On Tuesday morning, as Uber Technologies Inc employees gathered in a charged company-wide meeting to discuss sweeping changes meant to curb sexism and other cultural problems at the ride-hailing giant, one of the company’s board members cracked a sexist joke in front of the room.

He later apologised.

David Bonderman, the billionaire co-founder of private equity firm TPG Capital, was addressing the room on stage with fellow Uber board member Arianna Huffington. “There’s a lot of data that shows when there’s one woman on the board, it’s much more likely that there will be a second woman on the board,” Huffington said, according to a person who heard the exchange but was not authorised to discuss it.

“Actually, what it shows is that it’s much more likely to be more talking,” Bonderman said. Among the Uber employees in the room, there were audible gasps and blank stares, according to another person at the meeting.