By Mark Bergen | Updated on Oct 08, 2026 at 11:18 AM
OpenAI has appointed Ismail Elmas as vice president for sales in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, the AI developer’s second sales hire from Elon Musk’s SpaceX since September.
Elmas, who is based in Munich, had worked for coding automation startup Cursor, which was acquired by SpaceX for $60 billion in August .
OpenAI recruited Brian McCarthy, another senior Cursor alum, as its VP of worldwide sales last month.
The developer behind ChatGPT is trying to expand its commercial reach in Europe , where officials are increasingly reticent about relying on American tech. As it prepares for a possible public listing, OpenAI is working to boost revenue from enterprise customers and new channels such as advertising.
In the Middle East, OpenAI has deep ties with the United Arab Emirates, where it’s planning a large data center project that was conceived before the US war with Iran. In Africa, the company is facing increasing competition from Chinese rivals, such as DeepSeek, that are making inroads in the continent.
Read More: China’s DeepSeek Is Beating Out OpenAI and Google in Africa
Before joining Cursor in April, Elmas spent more than two decades at software and cybersecurity firms, with roles at Rubrik Inc. and Zscaler Inc.
Musk has sued OpenAI, which he helped form, arguing that the company betrayed its mission to the public by changing to a for-profit business. He formed a competing AI developer, xAI, that he then merged with SpaceX.