We’re pleased to announce today the appointment of Melinda Roylett as Uber’s new General Manager for the UK and Ireland.

The role covers our Rides business in more than 40 towns and cities across England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. 

Across the UK and Ireland, Uber serves more than 60,000 licensed private hire drivers and around 5 million riders. 

Melinda will join Uber starting today from Square, where she was most recently Head of Europe, responsible for all business and operations in the region. 

Before joining Square in 2018, Melinda spent nearly ten years at PayPal, where she managed the Small and Medium Business segment. During her career at PayPal, she launched a number of products across Europe, Middle East and Africa.  

Melinda started her career in consulting and banking after completing a Bachelor of Commerce/Bachelor of Laws from the University of New South Wales, Australia and an MBA awarded jointly by Columbia and London Business School.

Melinda was recognised this year as one of Innovate Finance’s Top 150 Women in Finance, and nominated as one of the 50 Most Influential Women in UK Technology. In 2014, she was listed as one of Management Today’s ‘35 Women to Watch in Business Under 35’. 

Jamie Heywood, Regional General Manager of Uber in Northern and Eastern Europe, said: “I’m delighted that Melinda is joining Uber to lead our UK and Ireland operations. Her international experience working for highly regulated companies both in regional offices and company headquarters will be invaluable for Uber’s next chapter. She joins at a particularly exciting time for Uber in London, bringing our platform vision to life with electric vehicles, in-app tube and bus transport and JUMP bikes all in the same app.”

Melinda Roylett said: “Having grown up in the suburbs, with limited transport options, I know how apps like Uber can make a genuine impact on the day to day. Getting from A to B should be easy, no matter where you’re going or what time it is. I am excited to be joining the company as we look to build out even more ways to get the UK moving, support licensed drivers and help make our cities cleaner.”

More than 200 people work for Uber’s Rides business in London and in driver support centres across the UK, all focused on ensuring that millions of people have safe and reliable transport options at the touch of a button. 

Keeping our riders and drivers safe is a priority for Uber and we are proud to have introduced a number of new, industry-leading safety features over the last year. 

These include the ability to automatically share your live journey with friends and family, anonymised addresses and telephone numbers to keep your details safe and, if needed, an in-app option to contact local police where you are. 

Uber has also recently launched new in-app notifications to remind passengers to ‘check your ride’. The new feature reminds all users to confirm the number plate, vehicle colour and model and their licensed driver’s photo before starting their trip. 

The Uber UK Board, chaired by Laurel Powers-Freeling and including Roger Parry and Susan Hooper as non-executive directors, continue to oversee the licensed business.