Board of Directors

Dr. Xiaodi Hou co-founded TuSimple in 2015 and serves as the company’s Chairman of the Board, President, Chief Executive Officer, and Chief Technology Officer. Dr. Xiaodi Hou is an internationally renowned expert in artificial intelligence, machine learning and computer vision. Dr. Xiaodi Hou currently holds 23 patents in the field of autonomous vehicles. In the field of computer vision, Mr. Hou has developed leading theories in computational models for visual saliency. He earned a Ph.D. in Computation and Neural Systems from the California institute of Technology and holds a Bachelor of Engineering degree in Computer Science from Shanghai Jiao Tong University. Dr. Xiaodi Hou has presented at global events such as Web Summit and Nvidia’s GTC conference and has been featured in leading publications such as Wired and Forbes.

Brad Buss serves on the board of QuantumScape, Marvell and Aecom, and served on the board of Tesla from 2009 to 2019.

He retired as the Chief Financial Officer of SolarCity Corporation in 2016 and prior to that role served as the Executive Vice President of Finance and Administration and Chief Financial Officer of Cypress Semiconductor from 2005 to 2014. He also held prior financial leadership roles with Altera Corporation, Veba Electronics and Wyle Electronics. Brad also serves as a director for Advance Auto Parts since 2016.

Brad was born in Canada and holds a B.A. in economics from McMaster University and an honors business administration degree, majoring in finance and accounting, from the University of Windsor.

Karen C. Francis is an experienced CEO and Board Director with a strong track record of successfully building companies and businesses across multiple industries. Karen’s extensive board and corporate governance experience over the last twenty years has spanned public, family-owned, private equity and venture capital portfolio companies as well as numerous national non-profits, industry association and membership driven organizations. She is a visionary leader with strong emphasis on strategic, marketing, technology, and leadership skills. Karen has deep domain knowledge in the automotive and advertising sectors and has embraced the opportunities that the technology disruption is creating globally. 

Karen holds an MBA from the Harvard Business School where she has been appointed to the HBS Alumni Board and holds a BA in Economics from Dartmouth College where she has served for nine years on the Board of Trustees. 

Michelle Sterling is the former Executive Vice President of Human Resources and Chief Human Resources Officer for Qualcomm Incorporated, the world’s leading wireless communications technology company. In addition to her deep knowledge of executive compensation, CEO and executive leadership succession, Michelle has her hands on the pulse of the dynamic global technology market and human capital implications. Throughout her 25-year tenure with the company, Michelle led Qualcomm’s 33,000 employees through complex business transactions, including acquisitions, joint ventures and divestitures, large-scale integration planning and significant international growth. Prior to joining Qualcomm, Michelle served in various human resources roles at ABB Traction and Manpower.

Michelle currently serves on the Board of Directors, Governance and Compensation and Human Capital Committees for Digital Turbine, a mobile delivery and app advertising platform.

Michelle holds a bachelor’s degree in business management from the University of Redlands. She also attended the Women on Boards program at Harvard Business School.

Reed Werner has been a member of our board of directors since April 2022 as the Security Director under The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States National Security Agreement between the Company and the U.S. Government. During his career, Mr. Werner has held various positions with the U.S. Government and the private sector. From December 2019 through January 2021, Mr. Werner served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for South and Southeast Asia Security Affairs. From August 2018 through January 2019, Mr. Werner was Vice President for Strategic Finance and Global Public Policy at VIPKid, a global online English education platform. He joined VIPKid after a career with Goldman Sachs from 2009 through June 2018 in the firm’s investment banking division and executive office in New York and Hong Kong, where he advised on a range of financial transactions in the U.S., China, and Southeast Asia markets. Mr. Werner began his career in U.S. Government service with the Department of State, Department of Defense, and on the National Security Council staff at the White House. He holds a B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania and an MBA from Columbia University