OpenAI hires Jill Hazelbaker as its Chief Corporate Affairs Officer to lead worldwide communications and corporate positioning, the San Francisco technology firm announced on 3 November 2026. Hazelbaker leaves ride-hailing company Uber after more than a decade to help guide public understanding and institutional trust for the artificial intelligence developer.
Key points
- Jill Hazelbaker departs Uber to run global communications and corporate positioning at OpenAI.
- At Uber, her decade-long remit grew from public relations into policy, workplace operations, safety, and marketing.
- The move comes as artificial intelligence companies face closer scrutiny from regulators, business partners, and the public.
A veteran strategist for AI communications
In her new role at OpenAI, Hazelbaker will direct external communications, media relations, and corporate strategy worldwide. OpenAI said she will work directly with its senior leadership team to explain how its models work, address public concerns, and build relationships with regulators and civic institutions.
Greg Brockman, OpenAI’s co-founder and president, said Hazelbaker brings the judgment required to handle both the technical opportunities and public obligations of artificial intelligence. “As AI becomes part of more people’s lives, how we communicate, engage, and earn public trust has never been more important,” Brockman said.
Hazelbaker called artificial intelligence “the most profound technological shift of our lifetime” and said establishing public confidence in the technology has become critical as adoption spreads.
What Hazelbaker ran at Uber
Hazelbaker spent over ten years at Uber, serving most recently as its president and chief corporate affairs officer. She joined during a period of fierce local regulatory battles and worked on the executive team that reshaped the company’s public image following leadership turnover and international licensing disputes.
Her portfolio at Uber extended far beyond traditional media handling. According to Uber’s leadership biography, she ran global communications, public policy, marketing, safety initiatives, human resources, recruiting, and corporate real estate. OpenAI credited her with helping build the operational structures that allowed Uber to expand from a high-growth startup into an international transport and delivery network.
Her exit marks the latest senior departure from Uber in 2026, leaving the transport group to reorganise its communications and policy teams as autonomous driving partnerships begin to alter its core taxi market.
Political campaigns to Silicon Valley
Hazelbaker built her career across political communications and the technology sector over two decades. She began in American politics, working on local, state, and federal election efforts.
In 2008, Hazelbaker served as national communications director and chief spokesperson for Republican Senator John McCain‘s presidential campaign. The following year, she ran media relations as press secretary for Michael Bloomberg‘s successful bid to secure another term as mayor of New York City.
Her transition to technology came at Google, where she held senior communications posts covering global corporate messaging and international policy. Her assignments included managing communications across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, as well as directing European government relations during an era of increasing antitrust and privacy friction in Brussels. She later led communications and public policy at Snap before moving to Uber.
OpenAI’s shifting executive ranks
The appointment gives OpenAI an experienced hand at the intersection of political messaging, international regulation, and commercial platform management. As the company rolls out new autonomous agent software and courts enterprise contracts, its public profile has faced intense pressure from copyright holders, civil society groups, and competition authorities.
OpenAI has steadily recruited outside executives with government and crisis management backgrounds to handle those pressures. The hire complements other recent administrative moves, such as appointing Dan Driscoll to focus on national security and public sector partnerships.
Hazelbaker will report to chief executive Sam Altman and work alongside Brockman as the company prepares its next wave of model releases and expands its international offices.
