Vice Media Chief Digital Officer Mike Germano Exits Amid Harassment Claims

Vice Media Chief Digital Officer Mike Germano Exits Amid Harassment Claims

Vice Media chief digital officer Mike Germano has left the company, less than a month after he and president Andrew Creighton were placed on leave after the New York Times reported on several sexual harassment allegations, the latest at the media company.

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Germano founded Carrot Creative, a digital ad agency acquired by Vice in 2013. He was suspended with Creighton on January 2 after the December 23 Times report recounted among other things against the pair inappropriate comments Germano made to former employee Amanda Rue during a 2012 holiday party. Gabrielle Schaefer, another former Carrot employee, told the Times that Germano had “pulled her onto his lap” at a company event in 2014.

Vice confirmed today that Germano had left the company. Creighton remains suspended.

The suspensions earlier this month came alongside a memo to staff written by COO/CFO Sarah Broderick that announced an array of initiatives addressing the multitude of claims in recent articles about Vice’s workplace issues.

“It is a new year,” Broderick wrote. “And a new year is a time for change — no more so than here at Vice. I wanted to reach out on the first day back from the holidays to make sure there are no misunderstandings about the way in which we are moving forward to change our workplace culture and ensure all our employees feel respected and supported.”

In November, Vice hired a new global HR chief in Susan Tohyama and later SVP Content Strategy Marsha Cooke. “In addition to Marsha’s primary role to oversee the build out of VICE’s content & talent development strategy,” Broderick wrote, “she will be leading the effort to drive social consciousness and diversity across our content.”

Vice in December fired three employees as the company’s investigation into allegations of sexual harassment and improper workplace conduct grew. The probe began in the wake of a report in the Daily Beast in November alleging the millennial-skewing media company operated in a culture of harassing behavior.