P. J. Hyett

Phillip Jeffrey Hyett (born August 10, 1983) is an American software developer, technology entrepreneur, racing driver, and a co-founder of GitHub, an Internet hosting service for software development and version control using Git, which he created with Tom Preston-Werner and Chris Wanstrath in 2008.

In 2022 Hyett founded an auto racing team, AO Racing, an IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship GT Daytona program, to compete in GT3 races. He competes in IMSA's LMP2 class.

Early life

Hyett was born on August 10, 1983, and grew up in Naperville, Illinois. He earned a bachelor's degree in computer science from North Central College.

Career

After graduation, Hyett moved to San Francisco. 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 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 North Central College. 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. 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. Led by pro driver Ben Barnicoat, Hyett and Jeannette finished second on their first WEC outing at Bahrain.

Having formed AO Racing in the autumn of 2022, the Hyett and Jeannette duo partnered with WEC outfit Team Project 1 to contest the full season in 2023. As well as that, Hyett took part in the GTD class of the IMSA SportsCar Championship, 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 LMP2 class of the Asian Le Mans Series. After two top-five finishes at Sepang, Hyett scored the first pole position of his car at the Dubai Autodrome. 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 AO Racing in the IMSA SportsCar Championship.

Hyett also took part in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2024, driving an AO Racing Oreca 07 run by TF Sport alongside Louis Delétraz and Alex Quinn.