Jo Bertram, Northern Europe’s manager resigns

Leer en Español: Uber: Continúa la crisis de liderazgo

Jo Bertram graduated with honors from the University of Cambridge. After completing her MBA in INSEAD, the physician became a consultant in Accenture and Engagement Manager at McKinsey & Company. Until this past week, she was Uber’s Regional Manager for Northern Europe.

“I’ve decided to move on to something new and exciting” were the farewell words from the manager to her team, who made her will official through an email. Official declarations from Uber’s former manager stated that her decision to leave the company has nothing to do with the platform’s current situation. It was also stated that Jo Bertram’s time in office within the transport organization is similar to the time she spent on previous jobs.

The businesswoman joined Uber in 2013 when the team totaled 3 people and 200 drivers roamed London. Today, the transportation digital platform has 160,000 drivers in the United States alone.

Uber’s difficult situation faces a new challenge as the Transport for London (TfL) suspended the organization’s work permit due to the high illegality which has been found among potential drivers who, confronted with the lack of minimum requirements to be a driver, seek within the local black market fake certifications. These are then presented, and accepted, to the association

The TfL adds tension to the company’s largest public relations issue, the firing of Travis Kalanick on June 21, 2017. The former CEO and founder of the company faced severe critics after old emails were leaked in which evident inadequate behavior among his workers was encouraged, causing disgusts in Silicon Valley. In an effort to save Uber, it’s board pointed Dara Khosrowshashi as the new CEO. The new president’s first challenge in office is to make up for Jo Bertram’s loss.

Uber’s future will depend solely on its ability to make the general audience forget the storm of bad news caused by Travis Kalanick’s departure, come through on Google’s demand for the engineer that stole 9gb of information from Waimo –Google’s self-driving car project, and to keep up with the innovation standards required in today’s tech sector.

Uber’s issues are political, which creates room for the company to take a step forward and focus it’s efforts on operational challenges. People’s love for Uber is recognizable. Up to now, more than 680,000 people have signed an open petition in London to persuade TfL not to ban the company from its service, which is now part of everyday life.

Latin American Post | David Eduardo Rodríguez Acevedo

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