Get to know May: Sid Venkatesan, general counsel

What were your roles prior to May?

Most recently, I served as the chief legal officer for Embark Trucks, a company focused on developing autonomous long-haul driving solutions for semi-trucks. I helped lead Embark through a successful merger and transition to a Nasdaq-listed public company. More recently, following the sharp market downturn for publicly traded autonomous driving companies, I helped lead the company through a challenging restructuring and ultimately a sale transaction agreement with Applied Intuition.

I’ve also held executive roles at a private equity-backed manufacturing company and GE Digital (GE’s IoT business). Prior to moving in-house, I spent nearly 15 years in private practice at Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP, where I maintained a broad IP litigation, transactional and counseling practice. One of my proudest achievements in private practices was my representation of an 81-year-old widow, who had been defrauded in a predatory lending scheme and evicted from her home of 40 years. Through a significant litigation campaign, our team helped her get her home back and live her remaining years in economic security.

What brought you to May?

As a former automotive engineer and car guy (less so since I've had children), I'm really excited by all of the changes happening in the mobility sector, particularly autonomous driving. The mobility sector is in the middle of a significant shift toward sustainability and accessibility due in no small part to the rapid development of autonomous driving. I am excited to be part of this transition and was particularly attracted to May Mobility’s technology leadership as well as its mission of enhancing access to transportation and quality of life through its technology. Plus, the folks I've met have been great!

What will you be doing as General Counsel?

As I get to know May’s people, processes, challenges and opportunities, I plan to find ways that I can help address specific pain points faced by the engineering, commercial, operations and general and administration teams. I will develop processes to protect our intellectual property and data as well as help May scale and remain safe and compliant as we grow our driverless operations over time.

My 20 years of legal and business experience with diverse litigation, transaction and counseling practice within the tech and AV industries will help me to advise May as we enter into agreements at new sites and with new partners.

What are you most excited about for May's future?

I think we are close to an inflection point where autonomous driving will be unlocked for a wider variety of use cases. I'm excited to support May’s efforts to radically improve our public infrastructure through the deployment of autonomous microtransit. We have a great opportunity to drive positive change in the lives of people across the world. I look forward to doing whatever I can to help create a future where access to reliable and safe transportation is a guarantee, no matter the circumstance.

Which of May's core values resonates with you the most and why?

Do What's Right - integrity is very important to me and is a critical corporate value, particularly as May scales. The maxim "organizations move at the speed of trust" is something I've personally seen in my career and trusting in one another to do what's right will be critical to May's success going forward.