Sandhya Devanathan exits Meta after a decade to join OpenAI as VP South East Asia, Australia

Meta’s Vice President and Head for India and South East Asia, Sandhya Devanathan, is leaving the social media giant after more than a decade and is all set to join OpenAI as Vice President for South East Asia and Australia.

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

The Meta veteran penned an emotional post on LinkedIn, announcing her departure from the social media giant and said she is looking forward to her “next exciting chapter”. She, however, did not divulge her next move.

OpenAI, though, confirmed that Devanathan will join as Vice President for Southeast Asia and Australia. She will be based in Singapore and report to Kiran Mani, OpenAI’s Managing Director for Asia Pacific, the ChatGPT maker confirmed. Devanathan’s joining date at OpenAI could not be immediately ascertained. Notably, the appointment comes as OpenAI expands its presence across Asia Pacific amid growing adoption of its AI tools among consumers, enterprises and developers.

Over the past two years, OpenAI has opened local offices in Singapore, Tokyo, Seoul, Sydney and Delhi, and expanded its regional leadership team with the recent appointment of Kiran Mani as Managing Director for APAC.

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.

Devanathan brings more than 25 years of experience across the technology and financial services sectors. She joined Meta in 2016 and held several leadership roles across the region, including leading its Asia Pacific gaming business and helping expand the company’s presence in Singapore and Vietnam.

In the LinkedIn post, Devanathan described the decision to leave after more than a decade as “bittersweet” and said she would take a short break before beginning her “next exciting chapter”. Looking back at her tenure, she highlighted Meta’s work with businesses, startups and creators across the region, including government citizen services on WhatsApp in India and helping small businesses establish storefronts on its apps in Vietnam, Indonesia and Thailand.

“I joined Meta when we had just about 300 employees in Singapore,” she recounted and reflected on how the landscape looked “so different” in 2016, with everyone talking about digital transformation.

“And we were right in the midst of it - helping startups, companies, creators and the ecosystem grow across the region while delivering great experiences for hundreds of millions of our users,” she wrote. Devanathan said she was “incredibly proud” of what her teams had built and thanked colleagues, businesses, ecosystem partners, non-profits and creators she had worked with during her time at Meta.

“Over the years, I’ve had the privilege of working across sectors like ecommerce and gaming in APAC, and leading talented teams across India and Southeast Asia. Throughout this journey, I’ve been fueled by the belief that our work brings meaningful connections to people and businesses worldwide,” she further said.

Describing the day as “emotional”, Devanathan said the teams she worked with were nothing short of exceptional and made this an incredible ride.

“I shared with my teams today that I am extraordinarily proud of how they’ve shown up every day, doing the best work they can in an industry that is rapidly evolving. I’m proud of the work we’ve done together - be the millions of people using government citizen services on WA (WhatsApp) in India or the millions of small businesses in Vietnam, Indonesia and Thailand who opened their storefronts on our apps or helping startups become unicorns in Singapore, Malaysia and Philippines...the stories are many and I am incredibly proud of everything we’ve built together,” she said.