Meta's India VP leaves for OpenAI
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Meta VP Sandhya Devanathan is leaving after a decade to lead OpenAI's Southeast Asia and Australia operations, as Meta faces fresh regulatory scrutiny in India.
Sandhya Devanathan, Meta’s vice president for India and Southeast Asia, is leaving after more than a decade at the company to join OpenAI. She’ll be based in Singapore, report to Asia-Pacific managing director Kiran Mani, and take charge of growing OpenAI’s consumer and enterprise business, its partnerships, and its dealings with regulators across Southeast Asia and Australia. The hire follows OpenAI’s appointment of Prabhjeet Singh as its first India country head just days earlier.
The move lands as Meta faces heightened scrutiny in India: the company apologized in August after mistakenly restricting an Instagram post by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, prompting the Indian government to summon Meta representatives, including chief global affairs officer Joel Kaplan, for questioning.
What it means for you
OpenAI is building out a dedicated regional operating bench in Asia-Pacific by pulling experienced country and regional leads directly from Meta and Google, not just hiring researchers. If you’re competing with OpenAI for enterprise, education, or government partnerships in India or Southeast Asia, expect a more locally staffed and politically fluent OpenAI sales motion there going forward, alongside OpenAI’s new commercial office in Brazil, part of the same push into large, high-growth ChatGPT markets outside the U.S. and Europe.
- 01Meta executive leaves for OpenAI as the social media giant faces growing scrutiny in Indiatechcrunch.com · reporting
