OpenAI replaces revenue chief in less than a year: What’s behind the leadership shake-up?

OpenAI has replaced its chief revenue officer less than a year after hiring Denise Dresser for the role, bringing in Dali Rajic, a senior executive from cybersecurity company Wiz, as the ChatGPT maker seeks to accelerate sales and expand its business with corporate customers.

Rajic, who served as president and chief operating officer at Wiz, will lead OpenAI’s global revenue organisation. Dresser, the former chief executive officer of Slack, will leave the company after a transition period to pursue other opportunities.

Dresser had joined OpenAI in December 2025, making the latest change one of the more notable executive shifts at the artificial intelligence company in a relatively short period.

OpenAI confirmed Rajic’s appointment in a company announcement on Thursday. It said the new revenue chief would help businesses realise the value of AI as enterprise adoption accelerates.

Why OpenAI is changing its revenue chief

The timing of the change is important. OpenAI is moving into a phase where turning massive interest in AI into recurring business revenue is becoming increasingly critical.

The company has been expanding beyond its consumer-focused ChatGPT business and putting greater emphasis on enterprises using AI for coding, research, customer service and other workplace functions.

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OpenAI said earlier this year that enterprise customers accounted for more than 40 per cent of its revenue and were on track to reach parity with its consumer business by the end of 2026. Dresser had highlighted the growing importance of enterprise adoption after her first 90 days at the company.

The company has also said its revenue has been growing rapidly. In a separate update, OpenAI said it was generating about $2 billion in revenue a month and that enterprise revenue was becoming an increasingly important part of its business.

That makes the chief revenue officer a particularly important position as OpenAI tries to convert the popularity of its AI models into a larger and more predictable commercial business.

Who is Dali Rajic?

Rajic joins OpenAI from Wiz, the cybersecurity company backed by Google parent Alphabet. At Wiz, he was president and chief operating officer, giving him experience in building and managing a fast-growing technology business.

OpenAI President Greg Brockman said Rajic’s background in customer-focused organisations and his emphasis on metrics would be valuable as the company seeks to improve execution.

His cybersecurity experience could also become increasingly relevant as companies adopt more capable AI systems. OpenAI has been paying greater attention to the security risks associated with increasingly powerful models and AI agents.

Rajic said in OpenAI’s announcement that he was looking forward to building on the company’s momentum and helping customers realise the value of AI.

Leadership churn at OpenAI

Rajic’s appointment comes amid a series of changes among OpenAI’s senior executives.

Longtime executive Brad Lightcap announced plans earlier this week to leave the company for a new project, while Fidji Simo, who had been overseeing much of OpenAI’s applications and business operations, stepped down last month after taking medical leave.

Former product chief Kevin Weil also left the company earlier this year.

The changes come as OpenAI’s leadership structure evolves to handle a business that has grown rapidly since ChatGPT transformed the consumer AI market.

Greg Brockman, OpenAI’s president, is also taking on a more prominent role in the company’s business operations following Simo’s departure. Rajic’s appointment is among the first major executive hires under that expanded structure.

The bigger battle: OpenAI vs Anthropic

The revenue leadership change also comes at a crucial moment in OpenAI’s competition with Anthropic.

Anthropic has made major gains in the enterprise AI market, particularly with its Claude models and coding-focused products. Its valuation reached $965 billion in a funding round earlier this year, surpassing OpenAI’s valuation at the time.

Anthropic has also moved ahead in the race to public markets. The company confidentially filed for a US initial public offering in June, putting it ahead of OpenAI in a closely watched contest between two of the world’s most valuable AI companies.

The competition is no longer simply about who has the most popular chatbot. The companies are fighting for long-term business customers willing to spend heavily on AI systems, coding tools and AI agents.

That is one reason OpenAI’s focus on proving measurable business value is becoming increasingly important.

IPO pressure adds to the focus on revenue

OpenAI has been linked to plans for a future public listing, although the timing and structure remain uncertain.

Anthropic’s move towards an IPO has raised the pressure on OpenAI to demonstrate that its enormous user base can translate into durable commercial growth.

For a company preparing for public markets, revenue growth is only one part of the equation. Investors will also want to understand how quickly sales are growing, how much businesses are spending on AI and whether that spending can be sustained.

OpenAI’s own recent disclosures suggest it sees enterprise AI as central to that next stage. The company has said its enterprise business is expanding rapidly while products such as Codex and AI agents are seeing increased usage.

What the change means

The departure of Dresser after less than a year does not by itself indicate a slowdown at OpenAI. The company continues to report rapid growth, while its products are being adopted by consumers and businesses at scale.

But replacing a top revenue executive so soon after her appointment highlights how quickly OpenAI’s priorities are changing.

The company is moving from a period dominated by explosive consumer adoption to one where enterprise sales, recurring revenue and measurable returns on AI investment are becoming increasingly important.

Rajic’s challenge will be to turn that demand into a more scalable sales engine while OpenAI faces intense competition from Anthropic, Chinese AI companies and other technology giants.

For OpenAI, the next phase may depend less on how many people use ChatGPT and more on how much businesses are willing to pay for AI—and how consistently that spending grows.

(With inputs from agencies.)