OpenAI's chief people officer Julia Villagra steps down

OpenAI's chief people officer Julia Villagra steps down

22 Aug 2025, 12:43 PM

Prior to joining OpenAI, Villagra was board member at Tertulia Chamber Music, San Francisco-based chamber music series.

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OpenAI's Chief People Officer, Julia Villagra, is exiting the AI startup, the Reuters reported, amid fierce talent war in the AI industry.

Villagra is leaving to pursue her personal passion of using art, music and storytelling to help people understand the transition to artificial general intelligence (AGI), the report said.

Villagra had joined OpenAI as head of human resources in February last year, as per her LinkedIn profile. She went on to become VP of People four months later in May before being promoted as Chief People Officer in June 2024.

Prior to joining OpenAI, Villagra was board member at Tertulia Chamber Music, San Francisco-based chamber music series that is designed to attract audiences committed to concert-going and revelry.

Earlier she was Head of People at Hudson River Trading.

In the interim, OpenAI's Chief Strategy Officer Jason Kwon will be heading HR functions.

Villagra's exit comes at a time when the industry is seeing intensifying AI talent war with OpenAI's rival Meta being the fiercest to poach talent.

So aggressive has been Meta in poaching from rivals including OpenAI, that OpenAI’s chief research officer Mark Chen had stated, "I feel a visceral feeling right now, as if someone has broken into our home and stolen something." He'd added, "Please trust that we haven’t been sitting idly by."

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