Robin Ren

Ren was born and raised in Shanghai. He earned bachelor of science and bachelor of arts degrees from the University of PennsylvaniaUniversity of PennsylvaniaThe University of Pennsylvania, commonly called Penn, is a private research university and Ivy League member in Philadelphia. It traces its origins to a 1740 charity-school project; Benjamin Franklin proposed his academy in 1749, classes began in 1751, and a 1791 merger established the institution under its present name. Penn has 12 schools, with undergraduate education concentrated in arts and sciences, engineering, nursing and Wharton. Enrollment totaled 29,384 in fall 2025, and the fiscal 2025 endowment was $24.81 billion. As of October 2026, J. Larry Jameson was president, with his term scheduled to end on June 30, 2027.Open the full entry, where he became a college friend of Elon Musk, and later a master of science degree in electrical engineering from Stanford University.⁠[1][2]

Before joining Tesla, Ren managed technical R&D businesses at information technology service providers including EMC, VMware, and XtremIO, and also worked at Yahoo.⁠[2]

In 2015, Ren joined Tesla to take charge of its operations in the Asia Pacific region.⁠[2][1]

In April 2018, after several leadership changes in Tesla’s sales and service department, Ren became vice president of worldwide sales, taking over responsibility for the company’s global sales. Musk once said Ren was doing a great job running worldwide sales, and that, together with others on the China team, he had been instrumental in establishing the China factory, making sure it got done right, and maintaining a great relationship with the government.⁠[2][1][1][1]

Ren led the effort to secure the deal for Tesla to build its factory in Shanghai, making Tesla the first foreign automaker with a wholly owned car factory in China; he is regarded as one of the key executives behind Tesla’s success in China.⁠[1][2]

In May 2019, Ren became Tesla’s vice president of business development.⁠[2]

In June 2020, Ren confirmed on LinkedInLinkedInLinkedIn is a social networking platform for professionals. It was founded in 2002 by Reid Hoffman and others, launched in 2003, and listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 2011; after Microsoft acquired it for approximately $26.2 billion in 2016, it became a wholly owned Microsoft subsidiary. Its revenue comes from membership subscriptions, advertising, and recruitment solutions.Open the full entry that he had left Tesla, ending a tenure of about five years; rumors of his departure had circulated the previous week. The departments he had overseen remained under long-serving executives including Troy Jones, head of North American sales operations, and Ken Morgan, vice president of sales finance and business development.⁠[1][1][1]