Uber appoints Rachel Holt as head of New Modalities

Uber has appointed Rachel Holt as the head of New Modalities at the organization.

As head of New Modalities with Uber, Holt will be expected to oversee the onboarding of additional mobility services. This could include public transit integration, scooters, car rentals, bikes and whatever else Uber hopes to implement. This will increase the company variety of potential revenue streams.

Holt is not a new face at the ridesharing, taxi cab, food delivery, and transportation network company as she has worked at the company since October 2011. In May 2016, she was appointed VP and regional general manager of the company’s operations in the U.S. and Canada.

The appointment comes at a time that Uber is still facing serious challenges especially with its existing transport services around the world. Uber has been accused of many things among them shortchanging its drivers, stiff competition, and failing to adequately protect passengers from sexual harassment.

Despite these challenges, the company continues to march forward. Uber plans to become a multi-modal transportation company thus the creation of a new department is strategic.

Appointment a plus for diversity

At present, there are very few women in top leadership roles at Uber – senior leadership refers roles at the director level and above in areas like marketing, operations, and finance.

Holt’s appointment is good news for diversity and gender equality at the ride-sharing company since the percentage of women in Uber’s global workforce has remained low. The good news is that there is a growing number of female driver partners and women taking up executive positions at the company.

Great examples of senior women at Uber include Bozoma Saint John, the first chief brand officer, Bo Young Lee, chief diversity and inclusion officer, Susan Anderson and Jodie Auster, both women are part of Uber’s eight-person executive team in Australia.

The company seems to be borrowing a leaf from Facebook, Google, and Apple with regard to increasing the number of women in global senior leadership positions. While this is plausible, these pacesetters do not come clean about details of gender balance in tech and non-tech leadership roles. At least Uber attempts to do so.

To achieve gender equality, companies need to adopt equitable recruiting and hiring practices and one way they can do this is by making job descriptions more inclusive.