OpenAI hires Meta’s Sandhya Devanathan to lead Southeast Asia and Australia

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August 28, 2026, 8:44 AM

• •Sandhya Devanathan will join OpenAI in October to lead Southeast Asia and Australia.
• •The company says Indonesia and the Philippines are among its top ten markets globally by ChatGPT users.
• •Devanathan’s remit includes consumer growth, enterprise adoption, partnerships, operations, and regulatory engagement.
• •OpenAI previously appointed Kiran Mani for Asia-Pacific in March and Prabhjeet Singh for India in June.
• •In Europe, OpenAI has expanded offices in Paris, Brussels, London, and Dublin, with Dublin growing toward 350 staff.

OpenAI has hired Meta executive Sandhya Devanathan to lead Southeast Asia and Australia starting in October. Her role covers consumer growth, enterprise adoption, partnerships, operations, and regulatory engagement from Singapore across a region of more than 600 million people. The article says this is OpenAI’s third senior regional appointment in Asia within six months, following hires for Asia-Pacific and India. It contrasts that commercial push with Europe, where OpenAI’s expansion has focused more on Dublin and Brussels for headquarters, engineering, support, and policy functions.

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