OpenAI has hired Sandhya Devanathan, a Meta vice president who led its Southeast Asia and Australia business, to run the same region for OpenAI, according to TechCrunch and Storyboard18.
Devanathan will be based in Singapore and report to Kiran Mani, OpenAI's managing director for Asia Pacific, Storyboard18 reported. She starts in October, and her mandate covers consumer growth, enterprise adoption, partnerships and regulatory engagement, according to Storyboard18.
Devanathan spent about a decade at Meta, where she helped build its business in Singapore and Vietnam, led its gaming unit across Asia Pacific, then took over Meta's India operations in January 2023 before her role expanded to Southeast Asia in 2025, Storyboard18 reported. Her departure comes as Meta faces growing regulatory scrutiny in India, according to TechCrunch.
The hire follows OpenAI's earlier appointments of Mani and India managing director Prabhjeet Singh, TechCrunch reported, another sign OpenAI is building a full regional leadership bench in a market where it is competing with Google and Meta for enterprise and consumer AI customers.