OpenAI’s Chief Revenue Officer Denise Dresser is leaving less than a year after she joined the company – the latest in a series of surprise, high-level exits as the artificial-intelligence giant prepares for a blockbuster public listing.
Dresser is leaving “to pursue other opportunities,” according to a statement Thursday, which added that OpenAI is replacing her with Dali Rajic, who previously served as the president and chief operating officer of the cybersecurity company Wiz.
Dresser’s exit is the second senior departure within days at the San Francisco startup. Brad Lightcap, a top OpenAI executive and friend of CEO Sam Altman, said on Tuesday he was leaving the company after eight years in a post on X, stating he was going to “start something new.”
OpenAI has been scrambling to catch up to rival Anthropic in selling to enterprise clients – a business segment that sent Anthropic revenue surging. Dresser’s exit creates a void as she had brought enterprise experience to the company.
Dresser’s departure creates an additional crunch because she was in part brought on to take over some of Lightcap’s duties after OpenAI said earlier this year he was transitioning to a new “special projects” focused role.
Dresser wrote on LinkedIn that she’s working with OpenAI President Greg Brockman to ensure a “smooth transition.”
Dresser wrote Thursday in a LinkedIn post: “The opportunity to work hands-on with the most transformative technology in the world has been nothing short of incredible,” adding “I am so proud of what we have accomplished and, even more, of how this team has shown up for our customers and one another.”
Dresser joined OpenAI in December after more than a decade stint as a Salesforce executive.
Dresser had been under pressure to grow OpenAI’s enterprise customer base. OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar told CNBC earlier this year that enterprise customers accounted for roughly 40% of OpenAI’s business as of January, but that she expected that figure to grow to closer to 50% by the end of the year.
Several months later, Dresser told CNBC the company was “on track” to reach that goal.
OpenAI’s product and business chief Fidji Simo, said last month she was stepping down from her role to focus on recovery after a “severe exacerbation of a chronic illness.” Three other OpenAI executives left the company in April.
The company has also been dealing with fallout after one of its experimental models went rogue during an internal cybersecurity test, escaping its isolated testing environment and hacking rival AI developer Hugging Face.
The rash of exits come at an inopportune time for OpenAI as it rushes to polish up its finances ahead of a likely blockbuster initial public offering. The company confidentially filed its IPO paperwork with the Securities and Exchange Commission in June, just days after Anthropic.
In March, OpenAI closed a huge funding round at an eyewatering $852 billion valuation and is working to charm investors to justify the lofty figure.
