Former Target executive leaves Uber post after six months

Jeff Jones, a former top Target executive who became Uber's president of ride sharing, said he is leaving that job because his beliefs and leadership style are "inconsistent with what I saw and experienced at Uber."

Uber lured Jones from Target last summer, and he was viewed as a significant asset as an executive with experience at a public company that had undergone a period of intense crisis. He oversaw Target's marketing division during and after the fallout of a major company data breach in 2013.

But Uber and its top executive, Travis Kalanick, have faced intense scrutiny in recent weeks over the combative and cutthroat culture of Uber's internal operations. After a video of Kalanick getting into a heated argument with a driver surfaced this month, Kalanick said he would seek leadership help, prompting a search for a chief operating officer.

Jones' hiring last August was widely publicized by Uber. He was in charge of the company's branding, customer support and operations divisions. Before Target, he was a partner at an advertising agency in North Carolina and a senior marketing executive at Gap Inc.

His exit was first reported by Recode. Matt Kallman, an Uber spokesman, confirmed the departure in an e-mail statement on Sunday.

"We want to thank Jeff for his six months at the company and wish him all the best," he wrote.

Uber has seen several executives depart in recent weeks.

Brian McClendon, vice president of maps and business platform at Uber, also plans to leave at the end of the month.

Uber hired McClendon, a highly respected engineer in Silicon Valley, from Google nearly two years ago to work on the company's mapping and autonomous vehicle technology initiatives.

McClendon was at Google for more than a decade, and was instrumental in forming Google Earth and leading the company's geolocation technology research.

His departure from Uber is concerning considering how strategically important mapping and geolocation services are to the ride-hailing company.

Uber currently relies on a mix of mapping technologies from multiple companies, but also depends heavily on Google Maps, a product from one of Uber's main competitors.

McClendon is departing amicably from Uber and will be an adviser to the company. In a statement, he said he was moving back to Kansas, where he is from, to explore politics. His exit has been in the works for some time, and his last day at Uber is March 28.

The departures add to the executive exodus from Uber this year. Raffi Krikorian, a well-regarded director in Uber's self-driving division, left the company last week, while Gary Marcus, who joined Uber in December after Uber acquired his company, left this month.

Uber also asked for the resignation of Amit Singhal, a top engineer who failed to disclose a sexual harassment claim against him at his previous employer, Google, before joining Uber. Ed Baker, another senior executive, left this month as well.

New York Times contributed to this report.