Phillip Jeffrey Hyett (born August 10, 1983) is an American software developer, technology entrepreneur, racing driver, and a co-founder of

GitHub GitHub () is a Proprietary software, proprietary developer platform that allows developers to create, store, manage, and share their code. It uses Git to provide distributed version control and GitHub itself provides access control, bug trackin ...

, an

Internet hosting service An Internet hosting service is a service that runs servers connected to the Internet, allowing organizations and individuals to serve content or host services connected to the Internet. A common kind of hosting is web hosting. Most hosting provi ...

for

software development Software development is the process of designing and Implementation, implementing a software solution to Computer user satisfaction, satisfy a User (computing), user. The process is more encompassing than Computer programming, programming, wri ...

and

version control Version control (also known as revision control, source control, and source code management) is the software engineering practice of controlling, organizing, and tracking different versions in history of computer files; primarily source code t ...

using

Git Git () is a distributed version control system that tracks versions of files. It is often used to control source code by programmers who are developing software collaboratively. Design goals of Git include speed, data integrity, and suppor ...

, which he created with

Tom Preston-Werner Thomas Preston-Werner (born May 27, 1979) is an American billionaire software developer and entrepreneur. He is an active contributor within the free and open-source software community, most prominently in the San Francisco Bay Area, where he l ...

and

Chris Wanstrath Chris Wanstrath (born March 13, 1985) is an American technology entrepreneur and programmer. He is the founder of Null Games, and the co-founder and former CEO of GitHub, an Internet hosting service for software development and version control ...

in 2008. In 2022 Hyett founded an auto racing team,

AO Racing Autumn Oaks Racing, doing business as AO Racing, is an American sports car racing team that currently competes in the LMP2 and the GTD Pro classes of the IMSA SportsCar Championship and in LMP2 in the European Le Mans Series. The team was found ...

, an

IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship The IMSA SportsCar Championship, currently known as the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship under sponsorship, is a sports car racing series based in the United States and Canada and organized by the International Motor Sports Association (I ...

GT Daytona program, to compete in GT3 races. He competes in IMSA's

LMP2 A Le Mans Prototype (LMP) is a type of sports prototype race car used in various races and championships, including the 24 Hours of Le Mans, FIA World Endurance Championship, IMSA SportsCar Championship, European Le Mans Series, and Asian Le M ...

class.

Early life

Hyett was born on August 10, 1983, and grew up in

Naperville, Illinois Naperville ( ) is a city in DuPage County, Illinois, DuPage and Will County, Illinois, Will counties in the U.S. state of Illinois. It is a southwestern suburb of Chicago located west of the city on the DuPage River. As of the 2020 United State ...

. He earned a bachelor's degree in computer science from

North Central College North Central College is a private college in Naperville, Illinois. It is affiliated with the United Methodist Church and has 73 undergraduate majors of study, 17 minors, 25 graduate programs, and 4 certificate programs offered by four undergradu ...

Career

After graduation, Hyett moved to

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

. He was a senior software engineer at CNET Networks, and then a partner at Error Free, before co-founding GitHub in 2008. Following the acquisition of GitHub by

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company, technology conglomerate headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975, the company became influential in the History of personal computers#The ear ...

in June 2018, Hyett's stake in the company had an estimated value of "close to $1 billion".

Personal life

Hyett is married to Kendra, who works in the non-profit sector, and has a bachelor's degree in English from

. They have two children and live in west Chicago.

Racing career

In 2022, Hyett made his racing debut at the Watkins Glen circuit in the GT World Challenge America series, driving for Team Hardpoint alongside

Gunnar Jeannette Gunnar Patrick Jeannette (born May 5, 1982 in West Palm Beach, Florida) is an American racing driver who serves as the Team Principal for AO Racing. He won the 2011 American Le Mans Series season LMPC Drivers' Championship. Early racing career Je ...

