Debbie Mesloh serves as a lead of Strategic Initiatives at OpenAI, where she focuses on driving impactful projects and partnerships that align with the organization’s mission to ensure artificial general intelligence benefits all of humanity. With a career spanning technology, public affairs, and social impact, Debbie is committed to fostering the shared benefits of AI technologies and advancing their safe and responsible adoption.
Before OpenAI, Debbie was Principal at Mesloh Strategies, advising clients like General Motors, lululemon, REFORM Alliance, and Futures Without Violence on public affairs and government relations. She also served as Vice President of Global Public and Government Affairs at Gap Inc., where she advanced public policy and partnerships strategies, including efforts on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) to support supply chain diversification and support U.S. national security priorities.
In public service, Debbie was a White House appointee at the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR), where she spearheaded communications for global trade issues, working closely with the U.S. Departments of Commerce, State, Treasury, and the National Security Council. Additionally, Debbie led communications strategies for USTR’s work on China and Asia. Earlier, she served as a senior advisor and longtime staffer to Vice President Kamala Harris during her tenure in California’s public sector and successful campaigns, and was Communications Director for Obama for America, where she played a key role in shaping the narrative and messaging of the campaign during its historic run.
A graduate of the University of Kansas, Debbie is a proud Jayhawk basketball fan.