Slack chief Denise Dresser named OpenAI’s new revenue head

OpenAI has appointed Denise Dresser, who was previously CEO of Slack, as its first Chief Revenue Officer (CRO). At OpenAI, she will lead global revenue strategy, focusing on enterprise sales, customer success, and scaling the rollout of AI to other businesses.

Dresser is anticipated to begin her new position next week, reporting to OpenAI’s Chief Operating Officer Brad Lightcap.

According to OpenAI, more companies are transitioning from experiments with one-off AI tools to the widespread deployment of generative AI across key business processes and practices. This spans customer support and operations, software development, and knowledge management.

The transition presents both challenges and opportunities for OpenAI. The tech firm states that it must balance burgeoning enterprise interest with building a sustainable business around its rapidly evolving AI models.

Dresser to lead global revenue and enterprise strategy

OpenAI said in a release that Dresser will oversee the artificial intelligence startup’s global revenue strategy across both customer success and enterprise. Dresser’s transition to OpenAI comes after over a decade at Salesforce, where she led global sales operations for major enterprise accounts. After Salesforce acquired Slack for $27.7 billion in 2021, Dresser took over as Slack’s CEO in 2023 and oversaw the company through its full integration into Salesforce.

In a statement, Dresser said, “I’ve spent my career helping scale category-defining platforms, and I’m looking forward to bringing that experience to OpenAI as it enters its next phase of enterprise transformation.” 

OpenAI initiated the generative AI boom with the launch of its chatbot, ChatGPT, three years ago. From there, it has made significant progress into one of the fastest-growing commercial entities in the world.

The startup announced in November that it is on track to achieve over $20 billion in annualized revenue run rate this year, with plans to expand to hundreds of billions in sales over the next five years. However, challenges have arisen as competition continues to intensify against rivals. As Google and Anthropic muscle up, OpenAI faces mounting pressure to deliver. 

OpenAI expands infrastructure amid rising AI adoption

The company has made commitments of over $1.4 trillion in infrastructure, as it seeks to expand its technology. That big number has fueled concerns about an AI bubble. Nearly 1 billion people use ChatGPT every week, and OpenAI supports over 1 million business customers.

Dresser will help more companies integrate AI into their daily operations, OpenAI said. At the company, she will spearhead global revenue strategy, focusing on enterprise sales, customer success, and scaling AI deployment across businesses. According to OpenAI’s announcement, her experience “scaling category-defining platforms” makes her well-suited to usher in what the company calls “its next phase of enterprise transformation.” 

“We’re on a path to put AI tools into the hands of millions of workers, across every industry,” Fidji Simo, OpenAI’s CEO of Applications, said in a statement. “Denise has led that kind of shift before, and her experience will help us make AI useful, reliable, and accessible for businesses everywhere.”

The appointment of a revenue chief signals a shift for OpenAI: from runaway growth and experimentation to structured business strategy and profitability. The company stated that this was driven by a push for AI tools that extend beyond pilots, now being embedded into everyday workflows across various industries. OpenAI stated that a sizable percentage of workers who use its products already experience visible benefits.

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