OpenAI's chief revenue officer Denise Dresser is departing in the coming weeks, making her the second major executive to leave the company this week following special projects lead Brad Lightcap.
Dali Rajic, currently president and COO of Wiz, will assume the CRO role.
The exits occur as OpenAI prepares for an IPO following a confidential S-1 filing submitted to the SEC in June.
What happened
OpenAI chief revenue officer Denise Dresser announced she is leaving in the coming weeks to pursue other opportunities. Dali Rajic, president and COO of Wiz, will take over the CRO role. This follows Brad Lightcap's announcement two days earlier that he would also be leaving.
Why it matters
Dresser joined OpenAI in December after serving as CEO of Slack and had taken over some of Lightcap's responsibilities when he moved to a special projects role. The departures come as OpenAI prepares for an IPO, which the company announced it had submitted a confidential S-1 filing for in June.
What to watch
OpenAI stated that Rajic will build the revenue operating system needed to scale for the next phase of models, which the company says will change how work gets done and how companies are built and run.
Denise Dresser, who joined OpenAI as chief revenue officer in December after serving as CEO of Slack, announced she is leaving the company in the coming weeks to pursue other opportunities. Her departure marks the second major executive exit from OpenAI within a single week. Two days prior, Brad Lightcap, the special projects lead and former COO, announced he would also be departing. Dresser had taken on some of Lightcap's responsibilities when he moved into his special projects role, deepening the organizational impact of the two back-to-back exits. OpenAI confirmed that Dali Rajic, currently president and COO of Wiz, will assume the chief revenue officer role. The company stated that Rajic will build the revenue operating system needed to scale for the next phase, emphasizing that the next generation of models will change not just how work gets done but how companies are built and run. These departures occur in the context of broader leadership churn at OpenAI. Former AGI chief Fidji Simo and former CMO Kate Rouch have also recently stepped down. The timing of the exits is also noteworthy because OpenAI announced in June that it had submitted a confidential S-1 filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission, indicating the company is actively preparing for an initial public offering.
OpenAI is experiencing a wave of executive departures at a critical juncture in the company's history. Denise Dresser's exit represents the second major leadership loss in a single week, following special projects lead Brad Lightcap's announcement just two days prior. Dresser had assumed responsibility for some of Lightcap's duties after he transitioned to his special projects role, meaning her departure removes both continuity and institutional knowledge at the revenue and operations level. The timing is significant: these exits occur as OpenAI has already submitted a confidential S-1 filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission, signaling active preparation for a public offering. The company's statement that the next generation of models will change how work gets done and how companies are built and run suggests OpenAI sees its revenue strategy as critical to capturing that opportunity—making the sudden loss of its chief revenue officer a notable leadership gap during a period of scaling.
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