Born in Sète in 1985, passed by Ebay, Facebook and Instacart, Fiji Simo takes the head of Openai Applications in a few weeks. A Frenchwoman with maneuver in one of the most strategic companies of the moment.
Fiji Simo will now direct the “Applications” division of Openai. This newly created entity will be responsible for piloting product development, business strategy and operational functions of the company founded by Sam Altman. She therefore directly supervises efforts around Chatgpt, future vertical AI assistants, mobile platforms, and the B2B distribution model.
Fiji Simo’s journey is atypical, daughter of a fisherman from Sète and a trader, she obtained her bac at 16, passes through HEC, discovers California during an exchange in UCLA, then joined Ebay in San Francisco. In 2011, she sent a spontaneous candidacy to Facebook and entered it as Product Marketer. It climbs the ladder and takes over the video strategy, the launch of Facebook Live, and the main application management. In 2019, she replaced Chris Cox, Mark Zuckerberg’s right -hand man.
In July 2021, she took the lead, after having sat a few months on the board of directors. It restructures post-Cavid growth there, proves the profitability of the company, leads the IPO, and brings the annual turnover linked to advertising and third-party revenues to more than a billion dollars. In parallel, she launches new products, such as Caper Carts in stores and the FIZZ app, released in 2024.
The change at Openai was accelerated by a leak in the press, forcing the announcement before the finalization of the handover process. Fiji Simo will still remain in office for a few months at Instacart, the time to transmit to a successor from current management. It will retain the chairmanship of the board of directors.
Already a member of the Board of Openai since March 2024, she was in a position to closely observe the strategic transition of the company: after a phase centered on research, Openai wants to industrialize its products and have them adopted on a large scale. This role requires product expertise, a keen sense of distribution, and an ability to execute in complex environments. Simo checks all the boxes.
She now lives in Los Altos, is the mother of a daughter, and co-founder of Metrodora, a medical center dedicated to neuro-immune disorders-a domain in which she is personally concerned.
With this appointment, Openai offers an international profile leader, experienced, anchored in social issues, and capable of making the link between technological innovation and large -scale uses. A war caught commensurate with the ambitions of Sam Altman and Fiji Simo takes a new step in a journey that has become a reference, and exemplary.
