Ted Ullyot, the former general counsel of Facebook, is retiring from his post overseeing policy and regulatory affairs at venture firm Andreessen Horowitz.
Ted Ullyot is retiring from Andreessen Horowitz after almost three years running the firm’s policy team
Ullyot previously served as general counsel at Facebook.
Steve Jennings/Getty Images for TechCrunch
Ullyot plans to continue to advise tech companies as needed on political issues, he said in a note posted Friday on Facebook and shared early with Recode. Andreessen Horowitz, meanwhile, has no immediate plans to replace him, a spokeswoman said.
“After turning 50 this past year, I’ve decided to return to retired life (which I was doing before coming aboard at Andreessen Horowitz),” Ullyot wrote. “I recognize that I’m fortunate to have this flexibility, and want to take full advantage. Even though ‘re-retired,’ it won’t be ONLY golf, travel, and dealing with mid-life crises. I’ll continue to help out interesting companies as an advisor and board member; do some teaching; more volunteering on causes important to our family; and occasional commentary on tech policy issues.”
Ullyot joined Andreessen Horowitz in April 2015, as investors there sought to help their broad portfolio of companies — including Airbnb and Lyft — navigate regulatory hurdles around the country.
“The goal is to make sure we’re facilitating a dialogue between [regulators] and a lot of the early-stage tech companies we invest in,” said Scott Kupor, its managing partner, in an interview announcing Ullyot’s hire in 2015.
Those challenges certainly haven’t dissipated nearly three years later, particularly at a time when Andreessen Horowitz is doubling down on investments in areas like bitcoin and blockchain.
“We drafted Ted out of his first ‘retirement’ to help us as a firm build a bridge between Silicon Valley and D.C. He’s done just that to the benefit of both entrepreneurs and policy makers,” Kupor said in a statement to Recode today. “We look forward to continuing to work with Ted as he ‘re-retires.’”
Before joining the firm, Ullyot held a number of high-profile positions: Serving as a key aide to former President George W. Bush, a top official at the Justice Department, a partner at Kirkland & Ellis and a five-year stint at Facebook as its general counsel, which he departed in 2013.
This article originally appeared on Recode.net.
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