Archive for the ‘Eric Holder’ Category

Uber Board Member Made a Sexist Joke While Discussing Eric Holder’s Report – Fortune

Apparently, some things never change.

On Tuesday, at an Uber all-hands meeting discussing the recommendations from former U.S. attorney general Eric Holder's law firm Covington & Burling on how the ride-hailing startup can fix its culture, a company board member kicked things off with a sexist joke.

When Arianna Huffington, who also sits on Uber's board, pointed out that adding a female board member increases the odds of bringing on an additional woman, David Bonderman laughed off the evidence. "Actually, what it shows is that it's much more likely to be more talking," he said according to an audio recording obtained by Yahoo .

Huffington let the joke goOh. Come on, David"but the room, according to New York Times reporter Mike Isaac , "was aghast."

NBC News correspondent Jo Ling Kent reports that Bonderman, a founding partner of private equity firm TPG Capital, later apologized in an email and called his comment disrespectful and inappropriate.

Holder and his law firm were retained by Uber back in February to investigate company practices after former Uber engineer Susan Fowler published a blog post detailing what she described as sexual harassment and the lack of a suitable response by senior managers.

Fowler herself called the investigation "all optics."

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Earlier on Tuesday, Kalanick announced that he's taking an extended leave of absence to "work on Travis 2.0," a decision that he says stemmed from the need to grieve for his mother.

In an email to his employees, Kalanick wrote:

The ultimate responsibility, for where weve gotten and how weve gotten here rests on my shoulders. There is of course much to be proud of but there is much to improve. For Uber 2.0 to succeed there is nothing more important than dedicating my time to building out the leadership team. But if we are going to work on Uber 2.0, I also need to work on Travis 2.0 to become the leader that this company needs and that you deserve.

Fortune has reached out to Uber for comment and will update this post with any response.

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Uber Board Member Made a Sexist Joke While Discussing Eric Holder's Report - Fortune

James Lankford: ‘Every unnamed source story somehow gets a … – Washington Examiner

Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., lamented on Tuesday that the days of elected lawmakers are increasingly being filled up with hearings to explore the latest round of stories about President Trump and Russia, stories that are often based on unnamed sources.

"It does seem as well that every unnamed source story somehow gets a hearing," he said at Tuesday's Senate Intelligence Committee hearing with Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

He said he was just in a hearing earlier that day with Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who was also asked whether he and Sessions had talked at all about the Russia probe, from which Sessions has recused himself.

"He was very clear that he has never had conversations with you about that, and that you have never requested conversations about that," Lankford said.

"He was also peppered with questions about the latest rumor of the day, that is somehow the president is thinking about firing Robert Mueller and getting rid of him," Lankford added. In that hearing, Rosenstein said only he can fire Special Counsel Bob Mueller, and said it's not something he's thinking about."

"No one has any idea where the latest unnamed source story of the day is coming from, but somehow it's grabbing all the attention," Lankford said.

Lankford also dismissed the criticism from Democrats that Sessions was not reading out his private conversations with President Trump, and said former Attorney General Eric Holder routinely declined to detail his conversations with President Barack Obama.

"There seems to be a short memory about some of the statements Eric Holder would and would not make to any committee in the House or the Senate, and would or would not turn over documents," Lankford said.

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James Lankford: 'Every unnamed source story somehow gets a ... - Washington Examiner

Uber recommendations show company was ‘out of control’ – The Seattle Times

As former U.S. Attorney Eric Holder released a list of recommendations to improve Uber's toxic culture, CEO Travis Kalaninck took a leave of absence, and David Bonderman stepped down from the board.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) Its clear from former Attorney General Eric Holders recommendations on how to fix Ubers dysfunctional management that the male-dominated company grew huge without even the most basic procedures to prevent sexual harassment, bullying and other bad behavior.

The 13-page document from Holders firm Covington & Burling LLP released Tuesday exposes a startup-turned-goliath that permitted misconduct, had few policies to protect employees and ran with little board supervision.

The recommendations , adopted unanimously by Ubers board, show clearly that the next version of Uber, called 2.0 by CEO co-founder Travis Kalaninck, will have to be much different from the free-wheeling company that flouted regulations and disrupted the taxi business to become the worlds largest ride-hailing company.

