As OpenAI began to transition from a research-focused organization to a true tech giant building out its commercial capacity, the AI leader brought on a spate of experienced execs—many of whom were women. There was Fidji Simo, leading commercial applications and later nearly the entire business side; Sarah Friar, readying the company for an IPO as CFO; Kate Rouch as CMO; and Denise Dresser, the former CEO of Slack hired as OpenAI’s chief revenue officer.
About two years after that hiring spree began, only one of those executives—Friar—remains in her original role at OpenAI. Simo and Rouch both left their roles for health reasons (Simo is still working in an advisory role). Today, it was reported that Dresser is stepping down less than a year after joining OpenAI.
Recently, Dresser had been tasked with “growing sales among large businesses looking to adopt artificial-intelligence tools in their workforces.” Her replacement is Wiz president and COO Dali Rajic, and he will be responsible for turning “what we’ve learned into repeatable execution as we build out the full system to make AI broadly useful for people and businesses,” OpenAI president Greg Brockman said. The WSJ reported that Dresser is stepping down to pursue other opportunities.
