Uber board member steps down after sexist comment

David Bonderman has resigned from the board of Uber after making derogatory remarks about women during a meeting.

“I want to apologize to my fellow board member for a disrespectful comment that was directed at her during today’s discussion,” Bonderman, who is a partner at private equity firm TPG, said in a statement Tuesday night, according to The New York Times’s Mike Isaac. “It was inappropriate. I also want to apologize to all the Uber employees who were offended by the remark. I deeply regret it.” 

He said he did not want his comments to create distraction “as Uber works to build a culture of which we can be proud,” Bonderman added.

“I need to hold myself to the same standards that we’re asking Uber to adopt. Therefore, I have decided to resign from Uber’s board of directors, effective tomorrow morning.”

In a meeting on Tuesday discussing Uber’s internal culture, particularly in regard to women, board member Ariana Huffington said that having a woman on a corporate board often leads to other women joining.

“Actually, what it shows is that it’s much more likely to be more talking,” Bonderman said in response, according to audio obtained by Yahoo Finance 

{mosads}The meeting was held after the release of recommendations by former Attorney General Eric Holder and Tammy Albarrán, which were the result of an investigation they conducted after allegations of pervasive sexism at Uber came to light.

Huffington praised Bonderman’s decision to resign, saying in a statement that she appreciated “David doing the right thing for Uber at this time of critical cultural changes at the company.”

Uber’s public perception has taken a beating in recent months due to a number of controversies. The company has been most heavily scrutinized over its treatment of women after former employee Susan Fowler wrote a blog post that went viral in which she alleged numerous instances of sexual harassment that were ignored and mishandled by Uber. 

Fowler’s post and subsequent criticism prompted Uber to hire Holder and his law firm to conduct an independent investigation of the company.