OpenAI saw another senior departure Tuesday as former Data Center Chief Chris Malone exited after a short stint, putting fresh attention on who is steering the company’s fast-growing infrastructure push.

Malone joined OpenAI in March 2025 after time at Meta Platforms and Google, and his departure came last week, according to The Wall Street Journal and TechCrunch.

OpenAI told the Wall Street Journal in a statement that the company has "recently reorganized" its "infrastructure organization to support the scale and pace of our work” and "We have a strong, deeply experienced data center team in place, with clear leadership and the technical expertise to execute our plans."

The company’s internal reporting lines shifted during the infrastructure shake-up, with Greg Brockman no longer the executive Malone reported to and Sachin Katti taking leadership of the group.

TechCrunch also said multiple leaders are now involved in the data center work, including Uday Ruddarraju on the data center team, Brent Mayo running build and delivery, and Spas Lazarov overseeing engineering.

The company has seen more than a dozen executive exits in 2026, with Business Insider putting the count at 13 and several departures clustered in the past month.

Two weeks ago, OpenAI replaced Chief Revenue Officer Denise Dresser, who had been in the role for about eight months. Dali Rajic was named in her place, with the company framing the hire as preparing for a new wave of models it expects to reshape how organizations operate.

Two days before Dresser’s departure was announced, OpenAI also lost longtime executive Brad Lightcap, who had served as chief operating officer. Lightcap said he would be "starting something new," without sharing details.

About a month earlier, OpenAI Product and Business Chief Fidji Simo stepped down to address a "chronic illness," although she continues to advise the company.

TechCrunch also pointed to turnover tied to safety and governance, including July’s departure of Ethics Lead Chloé Bakalar and a report last week that OpenAI disbanded its preparedness team focused on catastrophic-risk evaluation.

Other exits have followed project changes, including Bill Peebles leaving after work tied to the Sora image generator ended, and April’s departure of Chief Marketing Officer Kate Rouch, which was reported as health-related.

Co-founder Greg Brockman has argued that the company’s visibility magnifies normal workforce changes, saying the "spotlight" means "every departure gets scrutinized in a way that it doesn’t otherwise."

OpenAI may be pushing back its public debut as it weighs whether market conditions can support its reported goal of a $1 trillion valuation. The company confidentially filed draft IPO paperwork with U.S. regulators last month, but subsequent reports suggest it could wait until 2027 before going public.

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