(Yicai Global) April 7 -- Telsa has made Tom Zhu, the head of the US electric vehicle giant's China operations, senior vice president of automotive operations, officially placing him in the ranks of the company’s senior global management after nine years at the firm.

Zhu is now one of the top four executives at Tesla along with Chief Executive Elon Musk, Chief Financial Officer Zachary Kirkhorn, and powertrain and energy engineering head Drew Baglino, according to a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission yesterday. Co-founder Jeffrey Brian Straubel was also nominated to the board.

Zhu's promotional path began at the end of last year when Musk sent him to supervise the expansion of production at Tesla's gigafactory in Texas, Bloomberg News reported on Dec. 8.

He was then appointed general manager in charge of the firm's US plants and consumer business in North America and Europe, while simultaneously keeping his posts in China and Asia, making Zhu the highest-profile executive at Tesla after Musk, according to a Reuters report on Jan. 3.

Since joining the Texas-based carmaker in April 2014, Zhu has held multiple positions, including VP of Tesla China, leading the construction and production process of the company's Shanghai-based gigafactory.

Zhu has a bachelor's degree in commerce in information technology from the Auckland University of Technology and a Master of Business Administration from Duke University.

Tesla’s EV deliveries jumped a record 36 percent to 422,900 in the first quarter from a year earlier, which was a 4 percent gain from the three months ended Dec. 31.

Editor: Martin Kadiev