FILE PHOTO: A photo illustration shows the Uber app on a mobile telephone, as it is held up for a posed photograph in central London, Britain September 22, 2017. REUTERS/Toby Melville/File Photo
October 17, 2017
LONDON (Reuters) – Uber’s European policy chief Christopher Burghardt has quit to join the electric vehicle charging network company Chargepoint, the latest senior figure to leave the taxi app, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday.
Burghardt, the head of policy for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, departs after less than two years with the group, and will become managing director for Chargepoint in Europe in November, the FT said.
No one was immediately available from Uber to comment.
Earlier this month, Uber’s top boss in Britain also quit the Silicon Valley company, which was told last month by London’s transport regulator (TfL) that its license to operate in the British capital would not be renewed. It is appealing that decision.
“For me this is a choice because I really believe in Chargepoint and the advent of the electric vehicle,” Burghardt told the FT.
Uber has suffered a tumultuous few months which has seen former CEO and co-founder Travis Kalanick being forced out after a series of boardroom controversies and other regulatory battles in multiple U.S. states and around the world.
The firm’s new global chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi flew to London earlier this month to meet TfL bosses and offer an apology for Uber’s mistakes.
“I’m still a great believer in what Uber does,” Burghardt told the FT. “Dara really has vision that will take the company into a bright future.”
(Reporting by Michael Holden; editing by Stephen Addison)
