OpenAI executive shuffle includes new role for COO Brad Lightcap to lead ‘special projects’

A handful of OpenAI executives are transitioning to new roles, according to a report from Bloomberg. An OpenAI spokesperson confirmed the staff changes to TechCrunch.

CEO of AGI Development Fidji Simo announced in a memo that OpenAI COO Brad Lightcap has a new job leading “special projects,” which will involve “complex deals and investments across the company.” He will report directly to CEO Sam Altman.

Denise Dresser, the former CEO of Slack who recently joined OpenAI as Chief Revenue Officer, will take over some of Lightcap’s commercial duties.

Simo also had news of her own to share: she will be going on medical leave in the coming weeks due to a neuroimmune disease.

“I have done everything possible to avoid it, but unfortunately my body is not cooperating,” Simo wrote in the memo obtained by Bloomberg.

“The timing is maddening because we have such an exciting roadmap ahead that the team is working on, and I hate to miss even a minute of it,” she said.

While she is on leave, OpenAI co-founder and president Greg Brockman will manage the product.

Kate Rouch, OpenAI’s chief marketing officer, will also step down from her role to focus on cancer recovery, but will return to an “other, more limited role when her health allows,” the memo said. The company plans to look for a new CMO.

“We have a strong leadership team focused on our biggest priorities: advancing groundbreaking research, growing our global user base of nearly 1 billion users, and driving business use cases,” OpenAI told TechCrunch in a statement. “We are well positioned to continue to perform with continuity and momentum.”

Update, 4/3/26, 6:25 PM ET with additional context surrounding Dresser’s role.