OpenAI has hired a former Meta executive Dave Dugan as vice president of global ad solutions, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal on Monday.
The hiring comes almost a month after OpenAI recruited Ruoming Pang, a high-profile AI researcher at Meta.
Dugan, who joined Meta in October 2013, most recently served as vice president of global clients and agencies. In a LinkedIn post nearly two weeks ago, he confirmed his departure from the company after nearly 13 years.
“After 12.5 wonderful years at Meta, my time has come to say farewell,” Dugan wrote, adding that his tenure exceeded expectations in terms of learning and working with “the calibre of people” at the company.
While the post did not disclose his next role at the time, Dugan said he would “share details on my next mission soon,” expressing gratitude for colleagues and the leadership at Meta.
In his new role at OpenAI, Dugan will report to chief operating officer Brad Lightcap, the report said.
The development comes months after OpenAI announced plans to begin testing ads on its chatbot, ChatGPT.
The Sam Altman-led company had begun testing ads on February 10 in the free and Go tiers of ChatGPT in the United States, targeting logged-in adult users as it looks to offset rising costs.
The company said ads will not affect responses and user conversations will remain private from advertisers. Paid subscription tiers will remain ad-free.
Rival Anthropic criticised the move, promoting its own chatbot as ad-free in a recent campaign.
The hire also comes against the backdrop of OpenAI’s plans to nearly double its workforce to 8,000 from 4,500 by the end of 2026, the Financial Times reported.
Who is Dave Dugan?
Dugan brings more than two decades of experience in advertising, agency partnerships, and platform monetisation. At Meta, he has overseen relationships with major agency groups and global advertisers.
Prior to that, Dugan held multiple senior roles within Meta’s agency business, including vice president -- global agency team lead, and head of its partnership with WPP.
Earlier in his career, Dugan was the chief commercial officer at the Boston-headquartered integrated advertising agency Arnold Worldwide, and prior to that he held leadership roles at BzzAgent, a marketing and social advocacy platform, and Digitas, a marketing agency.
He holds a degree in business economics from Brown University.
OpenAI’s growth
OpenAI topped $25 billion in annualised revenue as of the end of last month. It also crossed 900 million weekly active users and 50 million paying subscribers last month, marking one of the fastest adoption curves in consumer technology.
The growth comes alongside one of the largest private fundraising rounds globally. OpenAI raised $110 billion at a pre-money valuation of $730 billion in February. The round was led by Amazon, with participation from Nvidia and SoftBank. Amazon committed $50 billion, while SoftBank and Nvidia invested $30 billion each.
The hiring comes almost a month after OpenAI recruited Ruoming Pang, a high-profile AI researcher at Meta.
Dugan, who joined Meta in October 2013, most recently served as vice president of global clients and agencies. In a LinkedIn post nearly two weeks ago, he confirmed his departure from the company after nearly 13 years.
“After 12.5 wonderful years at Meta, my time has come to say farewell,” Dugan wrote, adding that his tenure exceeded expectations in terms of learning and working with “the calibre of people” at the company.
While the post did not disclose his next role at the time, Dugan said he would “share details on my next mission soon,” expressing gratitude for colleagues and the leadership at Meta.
In his new role at OpenAI, Dugan will report to chief operating officer Brad Lightcap, the report said.
The development comes months after OpenAI announced plans to begin testing ads on its chatbot, ChatGPT.
The Sam Altman-led company had begun testing ads on February 10 in the free and Go tiers of ChatGPT in the United States, targeting logged-in adult users as it looks to offset rising costs.
The company said ads will not affect responses and user conversations will remain private from advertisers. Paid subscription tiers will remain ad-free.
Rival Anthropic criticised the move, promoting its own chatbot as ad-free in a recent campaign.
The hire also comes against the backdrop of OpenAI’s plans to nearly double its workforce to 8,000 from 4,500 by the end of 2026, the Financial Times reported.
Who is Dave Dugan?
Dugan brings more than two decades of experience in advertising, agency partnerships, and platform monetisation. At Meta, he has overseen relationships with major agency groups and global advertisers.
Prior to that, Dugan held multiple senior roles within Meta’s agency business, including vice president -- global agency team lead, and head of its partnership with WPP.
Earlier in his career, Dugan was the chief commercial officer at the Boston-headquartered integrated advertising agency Arnold Worldwide, and prior to that he held leadership roles at BzzAgent, a marketing and social advocacy platform, and Digitas, a marketing agency.
He holds a degree in business economics from Brown University.
OpenAI’s growth
OpenAI topped $25 billion in annualised revenue as of the end of last month. It also crossed 900 million weekly active users and 50 million paying subscribers last month, marking one of the fastest adoption curves in consumer technology.
The growth comes alongside one of the largest private fundraising rounds globally. OpenAI raised $110 billion at a pre-money valuation of $730 billion in February. The round was led by Amazon, with participation from Nvidia and SoftBank. Amazon committed $50 billion, while SoftBank and Nvidia invested $30 billion each.
