CEO of social network GitHub resigns after he and his wife are investigated for workplace harassment and bullying

The president of programming network GitHub has resigned from the company he cofounded in 2008 following an investigation into workplace bullying and sexism.

Tom Preston-Werner stepped down on Monday from the website, which is used for sharing and collaborating software codes.

His departure follows allegations that surfaced last month concerning disrepect and intimidation to women at the start-up.

Software designer and GitHub developer Julie Ann Horvath recently made a high-profile exit from the company that sent ripples through the tech community, claiming she had been mistreated by Preston-Werner and his wife Theresa, who does not work at GitHub but was a fixture in the office.While the couple were cleared of any legal wrongdoing in Horvath’s harrassment claim following an internal investigation, an independent third-party inquiry found ‘evidence of mistakes and errors of judgement’ by Preston-Werner and his wife, Gawker reported.

GutHub CEO Chris Wanstharth announced Preston-Werner was leaving in a blog post, describing the allegations against the couple as ‘sexual or gender-based harassment or retaliation, or of a sexist or hostile work environment’.

‘In light of these findings, Tom has submitted his resignation, which the company has accepted,’ Wanstharth wrote.

‘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.’

Horvath has not publicly named the colleagues that prompted her to leave, however in a detailed interview with TechCrunch she described her version of what happened.

The story centered around the wife of one of GitHub’s founders who asked her out for drinks and immediately started telling her how she ‘informs her husband’s decision’ at the company and is essentially in charge of the firing and hiring.
Outgoing GitHub president Tom Preston-Werner said on Monday that although he had ‘made mistakes’, he would fight any allegations made against him or his wife ‘to the full extent of the law’