Bayo Ogunlesi, President, Global Infrastructure Partners listens as US President Donald Trump speaks during a strategic and policy discussion with CEOs at the State Department Library in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on April 11, 2017 in Washington, DC.
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OpenAI said on Tuesday that Adebayo Ogunlesi, Senior Managing Director at BlackRockis joining the startup’s board of directors, the latest announcement in the company’s move toward a for-profit structure.
Ogunlesi is a founding partner of Global Infrastructure Partners, an infrastructure investment firm that was acquired by BlackRock last year for $12 billion. Before helping launch GIP in 2006, Ogunlesi spent 23 years at Credit Suisse.
“The rapid progress and development of artificial intelligence offers a unique opportunity to build a better future,” Ogunlesi said in an OpenAI announcement on Tuesday. “As part of this, thoughtful strategies and infrastructure investments will be key to unlocking the full potential of AI and delivering its benefits responsibly. I’m excited to contribute to this effort and look forward to being part of the OpenAI board.”
For OpenAI, the addition of Ogunlesi to its board marks another step in its dramatic transformation into a for-profit company. The board has been almost entirely renewed since the end of 2023, when Sam Altman is the chief executive officer thrown out abruptly rather be quickly returned.
Former Salesforce co-CEO Bret Taylor, who was Twitter’s chairman before he bought it Elon Muskbecame chairman of OpenAI after the Altman ordeal in November 2023. Larry Summers, former Treasury Secretary, joined at the same time. Last year the board added a few new faces including Instacart Executive Director Fidji Simo and dr. Sue Desmond-Hellmann, former executive director of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, now known as the Gates Foundation.
OpenAI, which was founded as a nonprofit in 2015, said in late December that it would create a public benefit corporation that will oversee commercial operations, removing some of its nonprofit restrictions and allowing it to function more like a high-growth startup.
Last year, OpenAI was valued at 157 billion dollars while continuing to introduce updated major language models and new tools after launching the generative artificial intelligence boom in late 2022.
The company said that by transforming into a Delaware PBC “with common stock,” it can continue commercial operations while separately staffing its nonprofit arm and allowing that wing to take on charitable activities in health, education and science, OpenAI said in December.
Musk, one of the co-founders of OpenAI is suing try to prevent OpenAI from turning into a completely for-profit business.
Ogunlesi’s other board positions include BlackRock, Topgolf Callaway Brands, Kosmos Energy Holdings and Terminal Investment Ltd.
— CNBC’s Hayden Field contributed to this report.
