OpenAI adds Nubank and BNY chiefs to boards ahead of possible IPO

OpenAI appointed David Vélez, chief executive of Nubank, and Robin Vince, chief executive of BNY, to the boards of both its nonprofit and for-profit entities, the company said Tuesday. The additions bring two senior financial executives into OpenAI’s governance structure as the artificial intelligence company, valued at more than $850 billion according to CNBC, prepares for a possible public listing.

Vélez leads Nubank, which OpenAI described as Latin America’s largest digital bank. Vince runs BNY, the financial services company. OpenAI said the two executives would bring “complementary perspectives on how technology can reshape industries and drive economic growth.”

The board appointments follow OpenAI’s confidential filing of an IPO prospectus with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in June, CNBC reported. The company has not announced a date for any debut, and a confidential filing does not require a company to proceed with a listing on a set timetable.

The governance structure that Vélez and Vince join was clarified in an October recapitalization. OpenAI said at the time that the OpenAI Foundation, its nonprofit entity, would hold a controlling stake in OpenAI Group PBC, its for-profit business. That structure gives the foundation ultimate control while allowing the operating company to raise and deploy capital through a public benefit corporation model.

OpenAI said in October that the nonprofit’s equity interest was worth about $130 billion. The company has since described the foundation as one of the world’s best-funded nonprofit organizations.

Bret Taylor, chair of the boards of the OpenAI Foundation and OpenAI Group PBC, said in OpenAI’s statement that Vélez and Vince had used technology to change financial services and widen access at global scale. “Their experience will be invaluable as OpenAI serves more businesses and people around the world, working to ensure AI benefits everyone,” Taylor said.

Vélez and Vince join a board that already includes Taylor, a former co-chief executive of Salesforce, and OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman. Other directors include Quora chief executive Adam D’Angelo, former health-care executive Dr. Sue Desmond-Hellmann, Carnegie Mellon University professor Zico Kolter, retired U.S. Army General Paul Nakasone, Global Infrastructure Partners co-founder Adebayo Ogunlesi and former Sony executive Nicole Seligman.

The board’s composition has been closely watched since OpenAI’s 2023 leadership crisis, when Altman was briefly removed as chief executive. The board members then in place said he had been “not consistently candid in his communications.” Altman returned after several days of negotiations and was reinstated to the board in March 2024.

The new appointments add financial sector experience to OpenAI’s oversight at a time when investors, regulators and commercial customers are assessing how the company will balance capital demands, public-interest commitments and the expansion of AI products across global markets.

This story draws on original reporting from CNBC.