(US and Canada) Harvard Business School (HBS) has appointed Katia Walsh as Chief Digital Officer. She will oversee the growth of a newly established technology function that builds and scales world-leading capabilities in digital products, data strategy and architecture, analytics, machine learning engineering, and AI. This new function will offer advanced digital experiences in education and research software, community engagement, research, publishing, and in-class and online learning.

“HBS is embarking on our own digital innovations, harnessing data and artificial intelligence to transform in-person and online learning, community engagement, research, and publishing,” says HBS Dean Srikant Datar. Angela Crispi, HBS’s Executive Dean for Administration, notes, “Katia has a proven track record of working with large, global, complex organizations to build and scale their technology functions through strategy, innovation, and people development, creating new offerings and departments to deliver value to businesses and their consumers. That experience will serve her and HBS well as we continue to advance our educational leadership and grow lifelong business learners around the world.”

Walsh comes to HBS from Levi Strauss & Co., where she served on the executive team as Chief Strategy and AI Officer. She built and led the company’s digital and emerging technology strategy, data, and AI function, an industry-first role. Walsh led numerous initiatives that pioneered data-driven decisions and outcomes throughout the business. She built AI capabilities to deliver value across commercial operations and global functions, launched digital and emerging tech strategies, and empowered all associates to engage in digital transformation through machine learning boot camps that taught coding to employees without engineering or statistics experience.

Before Levi Strauss, Walsh was the Chief Big Data and Analytics Officer for Vodafone Group, where she built the company’s first data and AI capabilities for the company globally. She also launched employees’ digital upskilling, award-winning data privacy practices, and the use of data and AI for research and social good. She previously held various positions at Prudential Financial, Fidelity Investments, and Forrester Research.

Walsh is a member of the Securian Financial and Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation boards and the MIT Sloan Management Review’s Editorial Advisory Board.

Walsh holds a Ph.D. in quantitative methodology from the University of Missouri and master’s degrees from Indiana University and Sofia University in Bulgaria. She was named Global AI Ambassador 2023 and is among Forbes Women Defining the 21st Century AI Movement. Additionally,  Walsh is a two-time Information Age Data Leader of the Year award winner.