Artificial intelligence
10 chief AI officers
Each of these ten people currently holds a chief AI officer title, the executive role accountable for how an organization adopts and scales artificial intelligence. Readers can learn how a chief AI officer sets AI strategy and governance, chooses where to deploy AI first and builds the teams that put models into production.
Professionals to explore
01—10David Fried
LinkedInExperience: Chief AI Officer & Corporate Vice President, Semiverse Solutions · Lam Research
Chief AI Officer & Corporate Vice President, Semiverse Solutions at Lam Research since 2026, and former Corporate Vice President, Semiverse Solutions (2022–2026) and Vice President Computational Products (2017–2022) at Lam Research. He was Chief Technology Officer at Coventor, Inc., A Lam Research Company (2012–2017); his profile describes applying advanced technologies to solve complex business challenges at scale.
Duan Peng, Ph.D.
LinkedInExperience: Chief AI Officer · Ashley Furniture Industries
Chief AI Officer at Ashley Furniture Industries since 2025; his profile headline highlights enterprise AI strategy and transformation, AI-native products and platforms, and agentic systems. He was Senior Vice President, Enterprise Head of AI and ML at Southern Glazer's Wine & Spirits (2024–2025) and Senior Vice President, Global Data & AI at Warner Bros. Discovery (2020–2024).
João Freitas
LinkedInExperience: Chief AI Officer · PagerDuty
Chief AI Officer at PagerDuty since 2026 and GM & VP of Engineering, AI & Automation at PagerDuty since 2025; his profile says he is leading PagerDuty's evolution into an AI-native company, with a focus on operational AI, automation and agentic systems. He was GM & Engineering Lead for AI at PagerDuty (2025) and CTO at Defined.ai (2016–2022).
Jodie Wallis
LinkedInExperience: Global Chief AI Officer · Manulife
Global Chief AI Officer at Manulife since 2025, and former Global Chief Analytics Officer at Manulife (2020–2025). She was Managing Director, Applied Intelligence Canada at Accenture (2019–2020) and Managing Director, Financial Services Canadian AI Lead at Accenture (2017–2019); her profile's Accenture bio describes expanding the firm's presence in the AI ecosystem and bringing AI expertise to Canadian clients.
Jonathan von Rüden
LinkedInExperience: Chief AI Officer · SAP
Chief AI Officer at SAP since 2026. As Head of AI Innovation at SAP (2024–2026), his profile says he worked to discover, explore and build new features and products powered by AI, reporting to the global CTO with a team of 50. His SAP roles also include Head of Cross-Application Innovation (2023–2024) and Head of data science at Enterprise Analytics (2018–2020).
Kim Branson
LinkedInExperience: Chief AI Officer · GSK
Chief AI Officer at GSK since 2026 and SVP Global Head of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning at GSK since 2019; his profile says he leads a global team of engineers, data scientists and machine learning researchers pioneering a more data-driven approach to improve drug discovery. He was Head of A.I (ECDi) at Genentech (2018–2019).
Marko Topalovic
LinkedInExperience: Senior Vice President & Chief AI Officer · Clario
Senior Vice President & Chief AI Officer at Clario since 2024, and listed as Founder & CEO (Acquired by Clario) at ArtiQ since 2019; his profile headline describes scaling trusted AI at global enterprise level. He was an Innovation Mandate Postdoctoral Researcher AI in Respiratory Medicine at KU Leuven (2016–2019) and a PhD researcher AI in Respiratory Diagnostics at KU Leuven (2012–2016).
Mukund Seetharaman
LinkedInExperience: Chief AI Officer · Adani Group
Chief AI Officer at Adani Group since 2025; his profile says he leads enterprise AI strategy for the group. He was CEO AI Labs at Adani AI Labs (2024–2025), Chief Operating Officer at Haptik (2022–2023) and Chief Growth Officer - Cloud Business, EMEA, APJI Markets at Tech Mahindra (2021–2022).
Shobhit Varshney
LinkedInExperience: Chief AI Officer · UnitedHealth Group
Chief AI Officer at UnitedHealth Group since 2026; his profile headline describes making enterprise AI work at scale, where technical depth, business accountability and governance converge. He was Global Head of AI at Citi (2025–2026), Head of Data & AI, VP & Senior Partner at IBM (2022–2025) and Partner & Americas Head of AI at IBM (2018–2022).
Thomas Fuchs
LinkedInExperience: Senior Vice President, Chief AI Officer · Eli Lilly and Company
Senior Vice President, Chief AI Officer at Eli Lilly and Company since 2024, and Member Board of Directors at GeneDx since 2025. He was Inaugural Chair of the Windreich Department of Artificial Intelligence and Human Health at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (2021–2024), where he has been an Adjunct Professor since 2024.
Choose the right perspective
Match the officer's background, whether research, engineering, analytics or general management, to the kind of AI program you are building. Ask how their mandate is scoped, since some chief AI officers run product and engineering teams while others coordinate AI adoption across business units.
Questions to take into the conversation
- 01How should a company decide which AI use cases to fund first and how to measure their return?
- 02What governance and risk controls should be in place before generative AI tools reach employees and customers?
- 03Should a chief AI officer own engineering teams directly or coordinate AI work across existing functions?
About this directory
This is a professional research starting point based on business profile data retrieved on . Titles and companies reflect that source snapshot and may describe past or present roles. Check the linked profiles for current details. Inclusion does not imply Instant Expert membership or availability.
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