Meta's Sandhya Devanathan exits after decade-long stint, to join OpenAI

Sandhya Devanathan, vice president and head of India and South East Asia at Meta, has announced her departure from the company after more than ten years, describing the decision as "bittersweet" in a message shared on LinkedIn.

Devanathan will join OpenAI as vice president for Southeast Asia and Australia. She will be based in Singapore and report to Kiran Mani, managing director for Asia-Pacific (APAC).

In this newly created role, Devanathan will be OpenAI’s most senior leader in Southeast Asia and Australia, with responsibility for our performance across consumer growth, enterprise adoption and partnerships, regulatory engagement, and operations.


Meta stint

Devanathan joined Meta in 2016 when the company's Singapore office had roughly 300 employees. Over her tenure, she worked across the ecommerce and gaming sectors in APAC, leading teams across India and Southeast Asia.

In her post, the senior executive highlighted several milestones from her time at the company, including the adoption of WhatsApp for government citizen services in India, small businesses launching storefronts in Vietnam, Indonesia and Thailand, and startups scaling into unicorns in Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines.

"I shared with my teams today that I am extraordinarily proud of how they've shown up everyday, doing the best work they can in an industry that is rapidly evolving. I’m proud of the work we’ve done together," her post read.

In June this year, the Sam Altman-led company announced the appointment of Prabhjeet Singh as Managing Director for India - among its top-priority markets and one where the company has been stepping up investments and expanding its footprint.

In fact, OpenAI has been moving its India strategy to top gear through partnerships with enterprises and developers, while strengthening engagement with policymakers. The company opened its first office in New Delhi in November 2025.

Altman himself has repeatedly described India as one of OpenAI's key markets and has praised the country's rapid AI uptake and commitment to investing across the tech stack.