Scott Porad

Cheezburger Chief Technology Officer Scott Porad is stepping down from the online comedy network after five years on the job, GeekWire has learned.

“It’s sad to see an original member of our team move on, but we respect Scott’s desire to take a step back and spend some time with his family to decide what’s next for him,” the company said in a statement.

Porad plans to leave the company later this year, and has not yet decided on his next course. The UW grad previously worked at Starwave and drugstore.com. The departure comes about a month after Cheezburger Chief Revenue Officer Todd Sawicki stepped down.

Here’s more of what Porad had to tell us about the decision.

“It’s been 5 years (almost exactly) and we recently completed transforming Cheezburger from a publisher to a platform. We started that effort two years ago when we took the VC money…that project was big and hard, but it will be done at the end of this year. As Cheezburger moves on to it’s next phase, I decided that it was time for me to move on to my next phase as well.

I am amazingly proud of the team and what we accomplished…I can tell you that more than a few tears were shed when I told the team of my plans last week. Ben and I are on great terms and, I know it’s cliche, but honest-to-goodness, I want Cheezburger to succeed even more than ever.”

Cheezburger is actively recruiting for Porad’s replacement, seeking a vice president of product and vice president of engineering.

Cheezburger, which is featured in a new reality TV show on Bravo called LOLWork, raised $30 million last year from Madrona Venture Group, Foundry Group and others.

As for what’s next, Porad said that path is unclear. “Could be starting something new, could be joining an existing team, could be consulting… Not yet sure,” he said. “Suggestions welcome.”

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