Robyn Denholm has served on Tesla’s board since 2014.: San Francisco: Tesla Inc. has appointed Robyn Denholm to be chairman of the board of directors, after a run-in with securities regulators cost Elon Musk the position he had held since leading the electric carmaker’s first funding round 14 years ago. Denholm will preside over Tesla’s board effective immediately and will leave her role as CFO and head of strategy at Telstra, the Australian telecommunications company, once her six-month notice period with Telstra is complete.