in January 2018 until the consummation of its business combination with Nikola Corporation. He has more than 30 years of experience working with corporate board executives, labor leaders, OEM leaders, suppliers, dealers, and national policymakers.

Girsky served in a number of capacities at General Motors from November 2009 until July 2014, including vice chairman. He served as chairman of the Adam Opel AG Supervisory Board and was president of GM Europe for a period of time. He was a special advisor to the CEO and CFO of General Motors Corporation from August 2005 to June 2006.

Girsky served as president of Centerbridge Industrial Partners, an affiliate of Centerbridge Partners, LP, and a multibillion-dollar investment fund. Mr. Girsky also previously served as managing director at Morgan Stanley and as senior analyst of the Morgan Stanley Global Automotive and Auto Parts Research Team.

He is on the board of directors at Nikola Corporation, Brookfield Business Partners Limited, the general partner of Brookfield Business Partners, L.P. (NYSE: BBU; TSX BBU.UN), as well as a private company, Clarios, which is a leader in battery manufacturing. Girsky served on the Board of U.S. Steel from 2016 to 2021 and on the General Motors Board of Directors following its emergence from bankruptcy in June 2009 until June 2016. He also served as the lead director of Dana Holdings Corp. from 2008 to 2009. 

Girsky received a bachelor of science degree in mathematics from the University of California at Los Angeles and a master of business administration from the Harvard Business School.

Mary Chan is chief operating officer of Nikola Corporation, a global leader in zero-emissions transportation and energy supply and infrastructure solutions. 

Prior to Nikola, Chan was a Managing Partner at VectoIQ, where she assisted with the public launch of Nikola Corporation. She served as President of the Global Connected Consumer group at General Motors (GM) and built the next generation of connected infotainment products and OnStar broadband data services. She led the industry’s first launch of 4G LTE connectivity across GM’s global brands in the U.S., China, Europe, and Mexico. 

Chan joined GM from Dell Inc., where she was Senior Vice President and General Manager of Enterprise Mobility Solutions & Services.  

Prior to Dell, Mary held various EVP and SVP executive positions at Alcatel-Lucent and Lucent Technologies Inc. as President of 4G/LTE Wireless Networks and President of Global Wireless Networks.  She led the Wireless Business Unit with responsibilities across product management, R&D, and system deployment with a revenue stream greater than $7B. 

Chan was previously named the “Top Woman in Wireless” by the Fierce Wireless Industry Daily. 

Chan serves as an independent Board of Director for Magna International, SBA Communications, and CommScope. She holds a Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from Columbia University. 

Thomas “Tom” B. Okray serves as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Nikola Corporation, a global leader in zero-emissions transportation and energy supply and infrastructure solutions.  

Okray joined Nikola from Eaton, where he held the position of Executive Vice President (EVP) and CFO. He also served as Senior Vice President and CFO of Grainger and as EVP and CFO of Advance Auto Parts. Prior to that role, he held Vice President positions at Amazon.

At General Motors, Okray started as a Senior Analyst and eventually rose to the position of CFO of Global Product Development, Purchasing and Supply Chain. In this capacity, he provided financial leadership for research and development, engineering operations, procurement, supply chain, capital, future portfolio strategy, future vehicle and powertrain projects, and third-party alliances. Okray also served as CFO of Global Product Development, Executive Director of Product Development in Asia and Europe, and Vice President of the Fiat-GM Powertrain joint venture, among other positions at Opel.

Okray serves on the board of directors of Flowserve Corporation (NYSE:FLS), The Cleveland Orchestra, and The City Mission.

Okray is a graduate of Michigan State University, with a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering. He earned a Master of Business Administration (MBA) with concentrations in finance, statistics, production and operations, and business policy from the University of Chicago.

Thomas “Tom” Schmitt is the Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) of Nikola Corporation, a leader in zero-emissions transportation and energy infrastructure solutions.

Before joining Nikola, Schmitt served as President, Chairman, and CEO of Forward Air, a major freight transportation business in North America. Under his leadership, the company saw profitable growth during the global COVID pandemic, with its share price more than tripling from early 2020 through December 2021.

From 2015 to 2018, Schmitt was a Management Board Member and Chief Commercial Officer for Schenker, a global freight forwarding and logistics company with operations in 140 countries and $30 billion in revenue. He led a team of 22,000 in Global Contract Logistics and oversaw global Sales and Marketing. In his first year, the company grew by more than €1 billion.

