Denise Dresser will be leaving Slack as CEO. joining OpenAI Multiple sources confirm to WIRED Marc Benioff’s role as chief revenue officer at Salesforce. Marc Benioff was the Chief Executive Officer of Salesforce. which owns SlackDresser left the company on Monday night, according to a memo sent by the firm.
Dresser’s role at OpenAI will include managing the Enterprise Unit, which has grown rapidly in recent years. Brad Lightcap will be Dresser’s chief operating office. She will start next week.
“We’re on a path to put AI tools into the hands of millions of workers, across every industry,” OpenAI CEO of Applications Fidji Simo In a statement made to WIRED. “Denise has led that kind of shift before, and her experience will help us make AI useful, reliable, and accessible for businesses everywhere.”
Benioff stated that Dresser had been with Slack since 2004. Before becoming CEO she served in a variety of executive roles within Salesforce’s enterprise unit. After Lidiane shifted to Bumble as chief executive, she became CEO in 2023. Jones served as Slack CEO for about one year.
Slack, the company which eventually evolved into Slack, was founded in 2009 In 2014, it was a rapidly growing application that offered workplace collaboration and chat tools. Salesforce acquired the company in 2021 for almost $28 billion. Slack’s founding team, which included cofounders Stewart Butterfield, and Cal Henderson left the company within just a few short years after the acquisition. Salesforce acquired some Slack’s operations, which were then merged into its larger organization. reports of culture clashes Between the workers of the former small startup and the corporate behemoth.
Two sources familiar with the changes in leadership have confirmed that Rob Seaman will be appointed interim CEO.
At the time this article was published, Slack representatives had not responded to WIRED requests for comments.
Dresser was Slack CEO from 2013 to 2016. She oversaw several AI-powered features including AI generated meeting summaries, and Salesforce’s AI agent integration. Dresser took part in X’s support of Elon Musk when he took a leading role within the US Government. She said that she agrees with his idea to require federal employees to send bulleted email summaries about their accomplishments. “thumbs up” Emoji on a Facebook post about Donald Trump signing a executive order mandating that federal agencies work with Musk’s DOGE.
Maxwell Zeff, Paresh Dave and others contributed to this article.
