Alexander Berger is Now Sole CEO of Open Philanthropy

On behalf of Open Philanthropy’s board, I’m excited to announce that Alexander Berger is now sole CEO of Open Philanthropy! 

Alexander has served as co-CEO since 2021 and has run the organization during my leave of absence. I’ve been blown away by his talent, dedication and values ever since we started working together in 2011. He co-founded Open Philanthropy (back when it was GiveWell Labs), initially leading our policy philanthropy work, and has taken on more and more responsibility for management, leadership, and resolving some of Open Philanthropy’s toughest questions and decisions. I am excited about, and grateful for, the impact that Open Phil is going to have under Alexander’s leadership.

We are also promoting Emily Oehlsen to Managing Director. She’ll be leading all of Global Health and Wellbeing, which Alexander previously led. Emily joined Open Phil in April 2021 and has rapidly taken on more responsibility, first for the cause prioritization team that she initially joined, and then for all of our Global Health and Wellbeing staff and grantmaking. She’s impressed us with her intelligence, dedication, and effective and thoughtful management, which particularly came through in her work on our $150 million Regranting Challenge. We’re confident GHW will continue to raise the bar for impact under her leadership.

I will be staying at Open Philanthropy, with my title changing from co-CEO to Director of AI Strategy. For reasons outlined in my leave of absence announcement, I have decided to focus my work exclusively on AI^[1]My leave of absence announcement talked about joining or starting another organization for AI safety. I haven’t reached the point of wanting to do that, and think that Open Philanthropy is the best organization for me to work on AI safety at, at least for the time being. ; I’m excited to be able to do this while Open Philanthropy is in excellent hands.

Alexander says:

It’s a huge honor to take the helm of Open Philanthropy, an organization whose mission — to help others as much as we can with the resources available to us — resonates just as much with me today as it did when Holden, Cari, Dustin and I were starting to think about it together. I’m so grateful to Holden for more than a decade of thoughtful mentorship and advice for me personally, and for growing Open Phil to this point.

 

The ambition of our mission makes this a daunting responsibility to take on. I’m fortunate to be surrounded by a team — from Cari and Dustin to every member of Open Phil’s staff — as dedicated to it as I am. I’m proud to be working towards our mission alongside them and our many outstanding grantees and partners.

Cari Tuna, our President, adds:

Dustin and I have worked closely with Alexander for many years, and he’s helped us think through many of the toughest questions we’ve faced as philanthropists. We know that Open Philanthropy is in good hands, and we’re confident that under Alexander’s leadership, its impact will only continue to grow.

Congratulations, Alexander!