Joby Aviation, Inc. (NYSE:JOBY), a company developing all-electric aircraft for commercial passenger service, announced the appointment of Tetsuo “Ted” Ogawa, President and Chief Executive Officer of Toyota Motor North America, Inc., to the Company’s Board of Directors, effective July 1, 2023.

Toyota is Joby’s largest external shareholder, having invested approximately $400 million in Joby since 2020.  The long-standing partnership between the two companies has seen them work closely together on a wide range of projects to support the development of Joby’s aircraft, including the design of engineering tools and the layout of Joby’s production facility. Dozens of Toyota engineers work side-by-side with the Joby team in California and, in April, the two companies signed a long-term agreement for Toyota to supply key powertrain and actuation components for the production of Joby’s aircraft.

 “Ted is joining our team at a critical moment for the company as we roll the first aircraft off our pilot production line, and look ahead to scaling manufacturing in the months and years to come,” said JoeBen Bevirt, Founder and CEO of Joby. “Toyota has been instrumental in helping us reach this milestone, and their decades-long history of manufacturing quality, reliability, and scalability have informed the world-class manufacturing facility and processes that Joby has built. We are honored to welcome Ted to our Board of Directors.”

Ogawa oversees all business for Toyota’s North America region. Previously, he was executive vice president and chief operating officer, and he has held positions including general manager, China Division, for Toyota Motor Corporation, and coordinator at New United Motor Manufacturing, Inc. (NUMMI), a joint venture between General Motors and Toyota in Fremont, California.

“It has been very rewarding for our engineering team to collaborate with Joby on manufacturing, an innovator in the emerging eVTOL space,” said Ogawa. “Joby has developed incredible technology that will transform air transportation as we know it, and I’m looking forward to working even more closely with the team as we seek to realize our mutual goal of mass production of an eVTOL aircraft, and enable Mobility for All.”

Ogawa will succeed Dr. James Kuffner, CEO and Representative Director of Woven by Toyota, as the Toyota representative on Joby’s Board.

Joby has continued to build its Board with unrivaled industry expertise. Earlier this year, Michael Huerta, former FAA administrator and Delta Board Member, was appointed to the Company’s Board, joining Reid Hoffman, co-founder of LinkedIn and a Partner at Greylock; Aicha Evans, CEO of Zoox; Dipender Saluja, Managing Director of Capricorn Investment Group; Halimah DeLaine Prado, General Counsel of Google; and Laura Wright, former CFO of Southwest Airlines Co. The board is chaired by Paul Sciarra, co-founder of Pinterest.