Changes are afoot at Tesla. The company has announced that existing board member Robyn Denholm will replace Elon Musk as Chair of the Tesla Board, effective immediately. Ms. Denholm will be serving as Tesla Chair on a full-time basis, and plans to leave her position as CFO and Head of Strategy at Australian telecom giant Telstra.

Ms. Denholm is one of two female directors on the nine-member board, on which she has served since 2014. She has extensive experience in both Australia and Silicon Valley, including executive positions at Telstra, Juniper Networks, and Sun Microsystems, and finance management roles at Toyota.

“I believe in this company, I believe in its mission and I look forward to helping Elon and the Tesla team achieve sustainable profitability and drive long-term shareholder value,” said Denholm.

“Robyn has extensive experience in both the tech and auto industries, and she has made significant contributions as a Tesla Board member over the past four years in helping us become a profitable company,” said Musk. “I look forward to working even more closely with Robyn as we continue accelerating the advent of sustainable energy.”

Meanwhile, TSLA shares have been steadily climbing since the company announced a profitable third quarter. There’s talk on the Street that Tesla may qualify to join the benchmark S&P 500 index in 2019. Tesla’s market cap recently surpassed that of BMW, after the Bavarian automaker had a disappointing quarter. BMW is often cited as the brand most vulnerable to competition from the insurgent Model 3.

Sources: Tesla, Teslarati, The Guardian