Rough road goes on for Lordstown Motors; CEO and CFO are out

Lordstown Motors CEO Steve Burns and Chief Financial Officer Julio Rodriguez have resigned from the startup commercial electric vehicle maker.

Shares tumbled more than 11% before the opening bell.

The announcement Monday comes less than a week after Lordstown cautioned that it may not be in business a year from now as it tries to secure funding to start full production of an electric pickup truck. In a quarterly regulatory filing, the company said that the $587 million it had on hand as of March 31 isn’t enough to start commercial production and begin selling the full-size pickup, called the Endurance.

Burns had warned in May that production could be cut by more than half to 1,000 vehicles this year unless the company can raise new capital. Lordstown was looking in to new sources of capital, the company said.

On Monday, Lordstown named lead independent director Angela Strand as executive chairwoman and said that she will oversee the organization’s transition until a permanent CEO is found. Strand is currently the managing director of advisory firm Strand Strategy.

Becky Roof will serve as interim CFO. Roof is a certified public accountant who has served as a consultant to publicly traded companies and in an interim CFO capacity at businesses including Eastman Kodak, Hudson’s Bay, Saks Fifth Avenue and Aceto Corp.

Lordstown, located southeast of Cleveland, said Monday that it has hired an executive search firm to help find permanent replacements for the roles.