Deepak Ahuja

About Deepak Ahuja

Deepak Ahuja (age 62) is an independent director of NetApp (NTAP) since 2020 and serves as Chair of the Audit Committee; he is designated an SEC “audit committee financial expert.” He is Chief Business and Financial Officer at Zipline (since Sept 30, 2022), and previously served as CFO of Verily (2020–Sept 2022) and as Tesla’s CFO (2008–2015; 2017–2019), following 15 years in finance roles at Ford. He holds an M.S. in Industrial Administration (Carnegie Mellon), an M.S. in Materials Engineering (Northwestern/Pennsylvania), and a B.Tech in Ceramic Engineering (Banaras Hindu University).

Past Roles

Organization	Role	Tenure	Committees/Impact
Zipline International, Inc.	Chief Business & Financial Officer	Sep 30, 2022 – present	Oversees finance, accounting, IR, and global sales (ex-Africa)
Verily Life Sciences	Chief Financial Officer	2020 – Sep 2022	Finance leadership at Alphabet’s life sciences unit
Tesla, Inc.	Chief Financial Officer	2008–2015; 2017–2019	Led IPO; raised several billion of growth capital; among longest-serving execs
Ford Motor Company	Various finance roles	~15 years (pre-2008)	Exposure to manufacturing, marketing & sales, product dev., treasury, M&A

External Roles

Company/Institution	Role	Public/Private	Notes
—	—	—	No current public company directorships listed for Ahuja at NTAP

Board Governance

Independence: Independent director; all committee members (Audit, Talent & Compensation, Corporate Governance & Nominating) are independent.
Committee assignments: Audit Committee (Chair); SEC “audit committee financial expert.”
Meetings/attendance: Board held 5 meetings; Audit Committee held 10 meetings in FY2025. All directors attended at least 75% of Board and committee meetings; overall Board and committee attendance was 94.83%.
Skills coverage (skills matrix): Financial; Strategy; Risk Management; Sales & Marketing; Technology.

Fixed Compensation (Director Pay)

Component	FY2025 Amount	Notes
Cash retainer/fees	$125,000	Fees earned/paid in cash
Equity (RSU) grant (grant-date FV)	$270,075	Annual service-vested RSUs (not performance-based)
Total	$395,075	Sum of cash and equity grant-date FV
Unvested RSUs at FY2025 end	2,377 sh	As of April 25, 2025
Latest annual RSU grant	2,377 sh (9/11/2024)	Service-vested; standard director grant
Options outstanding	None	No outstanding options for non-employee directors

Policy context:

Standard annual RSU value: $275,000 for non-chair directors; Chair $350,000; increased at 2025 annual meeting to $285,000 (directors) and $360,000 (Chair). No performance-based equity for non-employee directors; no perquisites.

Performance Compensation

Element	Structure	Metrics	FY2025 Notes
Performance-based equity	Not used for directors	N/A	Non-employee directors do not receive performance-based equity awards

Other Directorships & Interlocks

Type	Details
Current public company boards	None listed for Ahuja at NTAP
Interlocks/related party exposure	No Ahuja-specific related-party transactions disclosed; related-party oversight handled by CG&N Committee. Note: Company discloses ordinary-course transactions with Google Cloud (CEO’s brother leads Google Cloud), assessed as arm’s-length and not a related-person transaction under Item 404.

Expertise & Qualifications

Audit Committee Financial Expert; deep finance/operational leadership in high-growth technology.
Recognitions: Silicon Valley Business Journal CFO of the Year (2010, small public companies); San Francisco Business Times Bay Area CFO of the Year (2014, large public companies).
Skills: Financial, Strategy, Risk Management, Sales & Marketing, Technology (per Board skills matrix).
Education: Carnegie Mellon (M.S., Industrial Administration); Northwestern University Pennsylvania (M.S., Materials Engineering); Banaras Hindu University (B.Tech, Ceramic Engineering).

Equity Ownership

Item	Amount	Notes
Beneficial ownership (common shares)	16,264 sh	As of July 16, 2025
Unvested RSUs (director grants)	2,377 sh	As of April 25, 2025
Vested but deferred RSUs	3,526 sh	Vested; payout deferred until Jan 2, 2026
RSUs vesting within 60 days but deferred	2,377 sh	Will vest within 60 days of July 16, 2025; payout deferred until Jan 2, 2027
Ownership guidelines	In compliance for directors as of FY2025 (except two newly appointed directors not yet due)
Pledging/hedging	Prohibited by company policy

Governance Assessment

Strengths
- Audit Chair with SEC “financial expert” designation; Audit Committee met 10x in FY2025, indicating active oversight.
- Strong attendance culture (≥75% for all directors; 94.83% overall) and independent board/committees.
- Director equity and ownership guidelines support alignment; anti-hedging/pledging policy reduces misalignment risk.
- No Ahuja-specific related-party transactions disclosed; Section 16(a) late-filing note does not list him.
Watch items
- Executive time commitments: Ahuja is a full-time C-suite executive at Zipline; continued monitoring of workload/attendance remains prudent (NTAP policy caps non-employee directors at ≤4 public boards; Ahuja has no listed public boards).
Shareholder feedback context
- Say-on-Pay vote (2024) passed with ~95% support, indicating general investor confidence in compensation/governance frameworks.

Director Compensation Structure Details (Reference)

Mix emphasizes equity; annual equity grants are service-vested RSUs; cash retainer plus committee/chair fees; no performance-based equity; no perquisites.
Independent consultant (Meridian) advises on director pay; 2025 increase to maintain Peer Group alignment.

Compliance & Policies

Independence determinations include review of potential transactions with entities associated with directors/families; independent directors meet in executive session; independent Chair.
Clawback policies in place (mandatory and discretionary); anti-hedging/pledging; robust Code of Conduct and insider trading policy with pre-clearance.

No red flags specific to Deepak Ahuja were disclosed in the latest NTAP proxy regarding conflicts, attendance, or compensation practices.