Dive Brief:
- Pfizer has added Berta Rodriguez-Hervas as its chief AI and analytics officer, the pharmaceutical company confirmed to CIO Dive in an email Tuesday.
- Rodriguez-Hervas is joining Pfizer after stints at motor vehicle manufacturer Stellantis, chip giant Nvidia and electric carmaker Tesla. Her work has focused on algorithms, computer vision and machine learning, according to her LinkedIn.
- “I am confident that Berta's leadership and fresh perspective will continue to take our enterprise AI strategies and capabilities to the next level to accelerate our purpose of breakthroughs that change patients' lives,” Pfizer EVP and Chief Digital and Technology Officer Lidia Fonseca said in a LinkedIn post Monday.
Dive Insight:
Chief AI officers can serve as a point person for guiding investment in the technology and widening the scope of related initiatives. A dedicated executive also signals to the market companies’ focus on AI.
The role has become common across industries over the last two years. In 2023, GE HealthCare appointed Chief AI Officer Parminder Bhatia and Bhavesh Dayalji joined S&P Global as its chief AI officer. And this year, Boeing designated an AI chief in March, while the consultancy PwC US named Dan Priest as chief AI officer in July.
The public sector has also seen an influx of AI leadership positions, the result of President Joe Biden’s AI executive order in October.
Still, a C-suite executive doesn’t always make sense. “For most, a head of AI who is not at the C-suite level will be perfectly capable of managing the two key aspects of AI strategy execution: orchestration and multidisciplinary governance,” the consultancy Gartner wrote in a March report.
KPMG appointed David Rowland as global head of AI in December 2023. The newly created role was designed to help implement the company’s strategy, KPMG said. In its annual mid-year tech executive reshuffle, AI adoption plans were a factor driving the new hires.
CTOs and CIOs are still most often accountable for AI initiatives, according to Gartner’s research. But management of the technology is likely to play a more central role in future C-suite discussions, executives say.
