Aptera Motors Corp. (Nasdaq: SEV) has appointed Wellington "Duke" Reiter, known as Duke Reiter, as an independent member of its board of directors, the company announced.

Reiter currently serves as Senior Adviser to the President of Arizona State University and as Executive Director of ASU's University City Exchange, which builds partnerships between the university and outside institutions. He previously served as Dean of ASU's design school and as President of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He also held a faculty position in the Department of Architecture at MIT and worked in private practice in Boston.

Reiter led the conceptualization of ASU's Downtown Phoenix campus and founded Ten Across, an initiative focused on energy, water, and climate resilience along the I-10 corridor from California to Florida.

"Aptera's vision — vehicles that draw meaningful range directly from the sun — sits squarely at the intersection of two things I've spent my career on: the built environment and the future of energy," Reiter said.

Tony Kirton, Chairman of Aptera's board, said Reiter's experience convening universities, government, and industry around complex, long-term projects was the type of perspective the company sought as it moves toward production.

Aptera, headquartered in Carlsbad, California, develops solar electric vehicles and describes itself as a public benefit corporation.