OpenAI main communication WIRED has learned that director Hannah Wong announced internally on Monday that she is leaving the company in January. In a statement to WIRED, OpenAI spokeswoman Kayla Wood confirmed the departure.
“Hannah has played a pivotal role in shaping the way people understand OpenAI and the work we do,” CEO Sam Altman and CEO of Apps Fidji Simo said in a joint statement. “She has an extraordinary ability to bring clarity to complex ideas and to do so with care and grace. We are deeply grateful for her leadership and partnership over the past five years and wish her all the best.”
Wong joined OpenAI in 2021 when it was a relatively miniature research lab and led the company’s communications team as ChatGPT grew into one of the largest consumer products in the world. She was credited with playing a key role in steering the company through the PR crisis that saw Altman briefly ousted and rehired in 2023 – a period the company internally calls “the leapfrog.” Wong took over as chief communications officer in August 2024 and has since expanded the company’s communications team.
In a prepared LinkedIn post shared with WIRED, Wong said Lindsey Held, OpenAI’s vice president of communications, will lead the company’s communications team until a fresh communications director is hired. OpenAI Chief Marketing Officer Kate Rouch is leading the search for Wong’s successor.
“These years were intense and deeply formative,” Wong said in a LinkedIn post. “I’m grateful for the opportunity to help tell the OpenAI story, introduce the world to ChatGPT and other amazing products, and share more about the people paving the way for AGI at an extraordinary moment of growth and momentum.”
Wong says she looks forward to spending more time with her husband and children as she considers the next chapter of her career.
Updated: 12/15/2025, 7:30 PM EDT: : WIRED clarified Kate Rouch’s title.