OpenAI Enterprise Sales VP Ashley Kramer Joins ElevenLabs as CRO

Per Bloomberg, OpenAI VP of Enterprise Sales Ashley Kramer has departed and joined voice AI company ElevenLabs as Chief Revenue Officer on September 2. The move is seen as ElevenLabs doubling down on enterprise commercialization and as the latest case of talent drain from OpenAI's commercial team.

Confirmed

• Bloomberg reports Kramer, previously leading enterprise sales at OpenAI, has joined ElevenLabs as CRO.
• Her career began as a software engineer at NASA, with roles across multiple companies since.
• ElevenLabs officially announced she will work with global customers to bring natural, interactive AI to languages and cultural contexts worldwide; team member Jennifer Li welcomed her aboard.
• a16z investor Andrew Reed tweeted congratulations on the appointment.
• Kramer herself said intelligence alone won't drive AI adoption; the next phase of competition is whether AI can interact naturally and human-likely — the core of ElevenLabs' direction.

Why it matters

• Poaching OpenAI's enterprise sales head signals ElevenLabs is investing heavily in enterprise commercialization, with a CRO hire typically elevating revenue growth to strategic priority.
• For OpenAI, it marks another loss from its commercial team. Poster thedealdirector quipped about sales talent leaving before the "cybersecurity goblins" take over OpenAI, implying a shift toward safety at the expense of the business side (poster's opinion, not confirmed).

2026-09-02 ~ 2026-09-03 · 6 related posts

• [source] OpenAI VP of Enterprise Sales Ashley Kramer Jumps to ElevenLabs as CRO — thedealdirector · 2026-09-02
• ElevenLabs hires OpenAI enterprise sales lead Ashley Kramer as Chief Revenue Officer — kirbyman01 · 2026-09-02
• More sales talent leaving OpenAI ahead of a security pivot — thedealdirector · 2026-09-02
• [source] Ashley Kramer joins ElevenLabs as Chief Revenue Officer — lukeharries · 2026-09-02

2 near-duplicate retellings: lukeharries · JenniferHli