Meta’s India, Southeast Asia VP Sandhya Devanathan moves to OpenAI
Devanathan will join OpenAI as Vice President for Southeast Asia and Australia in October, overseeing consumer growth, enterprise adoption, partnerships, regulatory engagement and operations.
Sandhya Devanathan, Meta’s Vice President for India and Southeast Asia, is leaving the social media giant after more than a decade to join OpenAI.
Devanathan will take over as Vice President for Southeast Asia and Australia at OpenAI in October. Based in Singapore, she will report to Kiran Mani, OpenAI’s Managing Director for Asia-Pacific. The newly created role will see her oversee consumer growth, enterprise adoption and partnerships, regulatory engagement and operations across the region, according to reports.
Devanathan announced her departure from Meta in a LinkedIn post on Friday, although she did not disclose her next employer.
“After more than a decade at Meta, I’ve made the bittersweet decision to move on to my next adventure,” she wrote, adding that she would take a short break before starting her next chapter.
Decade-long career at Meta
She joined Meta in 2016, when the company had around 300 employees in Singapore. Over the next decade, Devanathan worked across ecommerce and gaming in Asia-Pacific, helped build Meta’s businesses in Singapore and Vietnam, and worked on its ecommerce initiatives across Southeast Asia.
In 2020, she took charge of Meta’s gaming business in Asia-Pacific. She was appointed Vice President and Head of Meta India in late 2022 and formally moved into the role in January 2023, with responsibility for the company’s business and revenue priorities in one of its largest markets.
Her mandate was subsequently expanded to include Southeast Asia.
Reflecting on her tenure, Devanathan pointed to the growth of businesses and digital services built around Meta’s platforms across the region, including government citizen services delivered through WhatsApp in India and small businesses using Meta’s apps as digital storefronts in Vietnam, Indonesia and Thailand.
OpenAI’s regional expansion
Her move comes as OpenAI steps up its expansion across Asia-Pacific. The ChatGPT maker has opened offices in markets including Singapore, Tokyo, Seoul, Sydney and Delhi over the past two years. Devanathan will be OpenAI’s most senior executive covering Southeast Asia and Australia, with a remit that also includes building partnerships with businesses, institutions and governments.
OpenAI has also been strengthening its India leadership. In June, it appointed former Uber India and South Asia President Prabhjeet Singh as Managing Director for India.
At Meta, Arun Srinivas, who was appointed Managing Director and Country Head for India in 2025, is expected to continue leading the India business. Benjamin Joe, Meta’s Regional Vice President for Asia-Pacific, said in a comment on Devanathan’s LinkedIn post that Srinivas would join his leadership team and “take Meta India forward”.