OpenAI hires veteran Google executive as corporate development VP

Dec 15 (Reuters) – OpenAI on Monday confirmed that it has appointed Albert Lee, senior director of corporate development at Google, as its vice president of corporate development.

Lee will start his role at Microsoft-backed OpenAI on Tuesday and report to finance chief Sarah Friar.

The goal of bringing Lee “on board is to ensure we have a senior leader with broad visibility across the company who is empowered to move quickly,” an OpenAI spokesperson told Reuters.

At Alphabet’s Google, Lee had been leading corporate development for Google Cloud and DeepMind, and the strategy and scouting team. Since he joined the company in 2011, Lee has worked on over 60 transactions spanning acquisitions and strategic investments totaling more than $50 billion, according to his LinkedIn profile.

The Information was the first to report Lee’s move earlier in the day.

His hiring follows OpenAI’s recruitment of former Amazon executive Torben Severson as its new vice president and head of global business development last month.

OpenAI in September hired Mike Liberatore, former finance chief at Elon Musk’s xAI, as the artificial intelligence startup’s business finance officer.

Lee is also on the advisory board of Alphabet’s independent growth fund, CapitalG, which has invested in companies such as CrowdStrike and Airbnb.

(Reporting by Juby Babu in Mexico City and Anhata Rooprai in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)