Robyn M. Denholm (; ; born 27 May 1963) is an Australian business executive and former accountant who is

chair A chair is a type of seat, typically designed for one person and consisting of one or more legs, a flat or slightly angled seat and a back-rest. It may be made of wood, metal, or synthetic materials, and may be padded or upholstered in vario ...

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 home ...

. In November 2018, Denholm was chosen by

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 ...

to succeed him as chair of Tesla. Prior to her appointment, she was relatively unknown. She is the highest-paid chair of any public company in the United States.

Early life

Denholm was born 27 May 1963 in Milperra,

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

. Her parents met and married in

Tripoli, Libya Tripoli, historically known as Tripoli-of-the-West, is the capital city, capital and largest city of Libya, with a population of about 1.317 million people in 2021. It is located in the northwest of Libya on the edge of the desert, on a point ...

, immigrating to Australia in the 1950s. She has Maltese and Italian ancestry on her father's side and Maltese and Scottish ancestry on her mother's side; her father spoke five languages. Denholm grew up in the Sydney suburb of Lugarno with her older brother and younger sister. Her father worked as a

welder A welder is a person or equipment that fuses materials together. The term welder refers to the operator, the machine is referred to as the welding power supply. The materials to be joined can be metals (such as steel, aluminum, brass, stainles ...

and her mother was a ledger machine operator. When she was seven years old, the family purchased a service station and workshop in Milperra. Denholm handled the financial accounts, repaired cars, pumped petrol and became interested in cars. She attended Peakhurst High School. Denholm graduated from the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD) is a public university, public research university in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in both Australia and Oceania. One of Australia's six sandstone universities, it was one of the ...

with a bachelor's degree in economics, and from the

University of New South Wales The University of New South Wales (UNSW) is a public research university based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It was established in 1949. The university comprises seven faculties, through which it offers bachelor's, master's and docto ...

in 1999 with a master's degree in commerce. Denholm is a chartered accountant (generally equivalent to a

certified public accountant Certified Public Accountant (CPA) is the title of qualified accountants in numerous countries in the English-speaking world. It is generally equivalent to the title of chartered accountant in other English-speaking countries. In the United Stat ...

in the United States) and a member of Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand.

Career

After graduating, Denholm began her career at

Arthur Andersen Arthur Andersen LLP was an American accounting firm based in Chicago that provided auditing, tax advising, consulting and other professional services to large corporations. By 2001, it had become one of the world's largest multinational corpo ...

in Sydney in 1984. She became the vice president of finance for

Toyota Australia Toyota Australia is an Australian subsidiary of the Japanese car manufacturer Toyota. It markets Toyota products and manages motorsport, advertising and business operations for Toyota in Australia. It is also responsible for Lexus vehicles in A ...

in 1989, a position she held for seven years. She joined the finance division of

Sun Microsystems Sun Microsystems, Inc., often known as Sun for short, was an American technology company that existed from 1982 to 2010 which developed and sold computers, computer components, software, and information technology services. Sun contributed sig ...

in 1996, and relocated to Sun's offices in the United States in 2001. She took a position at

Juniper Networks Juniper Networks, Inc. is an American multinational corporation headquartered in Sunnyvale, California. The company develops and markets networking products, including Router (computing), routers, Network switch, switches, network management so ...

in 2007 where she rose to the position of chief financial officer. Denholm joined Tesla’s board in 2014 as a director and chair of the audit committee, receiving approximately US$17 million in stock options during her tenure. She moved back to Sydney in 2017, when she took a job as chief operations officer at

Telstra Telstra Group Limited is an Australian telecommunications company that builds and operates telecommunications networks and markets related products and services. It is a member of the S&P/ASX 20 stock index, and is Australia's largest telecomm ...

in early 2017 and was appointed chief financial officer on 1 October 2018, a role she held until May 2019. Denholm was appointed chair of Tesla in November 2018, following a settlement between Tesla, Elon Musk, and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) requiring Musk to step down from the role after his controversial 2018 tweet about taking Tesla private. By March 2025, she had reportedly received $682 million in cash and stock awards since joining Tesla and had sold approximately $532 million worth of stock. Denholm has faced scrutiny, including judicial criticism, over her independence as Chair, and the outsized compensation packages awarded to her and to Musk, which she has defended pointing out that Tesla’s market value increased substantially under their leadership. Beyond Tesla, Denholm has remained active in investment and sports. In January 2021, she became an operating partner at Blackbird Ventures, a

venture capital Venture capital (VC) is a form of private equity financing provided by firms or funds to start-up company, startup, early-stage, and emerging companies, that have been deemed to have high growth potential or that have demonstrated high growth in ...

firm. The following year, her family office, Wollemi Capital Group, acquired a 30% stake in the Australian basketball teams the Sydney Kings and Sydney Uni Flames.

Personal life

Denholm is married to David Taylor, a retired electrical engineer. She has a son and a daughter from a previous marriage. She had her son at age 24 and she had her daughter in 1993. She moved from Sydney to Colorado with her children in 2001. She moved back to Sydney in 2017.

Net worth

Denholm debuted on '' The Australian Financial Review'' 2021 Rich List with a

net worth Net worth is the value of all the non-financial and financial assets owned by an individual or institution minus the value of all its outstanding liabilities. Financial assets minus outstanding liabilities equal net financial assets, so net w ...

of 688 million. , her net worth was assessed at 952 million on the 2025 Rich List. In 2023, Denholm was ranked 80th on the ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The co ...

'' list of the World's 100 Most Powerful Women and was ranked 95th on '' Fortune'''s Most Powerful Women list.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Denholm, Robyn 1963 births 21st-century Australian businesspeople 21st-century Australian businesswomen Australian accountants Australian businesspeople in transport Australian chairpersons of corporations Australian energy industry businesspeople Australian manufacturing businesspeople Australian people of Italian descent Australian people of Maltese descent Australian people of Scottish descent Australian sports owners Australian women business executives Businesspeople from Sydney Chairwomen Chief financial officers Chief operating officers Corporate executives in the automobile industry Living people People associated with solar power Sun Microsystems people Telstra people Tesla, Inc. people Toyota people Women corporate directors Women sports owners University of Sydney alumni University of New South Wales alumni