EXECUTIVE - DISRUPTOR OF THE YEAR

LIFELONG CAR ENTHUSIAST RJ SCARing sees automobiles as the root of many of the biggest challenges the world faces.

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RJ Scaringe/ FOUNDER AND CEO, RIVIAN

When he was in college, he decided to do something about it. Decades later, the success of Scaringe's vision, a new battery-electric vehicle automaker, is improbable at best. Rivian isn't just producing vehicles people want to buy, the company is turning a profit. “I started the company to drive as much impact as possible, and to be a positive contributor to this really large change we need to see in how our transportation systems function. That's everything from how the vehicles are designed to how they're architected, to electrification,” Scaringe told Newsweek.

GROWTH OBJECTIVE Decades after Scaringe first imagined Rivian, both his company and family have flourished. Here with sons, from left to right, Max, Pete and Miles at an R2 and R3 reveal event in Los Angeles.

Through partnerships with Amazon and Volkswagen Group, strategic government assistance and shrewd manufacturing practices, Rivian is beating the odds. It hasn't always been sunshine and roses. An early deal with Ford dissipated and the company has seen its fair share of employee churn.

“The nature of starting a business like this is really different than most types of new companies because you need so many things that are all hard to get. If you're being intellectually honest, you need many billions of dollars of capital. You need hundreds of suppliers to provide the components going to the vehicles. You need thousands of engineers working in parallel and on top of all that, you need technology and product that's highly compelling and would lead customers to want to purchase your product,” Scaringe said.