Hazelbaker arrives after nearly two decades straddling technology, public policy and political communications. Before becoming Uber’s president and chief corporate affairs officer, she held senior roles at Snap and Google and worked on the campaigns of John McCain and Michael Bloomberg.¹

At Uber, she spent more than a decade helping steer a company once defined by regulatory fights and near-constant crisis into a global consumer-tech heavyweight. CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said she brought “exceptional clarity, integrity, and energy” to strategic moments at the company.²

Now, OpenAI is handing Hazelbaker a similarly expansive brief. Announced Tuesday, her new role as chief corporate affairs officer covers global communications, reputation, corporate brand and positioning, as well as the company’s engagement with policymakers, communities and the public. She will report to co-founder and president Greg Brockman.³

OpenAI’s case is straightforward: as its systems reach more people, trust has become a core operating challenge, not a messaging afterthought. Brockman said the company needs a leader who understands “the opportunities and responsibilities that come with building technology at global scale.”¹ He welcomed Hazelbaker publicly, saying he was “extremely excited” to work with her.Greg Brockman (gdb)⁴

The outside framing is sharper. The communications post had been vacant for nearly a year after Hannah Wong’s departure, during a period marked by controversy, criticism over transparency and mounting concern over AI’s social, labor and environmental costs.³

Hazelbaker, for her part, calls the move a chance to shape how people “understand, engage with, and ultimately benefit from” AI.² Her task is to make that promise credible while OpenAI’s technology—and the backlash surrounding it—continues to scale.