OpenAI hires Ismail Elmas, a senior executive who previously led Cursor’s business in Europe, as vice president of sales covering Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA). Multiple outlets report the move comes after Elmas worked in a regional sales leadership role at Cursor, a company linked to Elon Musk’s SpaceX.
The reports describe Elmas as the second sales executive OpenAI has recruited from SpaceX-connected Cursor within about the past month. Bloomberg notes the hiring follows another SpaceX-origin sales appointment made since September, while The Next Web highlights that Elmas is the latest in a pattern of taking sales leadership talent from Cursor. Quartz similarly frames the hire as part of OpenAI’s recruiting of Cursor alumni for sales roles.
While outlets differ slightly on how they characterize timing and the broader pattern, they agree on the key details: Elmas’s prior Cursor leadership role, his new OpenAI sales scope, and that the appointment is the second such recruitment from SpaceX’s Cursor in the recent period.
