UPDATED 21:56 EDT / AUGUST 17 2017

CLOUD

Chris Wanstrath to step down as CEO of software code host GitHub

GitHub Inc. Chief Executive Officer Chris Wanstrath is stepping down from his role after he finds a replacement, according to a report by Forbes.

Wansrath, a co-founder of the hosting service for software code, previously held the position of CEO between its founding in February 2008 and July 2012. He returned to the position of CEO in January 2014 following the emergence of a sexual harassment scandal involving fellow co-founder and then-CEO Tom Preston-Werner. Although Preston-Werner initially took the role of company president, he was later forced to resign from the company completely in April 2014 as further details of his alleged sexual harassment became public.

Following his reemergence as CEO, Wanstrath steadily led the GitHub ship, including overseeing a venture capital raise of $250 million in July 2015 that delivered the company a valuation of $2 billion. On the product side, Wanstrath oversaw the development of enterprise versions of its software that supports Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure, along with a cloud-based managed enterprise version.

Wanstrath told Forbes in an interview that he thought it was the right time to move on given that this year marked the 10th anniversary of the initial development of GitHub. “I want to spend time traveling and getting to know how people are using GitHub,” he said. Demonstrating perhaps that his reputation a serious coder is real, he added, “And I want to be in the code [again].”

In a separate statement, Wanstrath said that “as GitHub approaches 700 employees, with more than $200 million in [annual recurring revenue], accelerating growth, and more than 20 million registered users, I’m confident that this is the moment to find a new CEO to lead us into the next stage of growth.”

Wansrath may be planning to travel, but he will remain involved with the company, taking on the role of executive chairman following the appointment of his replacement as CEO.

Photo: davefayram/Flickr

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