OpenAI hires former SpaceX executive as global sales chief
What's the story
OpenAI has announced the appointment of Brian McCarthy as its Vice President of Global Sales. McCarthy comes from SpaceX, where he joined in August after its acquisition of Cursor. He had previously held the position of President, Global Revenue and Worldwide Field Operations at both companies. Prior to that, he led enterprise sales teams at Rubrik, ThoughtSpot, AppDyanamics, and Qlik.
New position
A significant step forward for OpenAI
McCarthy's appointment is the first major hire by Dali Rajic, OpenAI's Chief Revenue Officer, who started recently. The position is newly created, meaning McCarthy isn't replacing anyone.
Rajic has also hired two sales executives from AI data company Snowflake: Mark Fleming and Jaime Patel.
McCarthy reported to Rajic when the two worked together at AppDynamics from 2017-2018.
Both were on the team as AppDynamics prepared to go public, but then Cisco swooped in to purchase it day before planned listing.
Future plans
Rajic optimistic about McCarthy joining the team
Rajic expressed his excitement over McCarthy's appointment, saying he combines a deep commitment to customers.
He added that he's looking forward to working with McCarthy as they scale their business and help enterprises transform.
McCarthy will work closely with Rajic to build out the sales team and accelerate enterprise growth globally.
This move is part of OpenAI's strategy to boost corporate adoption of frontier AI models, which has been a major focus area for both OpenAI and rival Anthropic.
Ethical stance
McCarthy expresses commitment to responsible AI use
In his LinkedIn post announcing the news, McCarthy expressed his commitment to responsible AI use.
He said he was drawn to the role because he shares the vision of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, co-founder and president Greg Brockman, and Rajic about enterprise adoption.
"AI should help people solve hard problems, do more than they thought possible," McCarthy wrote. "With technology this powerful, we have a responsibility to get it right."