Meta India and Southeast Asia Head Sandhya Devanathan Joins OpenAI as Regional VP

At OpenAI, Devanathan will lead the company’s work across the region. Her responsibilities will include growing its consumer business, increasing enterprise adoption, managing partnerships, working with regulators, and overseeing regional operations.

She will be based in Singapore and will report to Kiran Mani, OpenAI’s Managing Director for Asia Pacific. OpenAI has not yet announced when she will officially join the company.

Devanathan’s appointment comes as OpenAI continues to expand across the Asia Pacific region. The company has already opened offices in Singapore, Tokyo, Seoul, Sydney, and Delhi, while also building a stronger regional leadership team.

"Over the years, I’ve had the privilege of working across sectors like ecommerce and gaming in APAC, and leading talented teams across India and Southeast Asia. Throughout this journey, I’ve been fueled by the belief that our work brings meaningful connections to people and businesses worldwide," she further said.

"I shared with my teams today that I am extraordinarily proud of how they've shown up every day, doing the best work they can in an industry that is rapidly evolving. I’m proud of the work we’ve done together - be the millions of people using government citizen services on WA (WhatsApp) in India or the millions of small businesses in Vietnam, Indonesia and Thailand who opened their storefronts on our apps or helping startups become unicorns in Singapore, Malaysia and Philippines...the stories are many and I am incredibly proud of everything we’ve built together," she said.

OpenAI has also appointed Prabhjeet Singh as its Managing Director for India, which is one of the company’s important markets. OpenAI opened its first office in New Delhi in November 2025.

Devanathan joined Meta in 2016 and held several senior positions during her time there. She led Meta’s gaming business in Asia Pacific and helped the company expand its operations in Singapore and Vietnam.

She brings more than 25 years of experience in the technology and financial services industries.

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