Nikola Corp. rose as much as 37% Monday after the company appointed former General Motors Co. president Mary Chan as its new chief operating officer.
The hire comes a month after Nikola Chairman Steve Girsky, another GM veteran, was appointed chief executive officer in an attempt to turn the troubled electric trucking company around.
Nikola shares gained 32% to $1.57 at 1:36 p.m. in New York trading. The jump pared the stock’s year-to-date decline to 27%.
The Phoenix-based company is in the midst of a recall for its battery-electric big rigs after one caught fire in June, causing damage to nearby trucks. Two other trucks have caught fire since, with the problem being linked to a component in the battery packs, according to Nikola. Sales have been temporarily halted.
Chan will move into the role starting Oct. 9. She isn’t coming to the company cold, though, as she was a managing partner at VectoIQ, the firm that helped take Nikola public in 2020. Chan served as president of the Global Connected Consumer group at GM and also oversaw Enterprise Mobility Solutions & Services at Dell.
According to a company statement, Chan will lead Nikola’s engineering, program, product, supply chain and manufacturing teams.
(Corrects characterization of Girsky’s appointment in second paragraph. An earlier version corrected the spelling of Chan’s name in the headline.)
