Laura Brown, Non-Executive Director, on #WhyTevva
One of Tevva’s newest team members, Laura Brown certainly brings a diverse array of experience to Tevva, covering financial, marketing, communications, governance and CEO advisory skills. We recently sat down with Laura to discuss her background, #WhyTevva, and what she envisions for the company’s growth trajectory.
Laura started her career in accounting and finance with Baxter, a healthcare manufacturing and distribution organization, where she held various financial and sales administration leadership roles; including head of pricing and sales compensation. From there, Laura went on to be CFO of a joint venture between Baxter and Kraft, which ultimately became a part of Alliant Foodservice, a large-scale foodservice distribution company.
For the next 18 years, Laura held corporate roles at Granger, a $12 billion industrial distributor. At Granger, Laura held roles including CFO for the Internet business, Head of Finance for Sales, Marketing and Service; General Manager (market expansion focus); SVP of Communications, Investor Relations and Public Affairs. Laura also serves on the board of Helios Technologies, a U.S. based global manufacturer. She leads the Audit committee at Helios and is also a member of the ESG committee.
When asked why she was drawn to Tevva, Laura explained that she is very intrigued by the technology and the mission of the business.
“The sustainable nature of electric vehicles is so critically important to today and to future generations.”
She feels personally connected to sustainability through the passionate work of her daughter, a marine scientist who actively works to make the world a greener, cleaner place.
“I am very passionate about the opportunity to participate in a start-up. My experience is largely with very established large companies, so this is a unique opportunity to work with the leadership as we build a company. In my opinion, it is so much more fun and exciting to build a culture as opposed to try and fix one.”
Candidly, Laura discusses how despite not yet having met the full Tevva team due to COVID-19 restrictions, she has solidified over many zoom meetings that she is “very impressed with both management as well as other members of the board.” She expresses how Tevva is a people-centric business as much as it is a technology-centric business, which is integral to the growth of a new company.
“It is an enormous task to be starting up a business of this caliber, in terms of production, technology and the facilities… and at the same time finding the right people. Not just with the right skills and experiences, but also the right EQ and leadership skills so that there is a cohesive team.”
‘Authentic’, ‘genuine’, and ‘full of humility’ are the terms Laura uses to describe the Tevva leadership team, noting that there is a general consensus that there is a lot of hard work to accomplish, and employees can “check their egos at the door” when working for a humble, hardworking company like Tevva.
In terms of Tevva’s growth over the next few years, Laura believes there is a huge opportunity to deliver an exceptional, high-quality product for customers.
“The team is very passionate about wanting to do things the right way, which was very important for me and why I joined this organization.”
Laura believes in the strength of Tevva’s product, and notes that it will be an exciting race to market over the next few years as companies respond to global demand for electric vehicles. We are excited to have Laura with us on our journey to #ZeroEmission freight! #WhyTevva
