OpenAI Welcomes Two More Financial Veterans, IPO Plans Becoming Clearer

According to Smart Finance APP, OpenAI, the AI giant heavily backed by Microsoft (MSFT.US), is moving further toward the public market—recently, both its foundation and its for-profit entity OpenAI Group PBC have welcomed new board members, each with many years of deep experience in financial services and public capital markets.

The new board members are David Vélez and Robin Vince. Vélez is the Founder and CEO of Nubank (NU.US), a digital financial platform headquartered in São Paulo, Brazil, which has become one of the world’s largest digital financial service providers since its establishment in 2013. Vince has led BNY Mellon (BNY.US) since 2022, and previously served at Goldman Sachs (GS.US) for more than 25 years.

Bret Taylor, Chairman of the Board of the OpenAI Foundation and OpenAI Group PBC, stated: “David and Robin are outstanding leaders who have used technology to reshape financial services and expand economic opportunities worldwide. Their experience will bring irreplaceable value to OpenAI’s mission to serve more businesses and individuals and ensure the benefits of AI are accessible to all. We warmly welcome them to our team.”

With this, the OpenAI Board has expanded to ten members. In addition to the two new additions, the board also includes Taylor, Sam Altman, Adam D'Angelo, Sue Desmond-Hellman, Sarah Friar, Zico Kolter, Paul M. Nakasone, and Nicole Seligman.

It is noteworthy that OpenAI secretly submitted its IPO prospectus to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in June this year. The market generally expects that it could go public as early as the end of this year, though some analysts say the official listing may be delayed until early 2027. The addition of these heavyweight directors from the financial sector undoubtedly paves the way for the potential IPO, and also highlights OpenAI’s determination to transition into a public company.