GitHub president Tom Preston-Werner resigns following harassment claims

Following claims of harassment from former GitHub employee Julie Horvath, president and former chief executive Tom Preston-Werner has resigned.

On GitHub’s company blog, current CEO Chris Wanstrath writes that although Preston-Werner is stepping down, GitHub’s “investigation found no evidence to support the claims against Tom and his wife of sexual or gender-based harassment or retaliation, or of a sexist or hostile work environment.”

Chris Wanstrath replaced Tom Preston-Werner as CEO back in January. At the time, it was announced that Preston-Werner would focus on R&D and “new growth opportunities.”

It appears GitHub is trying to move on from the incident — at least publicly. Wanstrath writes that the company is “implementing a number of new HR and employee-led initiatives as well as training opportunities to make sure employee concerns and conflicts are taken seriously and dealt with appropriately.”

“We know we still have work to do,” Wanstrath adds.

Here’s Wanstrath’s statement in full:

“Last month, a number of allegations were made against GitHub and some of its employees, including one of its co-founders, Tom Preston-Werner. We took these claims seriously and launched a full, independent, third-party investigation.

The investigation found no evidence to support the claims against Tom and his wife of sexual or gender-based harassment or retaliation, or of a sexist or hostile work environment. However, while there may have been no legal wrongdoing, the investigator did find evidence of mistakes and errors of judgment. In light of these findings, Tom has submitted his resignation, which the company has accepted. Tom has been a huge part of this company from the very beginning and we appreciate all that he has done for GitHub. We wish him the best in his next endeavour.

As to the remaining allegations, the investigation found no evidence of gender-based discrimination, harassment, retaliation, or abuse.

We want to create a great place to work for all our employees and we can’t do that without acknowledging the challenges that exist in providing an inclusive work environment. We are implementing a number of new HR and employee-led initiatives as well as training opportunities to make sure employee concerns and conflicts are taken seriously and dealt with appropriately. We know we still have work to do.

Chris Wanstrath
CEO & Co-Founder”