Kalanick told employees Tuesday that hed be taking an indefinite leave of absence.

A culture change at Uber may be more difficult than former Attorney General Eric Holder envisions. At an employee meeting to unveil the recommendations, board member David Bonderman, a hedge fund founder, remarked that if a woman was added to the board that there likely would be more talking, according to a recording obtained by Yahoo. He later apologized for the disrespectful comment in an email.

It was inappropriate, he wrote.

By evening, Bonderman resigned from the board and put out a statement saying, I do not want my comments to create distraction as Uber works to build a culture of which we can be proud.

Bonderman, a University of Washington graduate, was announced last week as a partner in the Oak View Group, which was selected by Seattle Mayor Ed Murray as the preferred choice to renovate KeyArena.

And in another strange twist, board member and hedge fund partner David Bonderman resigned Tuesday night after making what he called an inappropriate remark about women at a meeting to explain Holders recommendations to employees.

The Holder investigation started after former engineer Susan Fowler posted a blog in February detailing harassment during the year she spent at Uber, writing that she was propositioned by her manager on her first day with an engineering team. She reported him to human resources, but was told he would get a lecture and no further punishment because he was a high performer, she wrote.

After interviewing 200 witnesses, Holder had to make such basic recommendations as setting clear policies to protect workers from harassment, and that the human resources department get a better handle on keeping records and tracking employee complaints. It even suggests such simple procedures as using performance reviews to hold leaders accountable and requiring all employees to turn in receipts so the company can make sure expenses match its values.

The recommendations definitely paint a picture of a company that was out of control and pretty chaotic, says Elizabeth Ames, a senior vice president at the Anita Borg Institute, a nonprofit aimed at advancing women in the technology business.

Holder also suggests that Uber change its written cultural values to promote positive behavior, inclusion and collaboration. The company should eliminate values that justified poor behavior, such as Always Be Hustlin, Meritocracy and Toe-Stepping and Principled Confrontation.

Holder also called for trimming Kalanicks job duties, shifting day-to-day functions to a yet-to-be-hired chief operating officer. During Kalanicks leave, his leadership team will run the troubled company.

Kalanick wrote that he needs time off to grieve for his mother, who died in a May boating accident. He also said hes responsible for the companys situation and needs to become a better leader echoing comments the 40-year-old CEO made earlier this year after a heated argument with an Uber driver over pay was captured on video.

Ames said the recommendations were strong but indicated Uber had few policies, and the ones it had were not followed.

The board unanimously approved the recommendations on Sunday, including a suggestion that a senior executive be tasked with making sure they are implemented. Apparently because of distrust of some leaders, Holder recommended that care be taken to make sure the executive is viewed positively by the employees.

The company released only Holders recommendations, not his full report, citing the need to protect employees who complained.

Liane Hornsey, Ubers chief human resources officer, said implementing the recommendations will improve our culture, promote fairness and accountability, and establish processes and systems to ensure the mistakes of the past will not be repeated.

Holder also recommended adding independent directors and replacing the board chairman, co-founder Garrett Camp, with an independent person. The board currently has eight voting members, three from within the company.

Uber was also advised to diversify its workforce. Its diversity figures are similar to the rest of Silicon Valley, with low numbers for women and underrepresented minorities. In the U.S., less than a third of Ubers workers are female.

In addition, the report says diversity and inclusiveness should be a key value thats included in management training.

After Fowler posted her blog, Uber Technologies Inc. made changes in human resources and opened a 24-hour employee hotline. Last week, the company fired 20 people including some managers at the recommendation of Perkins Coie, which separately investigated 215 employee complaints.

On Sunday, Emil Michael, Ubers senior vice president for business and a close ally of Kalanick, left the company.

Under Kalanick, Uber has disrupted the taxi industry and turned the San Francisco-based company into the worlds most valuable startup. Ubers valuation has climbed to nearly $70 billion.

Besides the harassment complaints, in recent months Uber has been threatened by boycotts, sued and subject to a federal investigation over its use of a fake version of its app to thwart authorities looking into whether it is breaking local laws.

A company can be aggressive yet have strong values, said Joseph Holt, a business ethics professor at the University of Notre Dame. He cited Starbucks as example.

Having a good reputation for ethics is a competitive advantage, Holt said.