Earlier in his career, Schmitt led Aqua Terra, Canada’s leading natural spring water provider, transforming the company and successfully executing its sale to a larger strategic buyer. He also served as CEO of Purolator, Canada’s top parcel and freight provider, and spent 12 years at FedEx, where he was CEO of FedEx Supply Chain and led FedEx Solutions.

Schmitt’s board experience includes serving on the Ferguson plc Board of Directors since 2019, and previous roles on the boards of Cyberport GmbH, Dicom Transportation Group, Zooplus AG, and Univar, Inc. He’s also deeply committed to community engagement, having served as Chair of the Memphis Chamber and on the boards of Ballet Memphis and Shelby Farms Park.

Schmitt holds an MBA as a Baker Scholar from Harvard Business School and a Bachelor of Arts in European Business Administration, First Class Honours, from Middlesex University. He is also the co-author of “Simple Solutions,” a management and leadership guide published in 2006.

Britton Worthen is executive vice president, chief legal officer, and corporate secretary of Nikola Corporation, a global leader in zero-emissions transportation and energy supply and infrastructure solutions. He is also a member of the company’s senior leadership team and works closely with its board of directors.

In his role as chief legal officer, Worthen is responsible for overseeing Nikola’s worldwide legal affairs including securities compliance, intellectual property, litigation, and other general corporate matters.

Before joining Nikola, Worthen was a partner at the Phoenix law firm of Beus Gilbert McGroder PLLC where he represented a wide array of clients on commercial litigation, intellectual property, and general corporate matters.

Worthen graduated with honors from the University of Michigan Law School and completed his undergraduate studies at Brigham Young University.

Joseph Pike oversees all HR-related activities for Nikola, a global leader in zero-emissions transportation and energy supply and infrastructure solutions. His responsibilities include organizational design, total rewards, recruiting, HR operations, and talent development. Prior to joining Nikola, he was the senior director of talent at Vista Outdoor where he led the company’s talent acquisition, leadership, and organizational development functions.

Before working at Vista, Pike worked with the H.J. Heinz Company in Pittsburgh in HR-related roles of increasing responsibility, including HR business partner for the company’s corporate team supporting the CFO, General Counsel, CHRO, SVP of Marketing, SVP of Communications and SVP of Investor Relations. Prior to working at Heinz, he was a part of Aon Corporation in Chicago and held a variety of positions, including work as a senior project manager and engagement consultant where he consulted more than 20 Fortune 500 and mid-market clients on strategic management decisions aligned with employee engagement assessments.

Pike graduated with the highest academic honors from the Marriott School of Management with a master’s degree in Public Administration and cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in Communications from Brigham Young University.

Ole Hoefelmann is President, Nikola Energy of Nikola Corporation, a global leader in zero-emissions transportation and energy supply and infrastructure solutions. Originally from Munich, Germany, Hoefelmann’s depth of experience in the hydrogen economy is significant, with 30 years’ tenure at Air Liquide S.A. in positions that took him from the U.S. to Europe, with local and global responsibilities.

Starting in 1991 in a variety of foundational roles, Hoefelmann’s tenure at Air Liquide resulted in him leading up to 3,000 employees, holding titles such as CEO for Air Liquide in Iberia, COO Industrial Customers U.S., Chairman of Air Liquide Advanced Materials, CEO Advanced Technologies U.S., Vice President Hydrogen Energy Americas, Vice President Markets, Strategy, Innovation, Strategic Accounts, and Communication for the World Business Line Industrial Merchant.

Accomplishments with Air Liquide include development of commercialization strategies to scale hydrogen energy, influencing safety education and protocol, and accelerating growth in new markets, including transportation, where he collaborated with some of the largest vehicle companies in the world to set up hydrogen refueling networks and production.

Hoefelmann joined Plug Power in 2021 as General Manager of their Electrolyzer business, responsible for sales, product management, development and business strategy. He also was an operating partner for Hy24, a clean hydrogen infrastructure investment platform, and is former chair and vice-chair for the California Fuel Cell Partnership (CaFCP) and vice chair of Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Energy Association (FCHEA).

Hoefelmann is fluent in German, English, Spanish and French and earned a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics and a Master of Business Administration in International Business from St. Mary’s College of California.