Harini Ganesan

Chief of Staff to co-CEO & COO/ Strategic Operations at Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies

Speaker

Harini Ganesan has spent two decades at the intersection of pioneering technology and operational scale. She currently serves as Chief of Staff to the co-CEO and COO at Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies (RV Tech), the joint venture between Rivian and Volkswagen Group building the next generation of software-defined vehicles. In her role, she leads strategic execution across the organization.

Before RV Tech, Harini was the Head of Strategy, Planning & Central Operations at Nuro, where she built the operational backbone behind one of the most ambitious autonomous vehicle programs in the industry.

Prior to Nuro, Harini managed supplier strategy for critical iPhone components at Apple — navigating the complexity of cost, risk, and capacity at one of the world's most demanding supply chains.

Her recent consulting work focused on Agentic AI business cases and operating model transformation – helping enterprise clients navigate what the shift actually means in practice.

Her career has been defined by a single through-line: the belief that hardware, software and operational discipline must move together. She writes about the gap between strategy and execution – and what great leadership actually looks like in practice – on her Substack page IQ meets EQ.