New York Life Appoints Zhen Zhao as Chief AI Officer
"AI presents new opportunities to deliver more seamless experiences and greater value for the clients, agents and advisors who rely on New York Life."
New York Life announced on August 6 that Zhen Zhao has been appointed Chief AI Officer to place agentic AI, machine learning, and advanced data science under a single senior executive whose career has been built almost entirely inside regulated financial services environments.
According to the company, Zhao's mandate includes agentic AI, machine learning, and advanced data science. The announcement makes agentic AI an explicit part of the CAIO role rather than positioning it as a future capability.
Zhao joined New York Life from Chubb, where he served as Global Head of AI Platform and oversaw AI platform development and governance across the insurer's global operations.
The institutional knowledge of what it takes to deploy AI responsibly inside a regulated insurer at scale is directly applicable to the role he is taking at New York Life.
"AI presents new opportunities to deliver more seamless experiences and greater value for the clients, agents and advisors who rely on New York Life," said Deepa Soni, EVP and CIO at New York Life. "Zhen's leadership will be essential as we continue to apply AI responsibly and thoughtfully, enhancing human connection, improving how we work and helping our agents and advisors better serve clients for the long term."
Zhao began as a software engineer at the People's Bank of China before moving into AI engineering and data platform leadership at Barclays and Comcast.
The Barclays tenure in particular is relevant since building AI platforms inside a UK-regulated bank requires the same governance discipline and compliance architecture that New York Life will need as it scales agentic AI across life insurance, retirement income, and long-term care products.
At Chubb, Zhao led global teams responsible for AI platform development, governance, machine learning operations, and large language model operations, the full technical stack required to take AI from proof of concept to regulated production deployment.
His research background includes multiple patents and an adjunct associate professorship at Temple University. Zhao holds a PhD and master's in computer engineering from Drexel University and a master's in electrical engineering from Sun Yat-sen University.
He reports to Deepa Soni, EVP and CIO, a reporting structure that places the CAIO inside the technology organization rather than directly at the CEO level, consistent with the pattern across several major financial institutions this year.
Key Takeaways
- Zhen Zhao appointed as Chief AI Officer at New York Life to enhance AI-driven services.
- Focus on agentic AI, machine learning, and data science under Zhao's leadership.
- Zhao brings extensive experience from Chubb, Barclays, and Comcast in regulated financial environments.
- New AI strategies aim to deliver seamless experiences and greater value for clients and advisors.
- Company emphasizes responsible and thoughtful AI application to improve client-agent connections.