OpenAI has hired Slack CEO Denise Holland Dresser as its new Chief Revenue Officer (CRO), marking one of the company’s most significant executive additions as it pushes toward long-term commercial sustainability. The move—first reported by Wired and later confirmed by OpenAI—comes at a crucial time, with the organisation aiming to strengthen enterprise adoption and build a clearer path to profitability. Dresser’s appointment places her at the centre of OpenAI’s revenue, enterprise, and customer-success strategy as demand for AI tools accelerates across global industries.
Dresser joins OpenAI after more than 14 years at Salesforce, where she played a pivotal role in shaping Slack’s growth and leading the rollout of major AI-powered features. Her experience scaling enterprise products, managing large customer ecosystems and operationalising AI capabilities is expected to help OpenAI deepen trust and usability for business clients. Executives within the company have highlighted that as AI moves from experimentation to mission-critical deployment, strong enterprise leadership is becoming essential.
Fidji Simo, OpenAI’s CEO of Applications, underscored this shift, stating, “We’re on a path to put AI tools into the hands of millions of workers, across every industry,” and added that Dresser’s expertise will be key to making AI “useful and reliable for businesses.” Simo herself joined OpenAI earlier this year after serving as CEO of Instacart, which has since become one of the company’s closest collaborators in applying generative AI at scale.
Industry observers note that OpenAI’s enterprise momentum has grown rapidly following the release of its ChatGPT products, API improvements, and waves of new AI capabilities. The appointment of a seasoned SaaS and AI-product leader signals OpenAI’s intention to move beyond its early-stage innovation focus and expand into structured, revenue-driven enterprise operations.
Meanwhile, Wired reports that Slack’s Chief Product Officer, Rob Seaman, will serve as interim CEO following Dresser’s departure. The leadership shift adds another layer of transformation within the enterprise software ecosystem, with both Slack and OpenAI navigating rapid AI-driven change in their respective markets.
Dresser’s arrival is widely viewed as a strategic step that positions OpenAI to compete more aggressively in enterprise AI adoption, strengthen commercial execution, and support its long-term vision of embedding advanced AI into the workflows of millions of professionals worldwide.
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