Uber has brought on a new chief people officer on-board. Nikki Krishnamurthy, who worked with Expedia in a similar position, has joined the cab hailing service. Interestingly, Uber COO Barney Harford also joined the company from Expedia.
Nikki replaces Liane Hornsey, who left earlier this year following a major racial discrimination investigation that saw her mired in charges of treating people with racial prejudice — which sucks, considering that this was one of the things she was supposed to watch out against in her official capacity.
While some serious allegations were leveled against Hornsey, she resigned on her own, and Uber did not release any official statement either implicating or absolving her of the charges leveled against her. Speaking on the topic, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi had said:
I am writing to let you know that earlier today Liane told me that she is leaving the company. Liane joined Uber in January 2017, and since then she has led our People & Places teams through a period of enormous positive change.
Through a period of positive change, where the biggest change of course, the company’s CEO and co-founder Travis Kalanick’s exit. Oh well.
Speaking about, Nikki Krishnamurthy’s appointment, Khosrowshahi said:
Nikki brings unparalleled experience in building a culture centered around transparency, respect and diversity. She is a trusted partner who will help our management team as we evolve our culture, ensuring Uber continues to be a place where employees are supported and welcomed, and where they can grow and thrive.
Prior to this, Nikki was a career employee at Expedia, where she served for 8 years. At the time of her exit in June, she served in a similar role. At Uber, she will be heading the over all human resource department and among other things, will have to combat issues such as the high executive attrition rate, allegations of toxic work environment. We wish her best of luck in her endeavors.
