GE Vernova Snaps up Rivian CFO Claire McDonough

GE Vernova hires its second-ever CFO, Claire McDonough, as she joins the company in November. 

She leaves Rivian, where she has been CFO for close to six years. At Rivian, she was responsible for steering the company through the US’s largest IPO in 2021, to the tune of US$13.7bn. 

GE Vernova’s current CFO, Ken Parks, will retire in 2027. Upon Claire’s completed onboarding, she will take over as CFO in her full capacity 1 January 2027 while Ken transitions into an advisory role. 

Starting from art and finishing in finance 

Claire began a career in finance with an untraditional undergraduate degree in Arts, before achieving her Masters in Business Administration. 

With sights set on finance, she moved on to Credit Suisse as an Associate, and later Vice President. Her financial leadership was later built further at Fairway Market before her position as Vice President at J.P. Morgan. 

Leaving her position as Co-Head for Disruptive Commerce at J.P. Morgan in 2021, Claire took to Rivian as its CFO for the next five years. 

Claire McDonough, incoming CFO at GE Vernova, comments: “Being part of taking Rivian from an ambitious vision to a category-defining enterprise has been the highlight of my career.”

In addition to steering Rivian through its IPO, Claire was also instrumental in managing a joint venture between Rivian and Volkswagen Group. 

She continues: “While leaving this incredible team is bittersweet, I am thrilled to transition into the CFO role at GE Vernova and return to the East Coast. I want to extend my sincere thanks to Scott Strazik and the leadership team for their trust and warm welcome.  

“Joining a global leader accelerating the transition to a more reliable, affordable and sustainable energy future allows me to continue my deep commitment to driving the energy transition forward.”

Rivian expect that Derek Mulvey, Vice President of Finance at Rivian, will step up to be interim CFO as the company searches for a more permanent replacement. 

A new sector, same expertise

GE Vernova, headquartered in Massachusetts, US, specialises in energy technology to power a more sustainable and decarbonised future. GE Vernova is a spinoff of GE, launching fully in 2024, and claims to generate roughly 25% of the world’s electricity with its energy technology. 

Scott Strazik, CEO and President at GE Vernova, welcomes Claire to the team: “I’m incredibly excited to welcome Claire as our incoming CFO.

 “She brings a sophisticated blend of capital markets expertise and hands-on operational leadership. Claire is a highly disciplined, detail-oriented leader who thrives in complex, mission-driven environments. 

“I am confident she’s the right leader for GE Vernova as we continue to grow profitably as a company and advance the future of energy.”

Prior to his appointment as CEO, Scott served as GE’s Aviation Commercial Engine Operations CFO and has over 20 years of experience in leadership, finance and operations. 

GE Vernova partners with hundreds of companies, most notably:

Amazon Web Services (AWS): Headquartered in Washington, US, AWS is one of the world’s best known cloud providers. CEO Matt Garman took over as Chief Executive in 2024, having been at AWS for 20 years. AWS was initially launched in 2006 to enable equal access to powerful technology to college students and sophisticated businesses alike. 

ANYbiotics: Autonomous robots firm ANYbiotics is headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland. Founded in 2016, the company’s mission is to use AI-driven robot inspections to support safe and sustainable inspections in energy, power, metals, mining and other industrial sectors and environments. It is under the leadership of Co-Founder and CEO Péter Fankhauser. It was supported by over US$150m in funding. 

Visionaize: CEO and Co-Founder Vikas Agrawal has led the company since its founding 2020, and is also a member of the Forbes Technology Council. Visionaize is based in California, US, with offices globally. Its mission is to support the use of AI in industrial cases, specifically focussing on the use of 3D digital twins and gen AI. 

LS Electric: Headquartered in South Korea, LS Electric is Chaired by Ja-Kyun Koo. Founded in 1974, it aims to be a Global Top 4 Power Company by 2030. It is an unrivalled power and automation company in South Korea, supporting the country’s industrial development. Dae-Seok Chae serves as its Executive Vice President, supporting its mission as the company prepares for a surge in power demand to spur on a global energy transition. 

Quinbrook: Specialist investment management company Quinbrook is based in London, UK. It is led by CEO Brian Restall, who has over 28 years of experience in energy infrastructure investments. Quinbrook states it has invested in over 40GW of energy infrastructure assets after its founding in 2015. It has invested a cumulative amount of US$4.1bn in the energy transition to date.