Uber’s chief operating officer Barney Harford and chief marketing officer Rebecca Messina are stepping down, an organizational shakeup put into motion just a month after the ride-hailing company went public.
CNBC first reported the departures. The departures, which CEO Dara Khosrowshahi explained in an email to employees, were prompted by his decision to more directly control core parts of the business. Harford left after agreeing that the chief operating officer role “no longer makes sense,” according to the email. Uber’s marketing, communications and policy teams are also being combined and will be led by Jill Hazelbaker, who was senior vice president of communications and public policy. Uber has not responded to requests for comment. TechCrunch will update the article if it hears from the company. Uber hired Coca-Cola veteran Messina in September as its chief marketing officer. Messina, the first person to hold that title at Uber, worked with its international marketing teams on Uber’s branding and marketing strategies. She also oversaw marketing for Uber as it prepared for its initial public offering A large part of her job was to help to repair Uber’s reputation, which was tainted by a string of scandals, including resignation of co-founder Travis Kalanick and accusations of a toxic work culture. While Messina is the first person to hold the CMO title at Uber, Bozoma Saint John href="https://techcrunch.com/2018/06/11/why-bozoma-saint-john-is-leaving-uber-for-endeavor/">previously served as Uber’s first chief brand officer for about a year after joining in June 2017. Harford, a former CEO of Orbitz, has held the COO position at Uber for about 18 months although hew had been working as an adviser as early as October 2017. Harford was brought on by co-founder and former CEO Travis Kalanick . Harford had previously worked under Khosrowshahi. Harford, who took on the role of CEO at Orbitz in 2009, later sold the company to Expedia in 2015 for $1.6 billion. Khosrowshahi was the CEO of Expedia. Harford was Expedia company president for Asia Pacific from 2004-2006.