(Bloomberg) — Uber Technologies Inc. Chief Legal Officer Tony West, brother-in-law of Vice President Kamala Harris, is taking a temporary leave of absence from the company to volunteer in her presidential bid.
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West will leave the company on Aug. 17 to volunteer on the campaign in a personal capacity, Uber said Friday in a regulatory filing, without naming Harris’ presidential bid or a return date. In an email sent by West to the company and seen by Bloomberg News, he confirmed that he will join the vice president’s campaign.
“While I love my job, my team, and the positive impact Uber has on the world, I have always believed that family comes first,” West wrote. “So I decided to dedicate myself full time to supporting my family and my sister-in-law during the campaign.”
West said he will not have a formal role or title in the campaign, nor will he be paid. “I will act as a surrogate family member, someone who can talk about the vice president from the perspective of someone who has known her for decades,” he said. West said he intends to return to Uber after the campaign.
West joins as Harris’ presidential campaign is in the midst of hiring key advisers and searching for a vice presidential candidate. West, a former associate attorney general during the Obama administration, is married to Maya Harris, the vice president’s younger sister. He has frequently been seen at the vice president’s side since she became the Democratic Party’s presumptive nominee for president after President Joe Biden dropped his re-election bid on July 21, according to an Axios report on Thursday.
West played a key role during Harris’s ill-fated effort to win the party’s 2020 presidential nomination, which was co-managed by Harris’ sister. West joined San Francisco-based Uber in 2017 as senior vice president, chief legal officer and corporate secretary. Before that, he was corporate secretary and executive vice president of snack and beverage company PepsiCo Inc.
At Uber, West was involved in high-profile lawsuits and settlements with state attorneys general to keep the company’s drivers classified as independent contractors rather than employees, helping defend Uber’s core business model.
Katie Waitzman, deputy general counsel, will assume West’s duties as general counsel, and Elizabeth Coleman, deputy general counsel and deputy corporate secretary, will assume West’s duties as corporate secretary during his leave, Uber said in the filing.
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