OpenAI Appoints Slack CEO as Its New Chief Revenue Officer

Slack CEO Denise Dresser is set to leave the company to take on the role of chief revenue officer at OpenAI, according to multiple sources speaking to WIRED. The news of Dresser’s departure was announced by Marc Benioff, the CEO of Salesforce, which owns Slack, in a message to employees on Monday evening.

At OpenAI, Dresser will oversee the enterprise unit, which has seen significant growth this year. She will report directly to chief operating officer Brad Lightcap and is expected to begin her new role next week.

“We’re on a path to put AI tools into the hands of millions of workers, across every industry,” stated OpenAI CEO of Applications Fidji Simo in a message to WIRED. “Denise has led such transitions before, and her expertise will be invaluable in making AI useful, reliable, and accessible for businesses globally.”

According to Benioff’s message, Dresser has spent 14 years at Salesforce. Before her appointment as CEO in 2023, she held various executive positions within Salesforce’s enterprise sales division. She succeeded Lidiane Jones, who left for the CEO role at Bumble after serving as Slack’s CEO for about a year.

The company that eventually evolved into Slack was established in 2009. By 2014, it had transformed into a rapidly expanding platform for workplace communication and collaboration tools. In 2021, Salesforce acquired the company for approximately $28 billion. Many of Slack’s founding team members, including co-founders Stewart Butterfield and Cal Henderson, departed shortly after the acquisition. Over time, aspects of Slack’s operations were integrated into Salesforce’s larger framework, leading to reported cultural clashes between the startup’s workforce and the corporate giant.

Rob Seaman, Slack’s current chief product officer, is set to take over as interim CEO, according to two sources familiar with the executive changes.

As of the time of publication, Slack’s representatives had not responded to WIRED’s requests for comment.

During Dresser’s leadership at Slack, she facilitated the launch of several significant AI features, including AI-generated meeting summaries and an integration with Salesforce’s AI agents. Earlier this year, as Elon Musk took on a prominent role in the US government, Dresser frequently expressed her support on X, endorsing the idea that federal employees should send bullet-pointed updates on their accomplishments and reacting positively to a post about President Donald Trump signing an executive order that mandated federal agencies to collaborate with Musk’s DOGE.

Paresh Dave and Maxwell Zeff contributed to this report.

Update: 12/9/2025, 2 PM EDT: WIRED has revised the duration of Dresser’s employment with Slack and Salesforce.