The resignation of Uber’s embattled CEO Travis Kalanick has led some to question why the company’s chief technology officer (CTO), who was included in an engineer’s viral account of sexual harassment and discrimination, has kept his job.

Kalanick announced his departure this week after months of scandals, most notably the allegations of former employee Susan Fowler, who published a detailed blogpost in February about rampant sexism at Uber and management’s repeated refusal to respond to her complaints.

One of the only executives Fowler specifically referenced in her claims was Thuan Pham, the CTO who she said did nothing after she told him that a manager threatened to fire her for speaking to HR about discrimination. Her story led to a months-long investigation spearheaded by former US attorney general Eric Holder, culminating in the termination of more than 20 employees, promises of major reforms and most recently the ousting of Kalanick, who stepped down in the face of pressure from investors.

But Pham has weathered the storm and remains in his high-profile position, the company confirmed on Wednesday, drawing criticisms that Uber has not properly addressed Fowler’s claims, has failed to hold a powerful executive accountable and has not done enough to fix the ride-hailing company’s misogynistic culture.

“It’s sad. It sends a message that as an industry we value men in technical roles more than we value the safety of women,” said Julie Ann Horvath, an advocate of diversity in tech who has publicly discussed her experiences of facing sexual harassment and discrimination in Silicon Valley.

Concerns about Pham’s continued role at Uber comes as the San Francisco firm has promised to build an “Uber 2.0” in response to criticisms of its toxic workplace and frat-house culture, which many said was promoted by Kalanick’s immature and offensive behavior.

Fowler, who worked for Uber from November 2015 to December 2016, claimed that a manager immediately propositioned her for sex when she joined, but that HR dismissed her complaints despite documented evidence and the fact that others had raised concerns about him.

In another case, Fowler said her organization at Uber had promised leather jackets for everyone, but decided not to order them for women “because there were not enough women ... to justify placing an order”. When she complained, an HR representative said she was the “common theme in all of the reports”, and her manager later told her she was on “thin ice” for going to HR and would be terminated if she did so again, Fowler wrote.

She said she told HR and Pham of these threats and said “they both admitted that this was illegal, but none of them did anything”, adding, “I was told much later that they didn’t do anything because the manager who threatened me ‘was a high performer’.”

It’s unclear what the subsequent investigation uncovered about Pham’s handling of her case.

An Uber spokesperson declined to comment on the findings related to Pham and whether he has faced any disciplinary action, but confirmed that the CTO is still at Uber. The company said it also followed through with all employment recommendations that resulted from the investigations, including the recent round of terminations. Fowler’s direct manager was also fired before the Holder investigation, according to the spokesperson.

“We have taken strong action to address claims of harassment, discrimination and other inappropriate behavior, and have established processes and systems to ensure the mistakes of the past will not be repeated,” the company said in a statement. “We’re focused on rebuilding trust with our employees and the communities we serve, building a company and a culture that we can be proud of.”

Fowler didn’t respond to a request for comment, but on Wednesday retweeted a criticism from another female engineer in tech, who wrote: “Wondering why there isn’t more fuss about the CTO still being at uber, given that so many of the problems came from engineering org.”

wondering why there isn't more fuss about the CTO still being at uber, given that so many of the problems came from engineering org https://t.co/cNGlbpinpr — amy nguyen (@amyngyn) June 21, 2017

Other women in Silicon Valley echoed the concerns, saying it was disappointing to see that the recent high-level departures have largely occurred outside of Uber’s engineering organization, which, according to Fowler, was plagued by problems.

Kamilah Taylor, a software engineer who recently spoke out about an offensive recruitment email she received from Uber, said the company had to do more to fix cultural problems in engineering.

“Susan specifically references that Uber’s CTO ... did nothing,” Taylor, who co-authored a book called Women in Tech, wrote in an email. “So I ask Uber, why should we believe that they’ve taken the necessary actions within engineering to fix their problems? Where is the proof?”

Horvath said it was painful to see Pham avoid termination and that it could deter others from coming forward. Kalanick’s departure, she added, is “almost a distraction in order to say, ‘Okay, we fixed the problem. We’ve moved on now’”.

Some have also raised concerns about the continued employment of Ryan Graves, a longtime executive who was previously CEO and was also the company’s first employee. Graves is considered a Kalanick loyalist and was head of operations overseeing HR during Fowler’s tenure, according to a report last month from tech news site Recode, which noted that Graves and Pham were both under pressure in the sexual harassment investigation.

Graves, however, is also still at Uber, a spokesperson confirmed to the Guardian.

Pham and Graves did not respond to requests for comment.

Other Kalanick defenders remain at the company, according to the New York Times’ Mike Isaac, who tweeted that some employees were saying they were angry at investors for pushing out the CEO.

Joelle Emerson, CEO of Paradigm, a company that helps tech firms diversify their workforces, said it was important that firms like Uber go beyond just terminating problematic people: “We can sometimes make the mistake of thinking this is about individuals … [when] it’s about the underlying set of systems and processes and underlying culture.”

But, she added: “When people are not held accountable for any kind of role they play in discrimination or harassment … it reinforces that bad behavior is acceptable.”