Tim Reeser

CEO & Co-Founder

Tim Reeser is CEO and Co-Founder of Lightning eMotors.  Lightning designs and manufactures zero-emission all-electric powertrains for medium- and heavy-duty vehicles, including delivery trucks, shuttle buses, passenger vans, chassis-cab models, and transit buses. Lightning Systems investors include BP Ventures, DHI, Aravaipa, and others, and OEM partners include Ford, GM, and Isuzu.   

Tim has a BS in Mechanical Engineering from CSU, and has been involved with alternative transportation technology since 1990, when he helped design the first dedicated CNG truck for General Motors while at Colorado State University.

Prior to co-founding Lightning eMotors, Tim served as Vice President of Colorado State University Ventures, where he spun out clean-tech companies and built the framework to support accelerated growth of spin-outs and spin-ins at CSU. Prior to working at CSU, Tim founded, ran and successfully exited multiple software and IT infrastructure companies.  Tim is an award-winning speaker and technical author and speaks regularly at industry conferences and events.

Teresa Covington

Chief Financial Officer

Teresa Covington joined Lightning eMotors in January 2021, in the role of Chief Financial Officer. She brings 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. Most recently, she served as chief financial officer for asTech, a leading 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 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. 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.

Kash Sethi

Chief Revenue Officer

Kash is a forward-thinking sales and business development executive with deep expertise in the commercial EV and electric utility industries. Prior to joining Lightning eMotors, Kash served as Vice President of Sales at Motiv Power Systems (an EV technology provider for commercial vehicles), where he spearheaded all engagement with fleet customers, truck and bus vehicle partners, dealers and  policy stakeholders.

Prior to Motiv, Kash held several technical sales, sales management and business development roles at Siemens Energy, managing a large sales force and engaging with electric utilities and renewable project developers across North America. He holds an MBA from Queen’s University specializing in sales, marketing and general management; and a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Windsor. He is passionate about sustainability and green technologies, and has dedicated his career to the decarbonization and modernization our transportation and energy systems.

Marci Fouts

Chief People Officer

Marci Fouts serves Lightning eMotors as Chief People Officer, overseeing all aspects of human resources strategy including talent management and acquisition, culture and employee engagement, total compensation, and diversity, equity and inclusion. She has over 25 years of experience in human resources leadership roles across a variety of industries. Previously, Fouts served as Vice President, Total Rewards & HR Operations at Advanced Energy Industries, where she worked since 2016. Fouts served as a strategic leader in driving growth, cost savings and process improvements at the company. Her background also includes human resources and total rewards roles at Cloud Peak Energy, The Gates Corporation, Henkel/The Dial Corporation, and Lucent Technologies.

Fouts also serves on the board of Alternatives to Violence, Inc., is a member of Colorado Women of Influence and is involved with 50/50 Women on Boards. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Management from the University of Phoenix, an Executive MBA from Leeds School of Business at the University of Colorado and is a Certified Compensation Professional (CCP) and Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR).

Brian Barron

Chief Manufacturing Officer

Brian Barron serves Lightning eMotors as Chief Manufacturing Officer, responsible for global manufacturing, supply chain and facilities. Previously, he served for six years in the Navy as a maintenance technician, after which he received an engineering degree from Clemson University. He worked at BMW for 20 years in various manufacturing, operations, quality and supply chain roles, then served as Director of Operations for a military and security automotive start-up in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.  He followed that role by serving as Director of Global Manufacturing at Lucid Motors, then VP of Supply Chain and Manufacturing with rocket start-up Vector Launch.  Finally, Site and Plant Director for Itron, producing annually over six million gas and electric meters for both residential and commercial markets in North America.

Brian brings his wide experience to Lightning at a time when the company is growing rapidly. He is overseeing the introduction of manufacturing automation technologies and advanced equipment to enable aggressive scaling of production while improving quality and efficiency.