On Tuesday, OpenAI announced that Adebayo Ogunlesi, a senior managing director at BlackRock, is joining its board of directors. This move is part of the company’s ongoing transition towards a for-profit structure. Ogunlesi is a founding partner of Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), an infrastructure investment firm acquired by BlackRock last year for $12 billion. Prior to co-founding GIP in 2006, Ogunlesi spent 23 years at Credit Suisse.
In OpenAI’s announcement, Ogunlesi stated;
The rapid advancement and development of AI offers a unique opportunity to build a better future. As part of this, thoughtful strategies and investment in infrastructure will be key to unlocking AI’s full potential and delivering its benefits responsibly. I’m excited to contribute to this effort and look forward to being a part of the OpenAI Board.
Ogunlesi’s addition to the board signifies another step in OpenAI’s significant transformation into a for-profit entity. The board has undergone substantial changes since late 2023, when CEO Sam Altman was unexpectedly ousted and then quickly reinstated.
Following the Altman incident in November 2023, former Salesforce co-CEO Bret Taylor, who previously served as chairman at Twitter before its acquisition by Elon Musk, became the chair of OpenAI. At the same time, Larry Summers, a former Treasury Secretary, also joined the board. Last year, the board welcomed several new members, including Instacart CEO Fidji Simo and Dr. Sue Desmond-Hellmann, former CEO of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, now known as the Gates Foundation.
OpenAI, originally founded as a nonprofit in 2015, announced in late December that it would establish a public benefit corporation (PBC) to oversee its commercial operations. This change would lift some of its nonprofit restrictions, enabling it to operate more like a high-growth startup.
In 2022, OpenAI was valued at $157 billion as it continued to release updated large language models and new tools, spearheading the generative artificial intelligence boom. By transitioning into a Delaware PBC with ordinary shares of stock, OpenAI aims to pursue commercial operations while maintaining a nonprofit arm dedicated to charitable activities in healthcare, education, and science.
However, Elon Musk, one of OpenAI’s co-founders, is currently suing to prevent OpenAI from fully converting into a for-profit business. In addition to his new role at OpenAI, Adebayo Ogunlesi holds board positions at BlackRock, Topgolf Callaway Brands, Kosmos Energy Holdings, and Terminal Investment Ltd.
