OpenAI hires JioStar’s Kiran Mani to drive Asia Pacific expansion
CE DESK 
OpenAI has made a major leadership hire in Asia by bringing in Kiran Mani from JioStar to head its regional growth strategy. The appointment signals a stronger push by the ChatGPT maker to build its presence across high-potential markets such as India, Japan, South Korea, Southeast Asia and Australia. As demand for generative AI grows among enterprises, developers and governments, OpenAI appears to be moving faster to localise operations and deepen partnerships across the region.
Kiran Mani’s shift from streaming and digital media to artificial intelligence is notable because he brings more than two decades of experience in scaling technology-led businesses. Before JioStar, he spent over 13 years at Google, where he held senior roles including General Manager for Android and Google Play across Asia-Pacific and Japan, and he also worked at Microsoft and IBM earlier in his career. That mix of platform, consumer technology and partnership experience makes him a strong fit for a region where OpenAI must balance enterprise growth, regulatory engagement and ecosystem building.
The move also comes at a time when OpenAI is expanding beyond its core US and European focus and looking for stronger leadership on the ground in Asia. Singapore is expected to serve as Mani’s operating base, reinforcing the city’s role as a regional hub for technology and business strategy. For OpenAI, the hire is less about a routine executive change and more about setting up long-term infrastructure for adoption, partnerships and market expansion across APAC.
