Ted Ullyot is retiring from Andreessen Horowitz after almost three years running the firm’s policy team

Ted Ullyot, the former general counsel of Facebook, is retiring from his post overseeing policy and regulatory affairs at venture firm Andreessen Horowitz.

Ullyot plans to continue to advise tech companies as needed on political issues, he said in a note posted Friday on Facebook and shared early with Recode. Andreessen Horowitz, meanwhile, has no immediate plans to replace him, a spokeswoman said.

“After turning 50 this past year, I’ve decided to return to retired life (which I was doing before coming aboard at Andreessen Horowitz),” Ullyot wrote. “I recognize that I’m fortunate to have this flexibility, and want to take full advantage. Even though ‘re-retired,’ it won’t be ONLY golf, travel, and dealing with mid-life crises. I’ll continue to help out interesting companies as an advisor and board member; do some teaching; more volunteering on causes important to our family; and occasional commentary on tech policy issues.”

Ullyot joined Andreessen Horowitz in April 2015, as investors there sought to help their broad portfolio of companies — including Airbnb and Lyft — navigate regulatory hurdles around the country.

“The goal is to make sure we’re facilitating a dialogue between [regulators] and a lot of the early-stage tech companies we invest in,” said Scott Kupor, its managing partner, in an interview announcing Ullyot’s hire in 2015.

Those challenges certainly haven’t dissipated nearly three years later, particularly at a time when Andreessen Horowitz is doubling down on investments in areas like bitcoin and blockchain.

“We drafted Ted out of his first ‘retirement’ to help us as a firm build a bridge between Silicon Valley and D.C. He’s done just that to the benefit of both entrepreneurs and policy makers,” Kupor said in a statement to Recode today. “We look forward to continuing to work with Ted as he ‘re-retires.’”

Before joining the firm, Ullyot held a number of high-profile positions: Serving as a key aide to former President George W. Bush, a top official at the Justice Department, a partner at Kirkland & Ellis and a five-year stint at Facebook as its general counsel, which he departed in 2013.

This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

Will you support Vox’s explanatory journalism?

Most news outlets make their money through advertising or subscriptions. But when it comes to what we’re trying to do at Vox, there are a couple reasons that we can't rely only on ads and subscriptions to keep the lights on.

First, advertising dollars go up and down with the economy. We often only know a few months out what our advertising revenue will be, which makes it hard to plan ahead.

Second, we’re not in the subscriptions business. Vox is here to help everyone understand the complex issues shaping the world — not just the people who can afford to pay for a subscription. We believe that’s an important part of building a more equal society. We can’t do that if we have a paywall.

That’s why we also turn to you, our readers, to help us keep Vox free. If you also believe that everyone deserves access to trusted high-quality information, will you make a gift to Vox today?

One-Time Monthly Annual

$5/month

$10/month

$25/month

$50/month

Other

$

Yes, I'll give $5/month

Yes, I'll give $5/month

We accept credit card, Apple Pay, and Google Pay. You can also contribute via