Global Chief AI
& Data Officer
José Pedro Almeida is a Global Chief AI and Data Officer, among the world's most visionary AI leaders, and one of a very short list of executive doers.
He has led enterprise-wide AI and data transformations inside some of Europe’s most complex organizations, moving them 5 to 10 years ahead of their industries. That work now stands as global industry benchmarks and INSEAD case studies.
Recognized by world-class institutions
Transforming across industries
From Financial Services, Telcos, Insurance, Retail, Govs, or Healthcare across Europe, the US and the Middle East.
José Pedro Almeida's vision and operational groundwork has helped transform organizations across the United States, Europe, the Middle East and Southeast Asia.
- Bangkok
- Dubai
- Abu Dhabi
- Riyadh
- Paris
- London
- Madrid
- Zurich
- Basel
- Amsterdam
- Sarajevo
- Lisbon
- Florida
- Boston
- New York
- Minneapolis
What he has run
José Pedro is globally recognized for moving large organizations 5 to 10 years ahead of their industries in Data Intelligence and AI. He has led Enterprise-wide AI & Data transformations inside some of Europe’s most complex organizations that now stand as global industry benchmarks and INSEAD case studies.
His career began in healthcare, where he led some of Europe’s most advanced AI and data platforms, including the creation of a 560-billion-data-point AI platform widely regarded as the most advanced of its kind globally.
He serves as Global Chief AI & Data Officer, helping CEOs and executive committees worldwide and across industries on building truly Data & AI-driven enterprises. His career sits at the intersection of AI, advanced analytics, and large-scale operating model change.
The work, and the organisations it was done in
His work is AI and data at group level. He owns the AI agenda and the data foundation together, high enough in the company that both reach the executive committee. In an enterprise that carries decades of legacy, that means building the platform, the governance and the operating model that let AI run in the business rather than sit in a pilot folder.
His remit has carried the combined responsibility behind the titles Chief AI Officer, Chief Data Officer and Chief AI and Data Officer, plus the wider transformation responsibility that organisations file under Chief Transformation Officer: the strategy, the operating model, the data foundations underneath, and the organisation that has to run it.
It reaches one layer lower too, into the work that sits at Head of Data and VP Data Science level: the data organisation, the data science function, and the hiring that staffs them, built rather than bought. He is an AI and Data Executive in the operating sense, not the consulting sense.
The same work reaches the board as well: AI strategy, data governance and AI risk, written for a board of directors rather than for engineers.
How he works with a leadership team
He works as an operator inside the structure, not as an external advisor. He works with the executive committee on AI strategy, on the AI operating model and on the data foundations underneath it, and he stays accountable for the operating model instead of handing over a strategy and leaving. The hiring and the internal capability the organisation keeps afterwards are part of the job. It takes years, not a quarter.
Sectors and environments
He works at group scale. His AI transformations have run inside groups with more than 10,000 employees and more than one billion dollars in revenue, and those groups operate across several regions and continents rather than one market. The systems he walked into had been built over decades, and nobody could switch them off, so the AI platform went in on top of what was already running.
He has worked across financial services and banking, insurance, retail, pharma, government and other regulated institutions, and alongside them in healthcare and health systems, where his track-record started and where the platform he built still runs for a large group. He has run those transformations in the United States, the Middle East and Southeast Asia.
In every one of those organisations, the decision the data feeds is taken at executive committee or board level, not inside a single function.
Credentials and recognition
- 2026Portuguese Sovereign Bank · Lisbon
Strategic Advisory Council Member (AI)
Banco Português de Fomento
- 2025INSEAD · Paris & Abu Dhabi
AI Voice & Industry AI Visiting Executive
AI Executive Programs
- 2025EFG International · London
Voice for GenAI in Business
Beyond the Benchmark Podcast with Moz Afzal, Global CIO
- 2025SwissCognitive · Zurich
Global AI Ambassador
- 2024Forbes · Boston
Keynote Speaker - Generative AI World
- 2024Heidrick & Struggles · Chicago
Voice for GenAI in Business
Executive Search and Leadership Podcast
- 2023SiliconANGLE & theCUBE · Boston & Silicon Valley
Voice for GenAI in Healthcare
#1 Tech media in Silicon Valley
- 2023INSEAD · Paris
Becomes Executive in Residence
HMI - Healthcare Management Initiative
- 2022Harvard Business School · Boston
Competing in the Age of AI Award - Winner
Winner against 200+ teams
- 2021GITEX Global · Dubai
World's Most Visionary Tech & AI Leaders
- 2021INSEAD · Paris
Case Study on Data Intelligence
- 2018Intelligent AI · Basel
World's Top 70 Health AI Brains
- 2016HIMSS · Chicago
Outstanding Digital Platform Achievement - Winner
- 2014Microsoft U.S. · Orlando
Worldwide Innovation Award - Winner
Questions about his track-record
What is his track-record?
This is on the track-record, not a claim. He designed and led a 560 billion Data Points enterprise AI platform for a large group, built on top of 80 IT systems, and it predicts critical events in real time. It is one of the most innovative and gamechanging AI platforms for Strategic and Operational Management in the world. Microsoft recognised it with a U.S. Worldwide Innovation Award, HIMSS recognised it with an Outstanding Digital Platform Award, and he was named among the World's Top 70 Health AI Brains.
He is also an AI voice whose vision for AI in business has been featured by Forbes, EFG International, Heidrick & Struggles, SiliconANGLE & theCUBE, Harvard and INSEAD.
How large an organisation has he operated in?
The AI transformations he is best known for ran in organisations with more than 10,000 employees and more than 1 billion dollars in revenue, with operations spread across multiple regions and continents. Complex organisations that carry multiple legacy systems are the ones he most enjoys transforming.
Which sectors has he worked in?
He started in healthcare and health systems, and the platform he built there still runs for a large group. From there his work has covered regulated enterprise environments more broadly: Financial Services and Banking, Insurance, Retail, Pharma, government and other regulated institutions. The constant across his work is a large regulated enterprise, global scale, and an AI and data remit that reaches the executive committee rather than stopping inside a function.
Does he support organizations globally?
Yes. José Pedro Almeida has led AI transformations for organizations across the United States, the Middle East and Southeast Asia, from day 0, as their Chief AI & Data Officer. He travels to those regions often to sit with their executive committees, and he also leads the operational teams on site and remotely.
How does he work with a leadership team?
He works as an operator inside the structure, not as an external advisor. He works with the executive committee on AI strategy, on the AI operating model and on the data foundations underneath it, and he stays accountable for the operating model instead of handing over a strategy and leaving. The hiring and the internal capability the organisation keeps afterwards are part of the work.
Do I need a Chief AI Officer or a Chief Data Officer?
You need a Chief AI and Data Officer. Why? Because there is no AI transformation without a data transformation. Data is the lifeblood of a successful AI transformation, and the two areas are umbilically linked and have to sit under the same umbrella. Plan them together in the right sequence so they work as one thing and not as separate initiatives.
The speaking work stands on its own. For the keynote programme, the topics and the formats, see the AI keynote speaker page.