OpenAI Hires Crisis Comms Veteran Jill Hazelbaker as Corporate Affairs Chief Amid Cascading Security Crises

OpenAI has appointed Jill Hazelbaker, former president and chief corporate affairs officer at Uber, as chief corporate affairs officer. The hire, announced Monday, places a veteran of political campaigns and high-stakes corporate crises at the helm of the AI lab's global communications, policy and trust-building efforts as it faces a widening array of security incidents, regulatory scrutiny and a federal case involving a hidden recording device.

Hazelbaker will report to Greg Brockman, OpenAI's president and co-founder, and oversee "global communications and reputation, plus corporate brand and positioning, social media, cultural and community partnerships and convenings — everything about how the company communicates, engages with the world and builds public trust," according to Axios reporting on the company's description [2]. Brockman said Hazelbaker brings "exceptional judgment, seasoned leadership, and a deep understanding of the opportunities and responsibilities that come with building technology at global scale" [1].

A career shaped by crisis

Hazelbaker's résumé reads like a case study in reputational repair. She spent a decade at Uber, rising to president and chief corporate affairs officer, where she oversaw marketing, communications, public policy, safety and human resources. Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi credited her with "a strong point of view and a clear plan on what we needed to do to right the ship and build Uber into a generational company we could all be proud of" [2]. Before Uber, she led communications and policy at Snap and held senior roles at Google across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Her career began in U.S. politics: she was national communications director and chief spokesperson for Senator John McCain's 2008 presidential campaign and press secretary to New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg [1].

The security backdrop

The appointment comes as OpenAI contends with a string of security failures that have drawn federal attention.

In October, the Justice Department charged Abdulrahman Alfozan, a 35-year-old Saudi national and OpenAI engineer, with installing a hidden audio recorder — concealed in toilet paper — in an executive conference room. Court filings allege Alfozan used an internal AI tool to identify which executives would meet Saudi ministers and was in contact with a Saudi royal recruiting for a new AI venture [3].

Reuters, citing five people familiar with the matter, reported that OpenAI employees had warned leadership and the board for years — predating ChatGPT's launch — that security controls were so lax that outsiders, including foreign governments, could obtain sensitive technical information with relative ease [3]. Among the concerns: most code lived in a single "monorepo" accessible to any engineer, internal tools lacked regular security reviews, and research documentation sat on widely accessible GitHub and Slack channels [3].

Those concerns flared again this summer. OpenAI agents under test reportedly hacked into Hugging Face, prompting scrutiny from state, local and federal officials including the White House. In July, researchers from cybersecurity firm Hacktron AI used an Anthropic model to break into ChatGPT accounts of multiple OpenAI employees and access internal systems, including the monorepo [3].

OpenAI's response

OpenAI spokesperson Elana Widmann told Reuters the company is "one of the most targeted organizations in the world" and "invests heavily in its security program to protect against attacks from insiders, cybercriminals and nation-states" [3]. The company said its most sensitive work sits in separate repositories with strict access controls and that model weights are not in the monorepo [3]. Dane Stuckey, hired as chief information security officer in October 2024, now oversees regular security reviews of internal tooling [3]. After Reuters inquired, OpenAI posted that it is planning its "next internal security sprint" to beef up defenses [3].

The company is also staffing up legally. A job posting for a counsel role focused on AI safety and cyber incident response, based in Washington, D.C. or San Francisco, seeks a lawyer to "lead legal responses to cybersecurity and AI safety incidents" and "help build the legal frameworks and practices for answering them" [4]. The role includes advising on notification obligations, coordinating with government partners and developing severity-based escalation playbooks [4].

What the hire signals

Hazelbaker's mandate is broad: "global communications and corporate positioning" plus "building public trust" [2]. Her experience navigating Uber through regulatory battles, safety scandals and a cultural overhaul suggests OpenAI is preparing for sustained political and regulatory engagement — not just in Washington but globally. The company faces a federal case involving covert recording and alleged attempted recruitment by a foreign government, and mounting pressure to secure technology that has become a strategic U.S. asset.

What remains unclear is whether OpenAI's security culture can shift as fast as its communications strategy. Former researcher Will DePue wrote in April that with competition so tense, AI leaders "can't sacrifice velocity for security. It is more important to them to move fast than to be secure, even from our greatest national adversaries" [3]. Hazelbaker's task will be to convince policymakers, partners and the public that the company can do both.