/corporate-governance/management-team

Management Team

Executive Management team

Don Burnette
Don Burnette
Founder & CEO

Don Burnette has served as Kodiak’s CEO since he founded the company in April 2018. Don is one of the autonomous vehicle industry’s pioneers, with more than a decade of experience working on self-driving software development. Prior to founding Kodiak, Don served as a Software Technical Lead at Uber Technologies from November 2016 to March 2018. Don was the co-founder of Ottomotto, the first self-driving truck startup that was acquired by Uber in August 2016. Prior to that, Don worked at as a software technical lead for Google’s Self-Driving Car Project, Waymo predecessor, from May 2010 to February 2016. Don received Bachelor of Science degrees in Physics, Mathematics and Electrical Engineering, and a Master of Science degree in Physics from the University of Florida and a Master of Science degree in Robotics from Carnegie Mellon University.

Jordan Coleman
Jordan Coleman
Chief Legal and Policy Officer

Jordan Coleman has served as Kodiak’s Chief Legal and Policy Officer since March 2023, prior to which he served as Kodiak’s General Counsel since December 2018. Before joining Kodiak, Jordan practiced corporate and securities law at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati and DLA Piper. Jordan received a Bachelor of Science degree in International Business from Georgetown University and a Juris Doctorate from the University of California, College of the Law, San Francisco.

Surajit Datta
Surajit Datta
Chief Financial Officer

Surajit Datta is Kodiak’s Chief Financial Officer. He previously served as Vice President of Finance at SentinelOne, Inc., a cybersecurity company, from April 2022 to June 2025. Before that, from July 2017 to April 2022, he held senior roles at Arm Inc., a semiconductor IP company, including Vice President of Finance and Vice President of Corporate Development.

He holds a B.Tech in Chemical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, a Post Graduate Diploma in Management in Finance and Marketing from the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta, and an MBA in Finance and Accounting from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

Gerhard Eschelbeck
Gerhard Eschelbeck
Chief Information Security Officer

Gerhard Eschelbeck is Kodiak’s Chief Information Security Officer (CISO). Gerhard draws on his more than 25 years of experience to guide Kodiak’s cybersecurity and data security strategy and team. Gerhard is widely regarded as one of the world’s foremost experts on network and system security. Prior to joining Kodiak, Gerhard served as CISO at Aurora and Google. He has held several Chief Technology Officer and executive engineering roles for companies including Sophos, Webroot and Qualys. He also served as Digital and Technology Advisor to the International Olympic Committee for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and as a member of the supervisory board for Deutsche Bank. Gerhard holds a doctorate and master’s degree in computer science from the University of Linz, Austria.

Zsuzsanna Major
Zsuzsanna Major
Chief People Officer

Zsuzsanna Major has served as Kodiak’s Chief People Officer since May 2025, and previously served as Vice President of People from October 2018 to May 2025. Prior to joining Kodiak, Zsuzsanna served as Vice President of People Operations at Kitty Hawk, an autonomous aircraft manufacturer (previously Zee.Aero), from March 2010 to March 2018. Prior to that, Zsuzsanna was Senior HR & Business Operations Manager at OQO Inc., a computer hardware manufacturing company, from May 2006 to June 2009. Zsuzsanna received a Bachelor of Commerce degree in International Business from Concordia University in Montreal.

Andreas Wendel
Andreas Wendel
Chief Technology Officer

Andreas Wendel has served as Kodiak’s Chief Technology Officer since February 2022. From May 2018 to February 2022, Andy served in various roles, including as Vice President of Engineering, after joining Kodiak as a founding engineer. Prior to joining Kodiak, Andy led Software Engineering teams for Waymo, an autonomous driving technology company, from January 2017 to May 2018 as its Perception Tech Lead, and from August 2013 to December 2016 for Waymo’s predecessor Google’s Self-Driving Car Project as Software Engineer. Andy was a researcher and lecturer at the Institute of Computer Graphics and Vision at Graz University of Technology, where he founded the Aerial Vision Group, a workgroup which researches computer vision for autonomous drones, from October 2009 to August 2013. Andy received a Bachelor of Science degree in Information and Computer Engineering (Telematik), a Master of Science degree in Information and Computer Engineering (Telematik), and a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Graz University of Technology.

Michael Wiesinger
Michael Wiesinger
Chief Operating Officer

Michael Wiesinger has served as Kodiak’s Chief Operating Officer since April 2025. From October 2019 until April 2025, he served in various roles, including as Vice President of Commercialization. Prior to joining Kodiak, Michael served in various positions at Boston Consulting Group between February 2014 and September 2019, most recently as Project Leader. Michael graduated from Vienna University of Economics and Business with a Master of Science in Management and from Vienna University of Technology with a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering and a Master of Science in Industrial Engineering.

Leadership team

Daniel Goff
Daniel Goff
Vice President of External Affairs

Daniel Goff serves as Kodiak’s Vice President of External Affairs. Mr. Goff has served as Kodiak’s Vice President of External Affairs since October 2025, prior to which he served as Kodiak’s Director of External Affairs since July 2023. Before joining Kodiak, Mr. Goff served as Managing Director at Tusk Strategies, a boutique consulting firm that advises technology startups on public affairs issues. Mr. Goff received a Bachelor of Arts degree in History from Yale University and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

Jamie Hoffacker
Jamie Hoffacker
Vice President of Hardware

Jamie Hoffacker is Kodiak’s VP of Hardware. Jamie joined Kodiak after serving as Director of Sensors and Electronics at Lyft’s Level 5 autonomy program, where he was one of the founding engineers. Prior to joining Lyft Level 5, Jamie spent five years at Google Maps, where he designed and deployed next-generation cameras, Lidar and electronics for the company’s mapping fleet, including Google’s Street View and aerial applications. Jamie earned a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of Florida.

Don Lepard
Don Lepard
Vice President of Operations

Don Lepard is Kodiak’s Vice President of Operations. Mr. Lepard joined Kodiak in 2019, after serving as Dallas Site Lead for drive.ai, where he was responsible for autonomous commercial and development operations. Don also served in senior operations roles at Uber. Mr. Lepard is a proud veteran of the U.S. Navy.

Tyler Rosengren
Tyler Rosengren
Vice President of Marketing

Tyler Rosengren is the VP of Marketing at Kodiak, where he leads strategy, brand, creative, media, and digital marketing—shaping how Kodiak shows up in the world and how it grows. Before joining Kodiak, Tyler spent five years at Anki, a robotics and artificial intelligence company reimagining consumer products. As Senior Director of Marketing, he helped shape the company’s global brand and led integrated campaigns across product launches and retail channels. Earlier in his career, Tyler held marketing roles at JCPenney and Target. He also served as an Account Supervisor at OLSON, a marketing and PR agency, where he helped lead campaigns for clients across retail, financial services, lifestyle, and hospitality. Tyler holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from the Daniels College of Business at the University of Denver.

Barry Schaeffer
Barry Schaeffer
Vice President of Finance

Barry Schaeffer has served as Kodiak’s Vice President of Finance since early 2025. Prior to joining Kodiak, Mr. Schaeffer served as the CFO at SOULCHI, a SaaS startup and from 2021 to 2023, Mr. Schaeffer served as Interim Chief Financial Officer and Senior Vice President of Finance and FP&A at Latch. He has held finance leadership roles at Talkdesk, Anaplan, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, and Trimble.