At the employee meeting Tuesday morning, Bonderman remarked that if a woman was added to the board that there likely would be more talking, according to a recording obtained by Yahoo.

By evening, Bonderman resigned and put out a statement saying the comment was careless and inappropriate. I do not want my comments to create distraction as Uber works to build a culture of which we can be proud, the statement said.

____

Krisher and Auto Writer Dee-Ann Durbin contributed from Detroit.

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Uber recommendations show company was 'out of control' - The Seattle Times

Uber’s board accepts all of Eric Holder’s recommendations – Axios

Board member David Bonderman has issued an apology to the board and all Uber employees for the following exchange with Ariana Huffington, also a member of the board:

Huffington: "There's a lot of data that shows when there's a woman on the board it's much more likely that there will be a second woman on the board."

Bonderman: "Actually, what it shows is that it's much more likely to be more talking."

Huffington: "Oh, come on, David."

Huffington:

"Let us all address the elephant in the room where is Travis?"

"The War Room is no more. It has been renamed the Peace Room."

"We need to judge ourselves going forward, from today on what we're doing right now, on the actions we are taking."

Bonderman:

"The company has been run as though it was a small start up... but now it's not. It has to have training programs, it has to have appropriate governance and oversight. All of these are contained in the committee recommendations."

"You're going to read negative things in the press. We can overcome it all."

Bill Gurley, board member:

"We have to self police and help everyone understand that we need to be doing things we're proud of at all times"

Angela Padilla, member of Uber's legal team:

"We understood that Susan's [blog] post described not just specific facts... but also a broader company culture of certain kinds of toxic behavior."

Liane Hornsey, Uber's HR chief:

"There will not be 14 values on how individuals behave. There will be values on how we behave collectively as an Uber team."

"We will introduce part-time working for those who want it."

"We have to have a diversity advisory board...so we can get very, very serious here."

"We are all accountable to each other because of what we've just been through."

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Uber's board accepts all of Eric Holder's recommendations - Axios

Uber board to adopt recommendations of Eric Holder investigation – The Hill

Ubers board of directors voted unanimously to adopt all recommendations of a report that was conducted after allegations of sexual harassment and other issues at the company came to light, according to a representative for the board.

In the meeting on Sunday, the board adopted recommendations from the Holder Report, conducted by former Attorney General Eric HolderEric H. HolderOvernight Tech: Uber CEO taking leave of absence | Senators unveil goals for driverless car bill | Court strikes down FCC prison phone caps | Verizon closes Yahoo deal Uber board member joked women talk too much during meeting on sexism Uber CEO Travis Kalanick to take leave of absence MORE and Tammy Albarrn after a months-long investigation on the company's internal practices. The independent investigation was galvanized by former Uber employee Susan Fowler who wrote a blog post detailing allegedly ignored and mishandled issues of sexual harassment at the ride-hailing company.

The recommendations will be released to employees Tuesday, according to the board representative.

One of Holder's recommendations was firing Emil Michael, Kalanick's chief deputy at the company. A source familiar with move confirmed to The Hill on Monday that Michael is no longer with Uber.

Beginning with my first day at Uber, I have been committed to building a diverse Business Team that would be widely recognized as the best in the technology world: one that is welcoming to people of all genders, sexual orientations, national origins and educational backgrounds, Michael said in a farewell email to his colleagues that was obtained by The New York Times. "I am proud that our group has made so much progress toward these goals and is a leader in the company in many of these categories.

Fowlers post in February has contributed to the scrutiny of Ubers culture, particularly in regard to its treatment of women. Kalanick has also contributed to the companys negative publicity in recent months after Bloomberg published a video showing him berating a driver and a Recode report detailing a cavalier memo he sent employees in 2013, among other missteps that have happened or come to light this year.

Uber is also embroiled in a legal battle with Alphabets self-driving car subsidiary, Waymo, who alleges that Uber stole important documents on self-driving car technology and faces a criminal probe for Greyball technology it used to mislead regulators in cities it operated in.

The turmoil has prompted a significant number of executives to leave the company in recent months.

--Harper Neidig contributed to this report, which was updated at 1:00 p.m.

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Uber board to adopt recommendations of Eric Holder investigation - The Hill