OpenAI has appointed Jill Hazelbaker, Uber’s president and longtime executive, as chief corporate affairs officer, with her start expected in early December. Bloomberg and Fortune reported the appointment. OpenAI said Hazelbaker will oversee global communications and corporate positioning and report to co-founder and president Greg Brockman.
The hire fills a senior communications role that had been open since January, when Hannah Wong left her position as chief communications officer. Fortune reported that Chris Lehane had led the team in the interim. OpenAI has not announced a specific start day or a change to the team’s structure, so the disclosed transition is about leadership and remit rather than a reorganization.
Hazelbaker comes from an unusually broad corporate-affairs portfolio at Uber. She served there as president and chief corporate affairs officer for 11 years, and previously held senior leadership roles at Snap and Google. The change moves an executive who has been closely involved in the public-facing leadership of a large global technology company into a role focused on communications for an AI developer whose products have reached a broad public audience.
Brockman said Hazelbaker brings experience and an understanding of the responsibilities that come with building technology at global scale. OpenAI said her work will include helping people understand AI and strengthening trust in the company’s mission. Hazelbaker said earning public trust is increasingly consequential as AI becomes part of more people’s lives. These are the company’s stated expectations for the role; the reports do not identify operational targets or a timetable for measuring the communication work.
Fortune reported that Hazelbaker will remain on the East Coast and spend time in San Francisco, where OpenAI is headquartered. That arrangement is one practical detail of a job that is global in scope, though neither article describes how her schedule will be divided or whether her Uber responsibilities have fully ended.
For another technology leadership move, our archive includes Meta’s appointment of CJ Desai to lead its enterprise platform. The roles are distinct, but both illustrate how large technology companies are reshaping senior teams around capabilities that sit close to the company’s core product and public identity.
