Jared Birchall

Jared John Birchall (born 1974) is an American business executive and a former banker. He is the chief executive officer of neurotechnology company Neuralink and the wealth manager of billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk since 2016. As Musk's adviser, right-hand man, and fixer, Birchall holds executive or administrative positions in other endeavors of his including the Boring Company, Musk Foundation, xAI, and managing his family office.

Early life and education

Jared John Birchall was born in 1974 in Modesto, California. As one of 11 children, his family toured California as part of a musical group called "The Birchall Family Singers". He earned an Eagle Scout rank in his youth. He entered the Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah in 1992 and graduated in 1999 with a Bachelor of Arts degree. Before graduating, he also spent two years as a missionary.

Career

1999–2016: Financial career

He started his career in finance at Goldman Sachs in New York City as a financial analyst in 1999. The next year, he moved to Los Angeles to work at Merrill Lynch & Co. as a private wealth adviser. According to Financial Industry Regulatory Authority records, he was terminated in 2010 for "sending correspondence to a client without management approval". Between 2010 and 2016, he was a senior vice president of private banking at Morgan Stanley.

2016–present: Working for Elon Musk

Birchall got acquainted with business magnate Elon Musk during his tenure at Morgan Stanley when as a client adviser he was involved in arranging a nine-figure amount in bank loans at a time when Musk was low on funds. Musk hired him out of Morgan Stanley in 2016 to set up and manage his family office—Excession LLC.

When neurotechnology company Neuralink was founded by Musk in 2016, corporate filings listed Birchall as its chief executive, chief financial officer and president. According to Bloomberg News, he is not involved in daily operations of the company and that his name was listed on the filings for legal convenience. In 2018, Birchall was named as a director and executive of Boring Company—a tunnel construction services company also founded by Musk. He is also a member of the board for Musk's philanthropic foundation and Ad Astra—a Texas-based online experimental school founded by Musk for the children of SpaceX employees, including his kids.

Dubbed as Musk's personal fixer and right-hand man, Birchall has also been tasked with managing itinerary, hiring bodyguards, and selling homes for Musk. ''Slate'' reported in 2018 that he was CEO of Foundation Security—a detective and armored car services company. During that year, in the lead up to a defamation case against Musk by a British caver following the Tham Luang cave rescue, Birchall paid over $50,000 of Musk's funds to hire a private investigator, who turned out to be a convicted fraud, to dig up dirt on the caver. Birchall stated in court deposition he had an "instinct to protect Musk".

In 2021, Birchall opposed the idea of having Igor Kurganov—a professional poker player without a financial background and an advocate for effective altruism who had quickly become close to Musk during the COVID-19 pandemic and entrusted with co-managing the foundation—handle charity requests. Musk terminated Kurganov the following year after Birchall reported that Kurganov had drawn the attention of the Federal Bureau of Investigation over foreign interference concerns.

He joined the board of the Dogecoin Foundation—a nonprofit that advocates the Dogecoin ecosystem—as legal and financial adviser in August 2021. In a July 2023 court filing, Birchall declared that he exclusively manages Musk's cryptocurrency trades.

He played a critical role in Musk's acquisition of Twitter in 2022. He was heavily involved in the buyout negotiations and was in charge of dealing with the big banks to arrange multi-billion dollar loans that were key to closing the deal before a court-imposed deadline, which otherwise would have forced a trial. As Twitter underwent massive cost-cutting under Musk, Birchall was responsible for strategizing layoffs and approving expenditures for services.

Birchall incorporated Musk's artificial intelligence (AI) company xAI in 2023, where he is listed as secretary of the company. According to ''Fortune'', he is also the CFO of the firm.

Following Donald Trump's victory in the 2024 presidential elections, in which Musk was a major financial backer, Birchall has advised the Trump transition team on space policy and artificial intelligence, contributed to the formation of councils for AI development and cryptocurrency policy, and interviewed several candidates for positions at the State Department.

Personal life

Birchall is married and has five children. He is a practicing Latter-day Saint. He moved to Austin, Texas in 2020. Prior to relocation he lived in Stevenson Ranch, California where he was a counselor to the local church's bishop.

See also

* Frank William Gay, an LDS member who was a corporate aide to Howard Hughes
* Alex Spiro, an attorney who is considered to be among Elon Musk's inner circle

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Birchall, Jared
1974 births
21st-century American businesspeople
American health care chief executives
American Latter Day Saints
Brigham Young University alumni
Businesspeople from Austin, Texas
Goldman Sachs people
Living people
Morgan Stanley employees
Merrill (company) people
People from Modesto, California
Neuralink people