Lyndon Robert Rive (born 22 January 1977) is a South African-American businessman known as the co-founder of

SolarCity SolarCity Corporation was a publicly traded company headquartered in Fremont, California, that sold and installed solar energy generation systems as well as other related products and services to residential, commercial, and industrial custom ...

, and its

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

until 2016. SolarCity is a provider of

photovoltaic Photovoltaics (PV) is the conversion of light into electricity using semiconducting materials that exhibit the photovoltaic effect, a phenomenon studied in physics, photochemistry, and electrochemistry. The photovoltaic effect is commercially ...

systems and related services. Rive co-founded SolarCity with his brother Peter in 2006. Rive started his first company at age 17 before leaving his native country, South Africa. He then co-founded the enterprise software company Everdream, which was ultimately acquired by

Dell Dell Inc. is an American technology company that develops, sells, repairs, and supports personal computers (PCs), Server (computing), servers, data storage devices, network switches, software, computer peripherals including printers and webcam ...

. In 2010, Rive was named in the ''MIT Technology Review's'' Innovators Under 35 as one of the top 35 innovators in the world under the age of 35. After

Tesla, Inc. Tesla, Inc. ( or ) is an American multinational automotive and clean energy company. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, it designs, manufactures and sells battery electric vehicles (BEVs), stationary battery energy storage devices from h ...

acquired SolarCity in 2016, Rive announced in 2017 that he would leave the company and spend his time with his family along with further entrepreneurial activities, including working on a new startup.

Awards

In 2013, Rive was an Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award winner in the Northern California Region.

Personal life

Lyndon Robert Rive and his wife, Madeleine, were high school sweethearts in South Africa. He met her when he was 14. They started dating two years later. Both have been good

underwater hockey Underwater hockey (UWH), also known as Octopush in the United Kingdom, is a globally played limited-contact sport in which two teams compete to manoeuvre a puck across the bottom of a swimming pool into the opposing team's goal by propelling ...

players. Rive started playing when he was 14. Underwater hockey played a big part in how Rive ended up in the US. He played for South Africa at the World Championship in 1998, which was held in San Jose, CA. He was so taken by San Jose that he decided to move permanently to the US with his wife. Rive recounts how he had been unable to get his green card despite starting two companies in the United States. Madeleine got hers through the 'exceptional ability' category by virtue of being a good underwater hockey player, and Rive was eventually able to get his through marriage. Ironically, it was Lyndon who had introduced his wife to the sport. They had to wait three years to play for the US team. Their first World Championship for the US was in 2004 in Canada. He played for the men's team and Madeleine for the women's team. Rive's parents were entrepreneurs in the natural-health business in

Pretoria Pretoria ( ; ) is the Capital of South Africa, administrative capital of South Africa, serving as the seat of the Executive (government), executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to the country. Pretoria strad ...

, South Africa. Rive is a cousin of

Elon Musk Elon Reeve Musk ( ; born June 28, 1971) is a businessman. He is known for his leadership of Tesla, SpaceX, X (formerly Twitter), and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Musk has been considered the wealthiest person in th ...

as their mothers are twin sisters.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rive, Lyndon 1977 births Living people People associated with solar power People from Pretoria South African expatriates in the United States Musk family South African people of Canadian descent South African people of American descent South African people of German descent White South African people