The staff of Status Labs, the “Online Reputation Management” firm headed by Jordan French, just announced his resignation: “The company’s employees asked French to resign after reviewing actions taken outside of his role at Status Labs that do not represent the values of the company.”
The “actions” referred to in the press release and letter were the eviction and demolition of the Jumpolin piñata store owned by Sergio and Monica Lejarazu. For more on that story, see here, here, and here.
The press release announcing the resignation quoted an open letter from company employees to the city of Austin: “While our former CEO’s inexcusable actions were performed outside of his role at Status Labs, we would still like to extend our sincere regrets and apologies to the Lejarazu family and to our fellow Austinites. We feel that the actions taken and the insensitive comments made by Jordan were way out of line with our values and beliefs.”
The letter also distinguished French from his partner Darius Fisher, saying: “We stand by our New York City-based president, Darius Fisher, who, as a passive investor in F&F Real Estate Ventures, was unaware of the extreme measures Jordan enacted in his effort to evict Jumpolin.”
In their open letter, the employees said they were “horrified” by French’s actions: “We are not Jordan French. We are a team of 25 young, creative, hardworking Austinites who love our city just as much as you do. From the moment we found out about this unfortunate incident, we made it clear that we found these actions just as horrifying as the rest of the world.
“We held nothing back in expressing our dissatisfaction and made our stance clear from day one. With the dismissal of Jordan French as Chief Executive Officer, we are happy to say that our voices were heard.”
The employees say they “look forward to earning back the community’s respect and trust.”
See the full press release below. The open letter to the city of Austin is available at the Status Labs web site.
The full Status Labs press release:
Immediate Release: March 26, 2015
Status Labs Announces the Resignation of Jordan French, CEO
Austin, TX – Status Labs announces that Jordan French has resigned as Chief Executive Officer, effective immediately, and will no longer be involved in the operation of the business.
The company’s employees asked French to resign after reviewing actions taken outside of his role at Status Labs that do not represent the values of the company.
Status Labs’ employees have chosen to demonstrate their commitment to the Austin community by regularly volunteering as a company at Austin nonprofits. The first volunteer outing will be serving members of Austin’s homeless community at Caritas on March 30th, 2015.
While no replacement for French has been named, Status Labs is currently reviewing candidates for the role.
In an open letter posted on the company’s website, the company’s employees stated that, “While our former CEO’s inexcusable actions were performed outside of his role at Status Labs, we would still like to extend our sincere regrets and apologies to the Lejarazu family and to our fellow Austinites. We feel that the actions taken and the insensitive comments made by Jordan were way out of line with our values and beliefs.”
We stand by our New York City-based president, Darius Fisher, who, as a passive investor in F&F Real Estate Ventures, was unaware of the extreme measures Jordan enacted in his effort to evict Jumpolin.”
To read the entire letter, please visit here.
This article appears in March 20 • 2015.
