Sarah Friar

Sarah Friar joined OpenAI as its first-ever CFO in June 2024, arriving at the most consequential moment in its short history: a pivot from research lab to global commercial enterprise in pursuit of artificial general intelligence. OpenAI is expected to pursue an IPO as early as this year. Friar has some sorely needed expertise: She has already led a public company as CEO of Nextdoor and took another, Square, public as CFO. As OpenAI’s finance chief, Friar must manage the ChatGPT-maker’s cash flow to allow the business’s compute capacity to keep up with surging demand. With intense scrutiny on OpenAI’s IPO plans—and even more once it goes public—Friar is in one of the most important CFO jobs in the world.