James Hairston

James Hairston has extensive experience in policy and partnership roles in various industries. James currently holds the position of Head of International Policy and Partnerships at OpenAI. Prior to this, they worked at Meta in multiple roles, including Senior Director of Policy, Reality Labs, Director of Policy, Reality Labs, Head of AI & AR/VR Policy, and Manager of Global Policy Development. Hairston also worked as a Head of Public Policy at Oculus VR. Earlier in their career, they served as a Program Analyst at Hurricane Sandy Rebuilding Task Force and Policy Advisor to the Administrator at US Small Business Administration. Hairston started their career as a Research Associate in Economic Policy at the Center for American Progress.

James Hairston earned their Bachelor of Arts degree in Social Studies from Harvard University in 2007. James went on to attend Stanford Law School, where they earned their Juris Doctor degree from 2007 to 2010. In 2020, they obtained a certification in "Outlook: Time Management with Calendar and Tasks" from LinkedIn.