JPMorgan has some new answers to the multibillion-dollar question of who is in charge of AI in banks.
Earlier this month, Teresa Heitzenletter, the company’s head of AI, announced her retirement from the bank after 40 years and reorganized its technology leadership. JPMorgan said it will reorganize its top data and analytics departments across the company as it shifts from a focus on AI infrastructure to business initiatives.
“With the foundation in place and the delivery of AI shifting further into businesses and functions, we believe that aligning CDAO with Global Technologies is best positioned to continue the momentum we deliver to our clients and colleagues,” the company said in a memo obtained by Business Insider.
JPMorgan also announced that in the memo, Gerald Francis said: Chief Product Officer, Data and AI; I’m quitting my job. In February, Manuela Veloso, the bank’s head of AI research, quit her job just after 8 p.m. year.
The bank, which has a technology budget of nearly $20 billion, is particularly bullish on AI. CEO Jamie Dimon said on a recent earnings call that there are already more than 1,000 use cases for AI, and Business Insider previously reported that JPMorgan can track token usage by individual engineers.
Now that Heitzenletter has stepped down, we know who will be leading the bank’s AI strategy and deployment as it seeks to remain a technology leader on Wall Street.
loli beer
As Global Chief Information Officer, Lori Beal is at the top of the company’s technology leadership and oversees all systems and infrastructure. She is a member of the steering committee, which manages the bank’s vast technology budget and approximately 65,000 technical staff. Mr. Beer joined JPMorgan in 2014.
scott baldry
Scott Baldry already had a big job as JPMorgan’s chief technology officer, but now that Heitzenletter has announced his retirement, he will take on additional responsibilities as chief data and analytics officer. In that role, Mr. Baldry will lead the bank’s overall AI program and strategy.
Mr. Baldry will join JPMorgan in London in 2022 after working at Goldman Sachs, Credit Suisse and T. Rowe Price, where he will report directly to Mr. Beer. Baldry will continue to work with technology leaders across business lines to ensure the company’s AI strategy is consistent, according to an internal memo announcing the expansion.
The memo said his team will “focus on AI and data strategy and governance, commercialization and value delivery, and external engagement with policymakers, regulators and the broader ecosystem.”
Manoj Shindhwani
As part of the recent shakeup, Manoj Shindhwani, who was already chief information officer for AI/ML and data platforms, also became head of the bank’s data and AI product team. He currently oversees employees who design and build company-wide data platforms and execute broad strategies. Mr. Shindhwani has been with JPMorgan since 2024 after nearly a decade at Amazon, where he reports directly to Mr. Beer.
william patrick oppet
William Patrick Oppetto oversees all of JPMorgan’s information security, technology management and risk management, which are increasingly pressing issues in the age of AI. As part of his job, Oppet ensures that the bank’s AI systems are secure and well-controlled, and that the company is protected from cyber threats, including those enabled by AI.
Mr. Opet joined JPMorgan in 2014 after working at Lockheed Martin and has been in his current role since 2021. He reports directly to Mr. Beer.
Mark Birkhead
As AI advances, Mark Birkhead’s role as chief data officer across the company becomes increasingly important. JPMorgan has more than an exabyte, or 1 billion gigabytes, of data across the company, and Birkhead is the person ensuring the company is AI-enabled, both in LLM and generative AI.
“Data strategy is a competitive differentiator in banking,” Birkhead, who joined JPMorgan in 2020 and now reports to Baldry, said in a recent LinkedIn post.
Arvind Joshi
Arvind Joshi manages JPMorgan’s approximately $20 billion annual technology budget, which includes investments in AI. He oversees resource allocation and recently commented on the importance of managing the soaring price of AI tokens on LinkedIn. Joshi has been with JPMorgan for more than 20 years and reports to Beer.
Sumitra Ganesh
Sumitra Ganesh became JPMorgan’s head of AI research in February, the latest role in her 10 years at the bank. Veloso, who retired in February, founded the research team in 2018 and told Business Insider in 2021 that it focuses on big “what if” questions. As of April, JPMorgan had the largest AI research team among the 50 banks tracked by intelligence platform Evident AI. According to LinkedIn, Ganesh’s research primarily focuses on multi-agent systems in finance.