OpenAI hones public sector focus with new leadership hires

Fresh off a year in which more than 1 million federal employees gained access to its ChatGPT platform, OpenAI added several senior executives to its government team in October to further accelerate its momentum across the public sector.

OpenAI hired Yvette Cesario to be its new head of national security. Cesario formerly worked for Amazon Web Services, where she served as managing director for national security and was a founding member of AWS’ national security team, bringing cloud computing at scale to intelligence agencies. In her new role, Cesario will lead engagement with the intelligence community, which is increasingly looking to use generative AI in its mission space.

Peter Guerra will serve as OpenAI’s head of tech success. Guerra formerly worked as Oracle’s group vice president for data and AI for government, defense and intelligence, and was at Microsoft, Accenture and Booz Allen Hamilton prior to that. In Guerra’s new position, he’ll work to transition agencies from generative AI pilots to mission deployments.

Jamil Jaffer, who founded the National Security Institute and the AI & Innovation Institute at George Mason University’s Antonin Scalia Law School, will take on the role of OpenAI’s head of global government cyber. Jaffer previously served as venture partner and strategic advisor at Paladin Capital Group, a defense technology-focused venture capital firm, and has held prior national security-focused roles in the House, Senate and the Justice Department’s national security division.

“OpenAI is focused on bringing advanced AI tools to public servants and helping them use the technology to serve the American people,” Katrina Mulligan, head of national security partnerships for OpenAI for Government, said in a statement. “Yvette, Peter and Jamil bring deep experience with the missions our government partners carry out every day.”

OpenAI also beefed up its policy communications team, hiring Megha Bhattacharya to serve as public sector lead. Prior to joining OpenAI, Bhattacharya served in the Biden-Harris Administration, including roles in the White House press office and in the State Department.

These hires coincided with OpenAI’s appointment of former U.S. Army Secretary Dan Driscoll to serve as senior counselor for national security modernization. Driscoll was hailed by President Trump as “a disruptor and a change agent” in 2024 before resigning Aug. 31.

“AI should give people more power over their lives and people should have a say in how it’s developed,” OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said. “The US has an extraordinary opportunity to work with other countries to spread the adoption of democratic AI and I’m excited to welcome Dan Driscoll to OpenAI to strengthen American leadership and help us do that.”

Major momentum for OpenAI

In August 2025, OpenAI was among the first companies to negotiate software discounts for government customers through the General Service Administration’s OneGov program, courting a new government market.

In September, OpenAI for Government announced a new multi-year agreement with GSA — dubbed OneGov 2.0 — offering federal agencies discounted, token-based pricing for its popular ChatGPT models. The new deal removed monthly platform fees and offered a 50% discount on token-based usage across those models beginning Oct. 1, one day after its original OneGov deal expired.

According to OpenAI for Government, the company onboarded 50 new government agencies during the months of September and October. During the same two-month span, OpenAI captured government contracts collectively valued at more than $550 million, according to GovTribe data. They include:

• Treasury: $487 million potential value; $2.16 million obligated
• Health and Human Services: $30.68 million potential value; $6.93 million obligated
• Veterans Affairs: $34 million potential value; $4.20 million obligated
• Labor: $875,000 potential value, fully obligated
• Education: $1.42 million potential value; $711,000 obligated

In another summer milestone, the Pentagon unleashed a specialized version of OpenAI’s ChatGPT to troops and civilian defense users of the GenAI.mil platform. Through the platform, up to 3 million users have access to tools provided by Google, OpenAI and xAI.