OpenAI has appointed Sanjay Deshmukh as Vice President of APAC Sales, as the company looks to deepen its engagement with businesses and organisations across the Asia Pacific region. Deshmukh, who has spent much of his career working with businesses across APAC on technology-led transformation, said his new role will focus on helping organisations translate AI capabilities into meaningful business outcomes.
“I’ve spent much of my career helping businesses across Asia Pacific accelerate transformation and unlock value from emerging technologies. Today, AI is not only reshaping organisations, it is redefining what is possible. I’m excited to share that I’ve joined OpenAI as Vice President of APAC Sales. I’m especially proud to join a company whose mission is to ensure that artificial general intelligence benefits all of humanity. What drew me to OpenAI is the opportunity to help leaders and organisations translate the potential of AI into meaningful outcomes for their employees, customers, and businesses. That starts with understanding what matters most to each organisation and applying AI where it can create the greatest impact. I’m looking forward to partnering with Dali Rajic Kiran Mani Oliver J. Andy Brown, as well as with our customers and the broader ecosystem across APAC. I’m equally excited to work alongside an exceptional team to help shape this next chapter of transformation,” said Sanjay Deshmukh.
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Deshmukh joins OpenAI after serving as Vice President, Asia Pacific and Japan at Elastic from April 2025 to August 2026. Before Elastic, he was Senior Regional Vice President, ASEAN and India at Snowflake, where he served from September 2021 to March 2025. He previously spent more than seven years at VMware, where he held several leadership positions, including Vice President and Managing Director, South East Asia and Korea, Vice President, End-User Computing, Asia Pacific and Japan, and Managing Director, End-User Computing, Asia Pacific and Japan.
Earlier, Deshmukh served as Area Vice President – India Subcontinent at Citrix Systems India from January 2010 to April 2014. In his new role at OpenAI, Deshmukh will work with customers, partners and the wider technology ecosystem across APAC as organisations increasingly explore how AI can be applied to business operations and transformation.
