OpenAI hires Uber President Jill Hazelbaker to lead communications, filling key role after 10 months

Jill Hazelbaker is joining OpenAI as chief corporate affairs officer, the company announced on Tuesday. Hazelbaker, who had been president and chief corporate affairs officer at ride hailing giant Uber, will work alongside OpenAI’s leaders to “deepen public understanding of AI and strengthen trust in its mission,” the company said.

She will report to OpenAI co-founder and president Greg Brockman and starts in early December, OpenAI told Fortune.

“As AI becomes part of more people’s lives, how we communicate, engage, and earn public trust has never been more important,” Brockman said in the announcement, citing Hazelbaker’s experience and understanding of the “opportunities and responsibilities that come with building technology at global scale.”

Hazelbaker is a well respected communications professional in the technology industry. She has served as Uber’s President and Chief Corporate Affairs Officer for the past 11 years, and previously held senior leadership roles at Snap and Google. She is replacing Hannah Wong, who served as OpenAI’ chief communications officer (CCO) until January 2026. Since then, OpenAI’s Chris Lehane has been leading the team in the interim.

Hazelbaker previously turned down the role

In the ten months since Wong’s departure, OpenAI has experienced a series of public controversies—most notably when its AI agents hacked the company Hugging Face during training in July. The 11-year old company has been criticized for not being sufficiently transparent and communicative about its operations, at a time when public concerns about AI’s potential harms to society, the labor market, and the environment are rising. Backlash to the massive AI data centers being built across the U.S. has emerged as one of the key issues in the midterm elections taking place on Tuesday.

In September, OpenAI told Fortune it was not rushing to fill the role, and was focused on getting the right candidate. Over the summer, it ramped up its search by hiring an executive recruiting firm.

OpenAI offered Hazelbaker the position in the spring, but she turned it down, as Fortune reported in September. Sources suspected her close relationship with Uber’s CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, desire to be on the East Coast for her family, and already high salary played a role in her declining the role.

It appears OpenAI has now made Hazelbaker an offer she cannot refuse.

Hazelbaker will remain on the East Coast, but will spend time in San Francisco, where OpenAI is headquartered, the company told Fortune.

“The work of building public trust has never been more consequential,” Hazelbaker said in the announcement, describing AI as the “most profound technological shift of our lifetime.”