New York Life Furthers AI & Data Innovation with Two Senior Hires

Vikas Sharma joins as chief data officer

Achuth Rao to serve as head of artificial intelligence & data product management

New York Life today announced that Vikas Sharma and Achuth Rao have joined the company’s Artificial Intelligence & Data (AI&D) team as chief data officer and head of AI&D product management, respectively. Both will report to Don Vu, the company’s chief data and analytics officer. They will collaborate closely with chief data science officer Alain Biem, the rest of the AI&D leadership team, and enterprise partners to deliver innovative data and AI solutions built on trustworthy data and top-tier technology.

“Accelerating New York Life’s innovation and evolution in the AI and data space is critical to enhancing the experiences we deliver to our stakeholders and driving operational efficiency,” said Vu. “Vikas, Achuth, and their teams will help enable us to advance our data ecosystem and deliver high-quality, impactful, and scalable AI and data solutions across the enterprise.”

With more than two decades of experience in data and digital transformation, Sharma joins New York Life in this new role from Farm Credit Bank of Texas. There, he served as chief data and analytics officer, spearheaded the modernization of the bank’s data ecosystem, and implemented AI-powered analytics solutions across multiple business lines. Previously, he held leadership roles at Capital One, Warner Media/HBO Max, and Walmart. Sharma holds a Bachelor of Engineering from Marathwada University in India.

As head of the newly formed AI&D product management team, Rao is responsible for driving the development and delivery of cutting-edge AI and data products, helping to provide innovative solutions to challenges, and creating value for New York Life’s customers, agents, and employees.

Rao joins New York Life with over 25 years of experience driving business impact through product management, business development, and product engineering for AI-driven digital platforms, data products, informatics, and data analytics solutions. Most recently, he served as general manager and vice president of product management, ADP Data Cloud at ADP. He has also held leadership positions at Panasonic Connect, Elsevier, and Yahoo!. Rao holds a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Texas A&M University and an MBA from Carnegie Mellon University’s Tepper School of Business.

ABOUT NEW YORK LIFE

New York Life Insurance Company (www.newyorklife.com), a Fortune 100 company founded in 1845, is the largest mutual life insurance company in the United States¹ and one of the largest life insurers in the world. Headquartered in New York City, New York Life’s family of companies offers life insurance, and other solutions. New York Life has the highest financial strength ratings currently awarded to any U.S. life insurer from all four of the major credit rating agencies.²

¹Based on revenue as reported by “Fortune 500 ranked within Industries, Insurance: Life, Health (Mutual),” Fortune magazine, 6/4/2024. For methodology, please see https://fortune.com/franchise-list-page/fortune-500-methodology-2023/.

²Individual independent rating agency commentary as of 11/17/2023: A.M. Best (A++), Fitch (AAA), Moody’s Investors Service (Aaa), Standard & Poor’s (AA+).

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