Another top executive is exiting Uber. This time it's the company's head of communications, Rachel Whetstone, a person who has steered Uber forward in the midst of its recent scandals and heated press coverage.
Uber's Comms Head Leaves
Whetstone's exit follows a number of high-profile departures, with the ride-hailing service losing a number of its top executives in recent months as it has dealt with public outrage over a series of scandals that offer a bleak picture of Uber's culture and the behavior of its employees.
In an internal email CEO Travis Kalanick sent to employees on Tuesday, April 11, he said that Whetstone was choosing to leave amicably and out of her own volition.
"Since joining in 2015, Rachel has blown us all away with her ability to get stuff done," wrote Kalanick, assigning Whetstone glowing accolades: "extraordinary talent," "amazing player-coach," and "a force of nature."
According to Whetstone, she joined the company out of affection for Uber's ride-hailing service. She says that love has not waned even today; it's as strong as the first day she hailed her first Uber ride.
Apparently, however, Kalanick and Whetstone fostered a complicated relationship behind Uber's doors, according to the New York Times, citing current and former employees who requested to be anonymous. They said that Kalanick and Whetstone both have intense personalities, leading the two to clash at times with regard to how external communications should be handled, especially in times of crisis.
Uber's String Of Scandals
The past few months saw Whetstone ferry Uber through a damning surge of setbacks. One of which is a viral campaign to delete Uber and refrain from using its services after the company was perceived to have exploited Trump's controversial immigration ban for business purposes.
Perhaps the most damning of its woes, however, was a tell-all from a former Uber engineer. In a blog post, Susan J. Fowler barreled through narrative after narrative of her experiences at Uber, which as a whole exposed Uber's internal workplace culture of ignored, downplayed, and bypassed sexual harassment. It prompted Uber to conduct an independent investigation on the allegations, which then compelled it to release its first diversity report.
Uber's High-Profile Departures
Whetstone follows the departures of Jeff Jones, Uber's president whose disagreements with leadership caused him to hightail out the door; Brian McClendon, a top engineering executive who halted his career at Uber to pursue politics; Ed Baker, Uber's growth and product VP, who exited in February after an alleged sexual encounter; and Amit Singhal, a top engineering executive reportedly asked to resign after failing to disclose a previous sexual harassment claim at his former job.
Whetstone previously led communications at another top-rank company, Google, which is now in a firestorm with Uber involving allegations of intellectual property theft.
Whetstone tells Recode that "a strong and brilliant woman will be taking my place," which is in reference to Jill Hazelbaker, a colleague of Whetstone and was most recently the head of communications at Snap. Hazelbaker also has ties to political work, having been a political operative of Senator John McCain on his presidential campaign.
