Harvard Business College Appoints Katia Walsh Chief Electronic Officer – Information

BOSTON – Harvard Business School (HBS) announced the appointment of Katia Walsh to the part of main electronic officer (CDO), productive April 10, 2023. As CDO, she will oversee the advancement of a recently established technology operate that builds and scales planet-main abilities in digital products, facts tactic and architecture, analytics, and Device Studying engineering and AI. This new functionality will produce widespread platforms to allow advanced digital experiences for innovation in instructional and investigate application, in-course and on line learning, community engagement, study, and publishing.

“HBS is embarking on our own digital innovations, harnessing information and artificial intelligence to rework in-man or woman and online understanding, group engagement, analysis, and publishing,” explained HBS Dean Srikant Datar. Angela Crispi, HBS’s Govt Dean for Administration, pointed out, “Katia has a demonstrated keep track of document of doing work with massive, worldwide, complex corporations to establish and scale their technologies capabilities by approach, innovation, and men and women progress, generating new offerings and departments to supply benefit to corporations and their customers. That practical experience will serve her and HBS very well, as we continue on to advance our educational leadership and increase lifelong company learners all-around the earth.”

Walsh will come to HBS from Levi Strauss & Co., where by she served on the government group as chief system and AI officer. In that position she designed and led the company’s electronic and rising technological know-how system, info, and AI purpose, an marketplace-very first role. Walsh led several initiatives that pioneered information-pushed decisions and outcomes through the business, created AI capabilities to provide price across industrial operations and world-wide functions, introduced digital and emerging tech system, and empowered all associates to interact in electronic transformation via equipment understanding bootcamps that taught coding to personnel with no engineering or statistics experience.

Prior to Levi’s, Walsh was the main major facts and analytics officer for Vodafone Group, where by she created the first info, and AI ability for the organization globally. Very similar to Levi’s, she released new digital and facts abilities, made new electronic items, and served present a predictive, proactive, and customized expertise for the company’s 500 million buyers in 25 international locations. At Vodafone, she introduced employees’ digital upskilling, award-successful information privacy techniques, and use of data and AI for analysis and social great, Before that, she was the head of info analytics and world-wide strategic analysis at Prudential Monetary and experienced a variety of roles at Fidelity Investments and Forrester Investigate.

Walsh holds a Ph.D. with a specialization in quantitative methodology from the University of Missouri and master’s levels from Indiana College and Sofia College in Bulgaria. She’s been named World-wide AI Ambassador 2023 and between Forbes Females Defining the 21st Century AI Motion and gained a two-time Info Age Facts Chief of the 12 months award, between other recognitions. Walsh serves on the boards of Securian Fiscal and the World Legal Entity Identifier Basis, as effectively as the Editorial Advisory Board of MIT Sloan Administration Critique.

She just lately shared her thoughts on her new role in this Q&A.