were needed for the Fowler investigation.

Problems at Uber are not unusual in the technology industry, given the company’s size of more than 14,000 employees, said Wilson, whose firm has done similar work for the biggest tech companies in the nation.

The firings and hiring of Saint John are big steps in Uber’s trek toward repairing its image, which has been tarnished by Fowler’s blog and a number of management missteps so far this year.

In its ascent to becoming the world’s most valuable startup, San Francisco-based Uber took Silicon Valley’s penchant for sexism, for cutthroat, unapologetic competition and distaste for government regulation and kicked it up several notches.

For a while, this served it well. It’s the No. 1 ride-hailing company in the U.S. and is valued at nearly $70 billion. But this year, Uber’s aggressive corporate culture and its 40-year-old CEO’s self-admitted need to “fundamentally change and grow up” has caught up with it.

In addition to the sexual harassment allegations, Uber is the target of lawsuits, boycott threats and a federal investigation into claims that it has used a fake version of its app to thwart authorities.