Chargepoint names new software chief

Getting software right is an increasingly crucial part of the whole EV jigsaw. And the charging sector is no exception to the trend.

So the appointment by US firm Chargepoint, which both makes charging hardware but also operates charge points and offers software for fleets and private drivers, of a new chief development officer for software, leading the firm’s software team across all regions, products and segments, is therefore a key one.

The firm has selected Ash Chowdappa, who it hails as a “seasoned technology veteran that has been in customer and field facing business leadership roles for nearly 25 years, [with] a proven track record of formulating product strategy from inception to launch”.

“His leadership experience, combined with deep technical knowledge, makes him the ideal executive to lead the software business at Chargepoint,” the firm says.

Chowdappa has no previous experience in the EV charging space. But he can boast, according to his profile on business networking platform LinkedIn, over 15 years’ experience at Hewlett Packard subsidiary Aruba — most recently as SVP, cloud, security and network infrastructure software — as well as a long spell working for Netscout and its predecessor firms Network Associates and Network General.

Indeed the only short spell on his CV is a two-a-half-year stint at the Citrix cloud computing firm in 2015-18, in between two periods of employment at Aruba.

Chargepoint has also made its interim CFO Mansi Khetani a permanent appointment, having been with the firm since 2018 before stepping up to acting CFO in November last year. And it had added Mitesh Dhruv has as board member who will serve on its audit committee.

The firm warned in March that anti-EV rhetoric in the media was affecting its business, as it reported a significant year-on-year revenue decline. In November, it took a $42mn impairment charge that saw CEO Pasquale Romano and CFO Rex Jackson both depart, with COO Rick Wilmer taking the reins as CEO, while the previous month adverse equity market reaction to a $232mn capital raise sent the company’s shares down by 16pc in a single day’s trading.

In more positive news, in February it signed a technology collaboration deal with Taiwanese power supply manufacturer Acbel Polytech, after in January becoming one of the first charging firms to receive approval under the US government's Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program.