. The duo subsequently partook in the final round of the Le Mans Cup prior to moving into the LMGTE Am class of the

FIA World Endurance Championship The FIA World Endurance Championship, abbreviated as WEC, is a world championship for automobile endurance racing organized by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) and sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The se ...

. Led by pro driver

Ben Barnicoat Ben George Barnicoat (born 20 December 1996) is a British racing driver, who competes in the IMSA SportsCar Championship for Vasser Sullivan and in the FIA World Endurance Championship for Akkodis ASP; he serves as a factory driver for Lexus. ...

, Hyett and Jeannette finished second on their first WEC outing at

Bahrain Bahrain, officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, is an island country in West Asia. Situated on the Persian Gulf, it comprises a small archipelago of 50 natural islands and an additional 33 artificial islands, centered on Bahrain Island, which mak ...

. Having formed

in the autumn of 2022, the Hyett and Jeannette duo partnered with WEC outfit Team Project 1 to contest the full season in

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

. As well as that, Hyett took part in the GTD class of the

IMSA SportsCar Championship The IMSA SportsCar Championship, currently known as the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship under sponsorship, is a sports car racing series based in the United States and Canada and organized by the International Motor Sports Association (I ...

, driving together with Sebastian Priaulx. The campaign did not prove fruitful, as the American missed out on any podiums in addition to suffering a crash in qualifying which made him miss the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps due to a back injury. The American experienced a turnaround during the winter, where he partnered Paul-Loup Chatin and Harry Tincknell in the

class of the

Asian Le Mans Series The Asian Le Mans Series (ALMS) is an Asian sports car racing endurance series created by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) and based in Asia. It is the successor to the defunct Japan Le Mans Challenge which folded in 2007 after its second s ...

. After two top-five finishes at

Sepang Pekan Sepang is a small border town and also a mukim in Sepang District, Selangor Selangor ( ; ), also known by the Arabic language, Arabic honorific Darul Ehsan, or "Abode of Sincerity", is one of the 13 states of Malaysia. It is on t ...

, Hyett scored the first pole position of his car at the

Dubai Autodrome The Dubai Autodrome (دبي أوتودروم) is an FIA sanctioned motorsports circuit located in Dubailand, Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The architects of the project were Populous and the circuit was designed by Clive Bowen of Apex Circui ...

. Though he and his Proton Competition teammates finished a lowly eighth in the teams' standings, Hyett had demonstrated improved pace in the leadup to a full-time switch to the category, as he and Chatin paired up for

in the

. Hyett also took part in the

24 Hours of Le Mans The 24 Hours of Le Mans () is an endurance-focused Sports car racing, sports car race held annually near the city of Le Mans, France. It is widely considered to be one of the world's most prestigious races, and is one of the races—along with ...

in 2024, driving an AO Racing

Oreca 07 The Oreca 07 is a Le Mans Prototype built by French manufacturer Oreca to meet the 2017 FIA and ACO LMP2 regulations. It made its official race debut in the opening round of the 2017 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, the 24 Hours of Dayt ...

run by TF Sport alongside Louis Delétraz and Alex Quinn.

Racing record

Racing career summary

† As Hyett was a guest driver, he was ineligible to score championship points.

Complete FIA World Endurance Championship results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap) ^* Season still in progress.

24 Hours of Le Mans results

Complete IMSA SportsCar Championship results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)

Complete Asian Le Mans Series results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hyett, PJ Living people 1983 births American technology company founders 21st-century American businesspeople GitHub people North Central College alumni People from Naperville, Illinois GT World Challenge America drivers Multimatic Motorsports drivers Le Mans Cup drivers FIA World Endurance Championship drivers WeatherTech SportsCar Championship drivers Porsche Carrera Cup North America drivers 24 Hours of Le Mans drivers Asian Le Mans Series drivers Proton Competition drivers Sports car racing team owners European Le Mans Series drivers TF Sport drivers