October 22, 2025
OpenAI has strengthened its infrastructure leadership team with the appointment of Aaron L. Ruffin, who previously oversaw the company's ambitious data center projects as an advisor from Avicado Construction Technology Services.
Ruffin officially joins the artificial intelligence giant as an infrastructure lead, moving directly from the construction advisor firm. Avicado has been a key partner for OpenAI, notably working on the development of "Stargate," a data center project reportedly costing billions of dollars.
In a statement, Ruffin expressed his enthusiasm for the new role. "The past eight months supporting OpenAI through Avicado Construction Technology Services have been an incredible journey," he said. "I’m grateful to the amazing Avicado team for their collaboration and support. Now, I’m excited to continue building the infrastructure that powers frontier AI directly with OpenAI. The work ahead is challenging, inspiring, and unlike anything I’ve done before, and [I'm] excited to continue this journey."
This move marks the second public hire of an Avicado employee by OpenAI in recent months. In June, Kaylen Bushell also transitioned from the construction advisor to join OpenAI’s Infrastructure Delivery team.
Ruffin brings a wealth of experience in large-scale development projects to his new position. Prior to his tenure at Avicado, he served as a senior land development program manager at Microsoft. His career also includes nearly four years with the City of Redmond, where his work focused on the city's coordination with Microsoft's campus expansion, and four years across two separate periods at the global engineering firm Jacobs.
At OpenAI, Ruffin will join a rapidly expanding infrastructure unit. He will work alongside Cameron Clay, the head of development and site readiness who joined OpenAI in April. Clay’s own background includes significant tenures at industry leaders such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), Tesla, and Boeing. This series of high-profile hires underscores the critical importance of physical computing infrastructure to OpenAI's mission of developing and deploying advanced AI systems.
SOURCE DCD
