Sarah Friar 

Chief Financial Officer, OpenAI

Sarah Friar is the Chief Financial Officer of OpenAI, where she oversees the company’s financial strategy and operations.

From December 2018 to May 2024, Sarah was chief executive officer of Nextdoor, the neighborhood network that connects neighborhood stakeholders, including neighbors, businesses, and public services, online and in real life to build stronger, more vibrant, and resilient neighborhoods. She helped take the Nextdoor public in 2021 under the ticker NYSE:KIND. During Sarah’s five year tenure, Nextdoor nearly tripled to more than 92M Verified Neighbors, reaching over 335,000 neighborhoods around the world.

Prior to Nextdoor, Sarah served as chief financial officer at Square (now known as Block, Inc.). Under Sarah’s leadership, the company launched its initial public offering in 2015 and added $30 billion in market capitalization. Before her tenure at Square, Sarah served as senior vice president of finance & strategy at Salesforce. Sarah also held executive roles at Goldman Sachs, as well as leadership positions at McKinsey in both London and South Africa.

Sarah currently also serves on the board of Consensys, a private company in the Web3 arena, and she previously served on the boards of Slack Technologies (from 2017 to 2021), Dragonneer Growth Opportunities Corp. (from 2020 to 2021), Dragonneer Growth Opportunities Corp. II (from 2020 to 2021), Dragonneer Growth Opportunities Corp. III (from 2021 to 2023), and New Relic (from 2013 to 2018). She is a Fellow of the inaugural class of the Finance Leaders Fellowship Program, a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network, and serves on the advisory boards of Operation HOPE, the Blavatnik School of Government at Oxford and The Stanford Digital Economy Lab. She is co-founder of Ladies Who Launch, a network that mentors and inspires women entrepreneurs and business owners. She was named to the 2023 NACD Directorship 100 selection, an annual recognition of the leading corporate directors, corporate governance experts, policymakers, and influencers who significantly impact boardroom practices and performance.

Sarah grew up in Northern Ireland and earned her MEng in Metallurgy, Economics, and Management from the University of Oxford and her MBA from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business, where she graduated as an Arjay Miller scholar. She also holds a OBE from Queen Elizabeth II for services to entrepreneurship.