Profile: The man at the centre of Uber controversy Emil Michael once skydived with US paratroopers when he was an adviser to the White House. This week, the senior vice-president of disruptive car-hailing app Uber has been parachuted into a media storm following comments that the company should hire private investigators to discredit critical journalists. Often referred to as Uber's "deal guy," he joined the company in September 2013, striking a deal with US retailer Home Depot soon after to deliver Christmas trees to Uber customers in 10 US cities for $135. Subsequent partnerships with retailers have earned him the sobriquet of a "brand whisperer." He has also negotiated discounts on new cars for Uber's growing army of drivers from motor manufacturers Toyota and GM. Mr Michael was previously chief operating officer at Klout, the website that measures the level of influence individuals have online, and started his career as an investment banker at Goldman Sachs. In August, he became a member of the Pentagon's Defense Business Board, an advisory group of private sector companies and is the only Silicon Valley representative on the 29-strong panel. His corporate CV details numerous roles as an "investor/adviser" to tech firms including Boku, the mobile phone payments software, Jawbone, the maker of wearable fitness devices, GroupMe (which was sold to Skype) and ThinkFuse (which was sold to Salesforce.com). A graduate of Harvard University and Stanford Law School, he is fluent in Arabic and previously served as special assistant to US defence secretary Robert Gates from 2009 to 2011, travelling with him to countries including Afghanistan, Pakistan and Moscow. In a 2010 White House publication detailing his experiences as a fellow, he boasted he was "able to interact with all manner of top [US] generals and world leaders." His memorable experiences included having dinner with the president of Pakistan at his palace, and a skydive with the US para commando team. "I would love to talk more about my work responsibilities . . . but those are mostly classified," he said.