SAN FRANCISCO— John Earnhardt has left Visa after joining the company in May as VP of corporate communications.   

Visa has been saddled with a series of high-profile departures within its communications team after the function was integrated under Antonio Lucio, who himself, left the payments company for HP. Among them, former CCO Doug Michelman, Jennifer Doidge left for BlackBerry and Paul Cohen joined PayPal, among others.

Earnhardt reported to Visa CCO Michele Quintaglie, who has been in the role for more than a year. When he joined, Earnhardt described his role as a newly-created one.

"[Visa is a] great company, great communications people there, but just not a fit for me," Earnhardt told the Holmes Report, confirming his departure.  

Earnhardt was an avid proponent of 'brand journalism' during his 16 years at Cisco.