OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar Explores the Value of Experience in the Unprecedented Age of AI

NEW YORK, Sept. 10, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- As the speed of change around artificial intelligence accelerates, leaders are increasingly being asked to make decisions about challenges they have never encountered before and for which there is no established playbook. In the latest episode of Grey Matter, Sarah Friar, Chief Financial Officer of OpenAI, joins Consello Founder, Chairman, and CEO Declan Kelly to discuss what experience is worth when precedent becomes less reliable.

For Friar, experience is not simply a record of what has happened before. It is the judgment built through working in different environments, recognizing what may apply from past experience, and knowing when to start from the underlying facts rather than rely on familiar solutions. Her career has taken her from studying metallurgy and working in Ghana to roles at Goldman Sachs, Salesforce, Block, Nextdoor, and now OpenAI—experiences that have given her reference points for navigating problems that have never before been encountered.

The conversation explores how Friar is applying that judgment inside a company whose economics, capabilities, and scale are evolving in real time. From rethinking the role of software and the architecture of work to preparing for new cybersecurity risks and building the compute capacity needed years in advance, she offers a view of how leaders can make consequential decisions amid rapid uncertainty.

Friar also reflects on the qualities she believes matter most in this environment: curiosity, first-principles thinking, and a deep understanding of people. While there may be no playbook for the world now taking shape, the episode shows how the experience gained through a career of varied challenges can become an essential tool for leading when the unfamiliar arrives.

About Consello

Consello is an Advisory and Investing Platform with offices in New York, Miami, Atlanta, Dublin, Belfast, London, Brussels, and Abu Dhabi.

Consello's distinct advisory practices provide the complete strategic counsel today's leaders need to grow and transform their organizations. Consello's advisory expertise spans Corporate Advisory; M&A; Management Consulting; Talent; and Sports and Entertainment. Dedicated teams operate in each practice, led by a leadership group with deep operational experience across industries, business growth stages and market cycles and with an expansive set of global corporate relationships.

Consello's investment business, Consello Capital, identifies high-potential mid-market companies and invests capital and expertise to transform their growth.

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