After less than a year at Uber, chief brand officer Bozoma Saint John is leaving for a role at talent agency giant Endeavor. Saint John had previously helmed marketing at Beats and then Apple Music, where she was a key figure in its launch.
Se will now serve as Chief Marketing Officer at Endeavor, focusing on branding opportunities for the agency’s client roster, according to ReCode. Endeavor is the powerhouse merger of talent agencies William Morris and Endeavor and sports agency IMG.
When hired by Uber last year, Saint John faced the seemingly Sisyphean task of mending the company’s tattered reputation and company morale after a series of high profile corporate scandals that included concealing data theft, sexual misconduct allegations and the ouster of the company’s founding CEO Travis Kalanick.
Saint John’s exit from Uber appears to have taken the company by surprise, as the company was still making public relations hay out of a scheduled appearance as a featured speaker at Cannes Lions on June 19.
Still, the company’s management team seemed gracious about her departure, with CEO Dara Khosrowshahi telling CNBC in a statement: “I want to thank Boz for her contributions over the last year. Boz joined Uber at a time when the company was hurting — but her energy, optimism, and creativity have been a key part of our ongoing turnaround. Endeavor is lucky to have her, and I’m excited to watch her work in her new role.”
Prior to Uber, Saint John was an exec at Apple Music, where she figured large in several key product launches and through her social media footprint became one of the more recognizable figures in the tech company’s executive suite. Before Apple, Saint John led PepsiCo’s foray into music festival-based marketing, as head of the Music and Entertainment Marketing.