Singapore – OpenAI has appointed Kiran Mani as managing director for Asia-Pacific, a newly established leadership position intended to support its growth across the region.
Based in Singapore, Kiran is scheduled to assume the role in June 2026 and will report to Jason Kwon, chief strategy officer at OpenAI.
The role introduces senior regional oversight as the company strengthens its presence across key markets, including India, Japan, South Korea, Southeast Asia and Australia.
Responsibilities encompass commercial strategy, partnerships and expansion efforts, alongside broader coordination of enterprise engagement, public sector relations and developer ecosystem development across APAC.
Kiran joins from JioStar, a joint venture between Reliance Industries and Disney, where he led its digital and streaming division. In that position, he was responsible for product direction, platform scaling and the rollout of digital services to a large user base across multiple markets.
Earlier in his career, he served as managing director for Android and Google Play in APAC at Google, overseeing regional operations for the mobile platform and application ecosystem. He has also held roles at Microsoft and IBM, working across enterprise software, cloud services and platform technologies.
Kiran’s appointment reflects OpenAI’s efforts to establish more localised leadership structures as it expands internationally, with a focus on scaling adoption, strengthening partnerships and navigating regulatory and market complexities across the region.
