4NRIs Powering Elon Musk’s Most Ambitious Ventures

Vaibhav Taneja – CFO of Tesla
A graduate of Delhi University and a Chartered Accountant by training, Vaibhav Taneja has climbed the ranks from SolarCity to Tesla, becoming CFO in 2023. In 2024, Taneja’s compensation package totaled an astounding $139 million, surpassing the earnings of Satya Nadella and Sundar Pichai. His financial leadership underpins Tesla’s bold global expansion.

Ashok Elluswamy – VP/Director, Autopilot & AI Software, Tesla
Joining Tesla’s autonomy team in 2014 as its first engineer, Ashok Elluswamy has become the driving force behind Autopilot and Full Self-Driving software. Musk has personally praised his contributions:
“Without him and our awesome team, we would just be another car company…”
Recently, Elluswamy shared insights on Tesla’s tech culture, highlighting Musk’s relentless work ethic—sometimes 80–90 hours per week—and visionary mindset.

Jayaprakash “Jay” Vijayan – Former CIO, Tesla
Before founding unicorn Tekion, Jay Vijayan served as Tesla’s Chief Information Officer, where he led IT operations during a critical phase of scale-up and automation. With roots in Tamil Nadu and degrees from University of Madras, he has brought his startup spirit and strategic acumen to Tesla—and beyond.

NRI Sriram Krishnan: Tech Maestro Steering Elon Musk’s Twitter Overhaul
Veteran Silicon Valley technologist Sriram Krishnan has emerged as a key architect in Elon Musk’s transformation of Twitter. A general partner at Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), Krishnan is “temporarily helping out” Musk with product strategy and operational shake-ups at the platform