At 250 people strong, Aurora makes key business hires

Senior leaders join Aurora to help inform regulations, build out the transportation ecosystem, and design new rider experiences

Since being founded a little over two years ago, Aurora has grown to more than 250 people with employees across offices in Palo Alto, San Francisco, and Pittsburgh. Part of this growth has been fueled by the over $600M we recently raised from investors including Sequoia and Amazon — funds we are using to deeply invest in our technology, accelerate our rapid pace of innovation, and of course, grow our team.

Today we’re pleased to welcome new leaders to Aurora who will head up Government Relations, Regulatory, User Experience, and Partner Products and Programs. These roles will lead Aurora’s efforts as we partner with government organizations on future regulations, form partnerships as part of a broader transportation ecosystem, and build a brand-new experience for those who ride in vehicles powered by the Aurora Driver.

Here’s more about these new hires and the role they will play through Aurora’s next phase of growth:

Gerardo Interiano, VP of Government Relations, will lead Aurora’s efforts to engage with federal, state, and local governments as we help define the future of self-driving policy, ensuring safety is at the core of everything we do. Prior to Aurora, Gerardo worked at Google where he helped launch Google Fiber and Google’s Self-Driving Car Project (now Waymo) in the Southwest. He also served in various roles with U.S. government officials.

Charity Goodman Allen, Deputy General Counsel, Regulatory, will play a major role in working with governments to help inform the future of self-driving regulation. She comes to Aurora with a breadth of experience in the autonomous space — spending time at Tesla, and at Waymo where she advised on a broad range of regulatory and privacy issues. Prior to that, she worked at law firms in Washington, DC.

Lia Theodosiou-Pisanelli, Head of Partner Products and Programs, will lead the product development and program management for Aurora’s partnerships. Continuing to develop partnerships with automotive, technology, and transportation network companies is increasingly important as Aurora prepares to deploy its technology broadly. Prior to Aurora, Lia was the Director of Business Development for Lyft’s autonomous vehicles division, where she built strategic alliances with critical automotive and technology suppliers. She also served as Head of Global Government Relations at Square and worked in the office of the U.S. Trade Representative at the White House.

Brian Cullinane, Head of User Experience, will focus on the experience riders and logistics partners will have with vehicles powered by the Aurora Driver. Brian’s work will support Aurora’s position as an independent player in the space by creating a consistent, scalable experience that works across Aurora’s network of partners. Before Aurora, Brian was a product leader at Uber’s ATG and led User Experience Research for Google’s Self-Driving Car Project (now Waymo).

We’re excited to welcome these new leaders to Aurora.

We’re always looking for other talented colleagues to join our team. If you’d like to know more about roles at Aurora, you can learn more here.