Lightning eMotors has announced that Steve Ivsan will serve as the company’s new chief procurement officer and will lead all purchasing activities as well as quality and the performance of the supply base.

“Steve has broad experience in supply chain and operations leadership roles in the electric vehicle industry,” said Tim Reeser, CEO of Lightning eMotors. “He will lead our efforts to add new suppliers and factory automation to support our production scale-up of purpose-built commercial electric specialty vehicles.”

Ivsan will report to Reeser and will be based at Lightning’s headquarters in Loveland, Colorado. He holds a master’s degree in automotive engineering from the University of Michigan and a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Kettering University. His appointment is effective immediately.

Ivsan was one of the co-founders of Byton, where he served as chief procurement officer. Ivsan also served as chief procurement officer at Rivian and was the director of vehicle purchasing at Tesla. Prior to that, he was with Continental, a global automotive and technology company, for 12 years, and with Chrysler Corporation for six years.

“Lightning is a leader in the commercial EV space,” Ivsan said. “The company has an incredible team and terrific portfolio of products, and I am looking forward to helping them scale their operations, build relationships with world-class suppliers, and give customers an experience second-to-none.”

Ivsan is the third senior executive to be hired this year by Lightning eMotors. In early January, Teresa Covington was named chief financial officer. Last month, Kash Sethi joined Lightning to head up sales, marketing and business development as the company’s chief revenue officer.