Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex
I've spent 15 years at the intersection of three things most AI leaders treat as separate: the technical depth to architect AI systems, the operating experience to deploy them at enterprise scale, and the business discipline to tie every dollar back to P&L. At IBM, I built the Data & AI consulting practice across the Americas into a multi-billion dollar business - working hands-on with Fortune 100 firms like PepsiCo, Elevance Health, Amex, NY Life, Merck. 13 years of building, failing, learning, and scaling across every major industry and regulated environment. At Citi, I brought that experience inside. As Global Head of AI - reporting to the Chief Operating Officer - my mandate is to build the architecture that turns AI ambition into enterprise reality. That means firmwide strategy, a new AI operating model, a C-suite-sponsored program reimagining 50+ high-impact processes with agentic AI, and governance designed for the most demanding regulatory environment in financial services. The discipline we hold ourselves to: radical simplification and elimination before automation - so we're not just making broken processes faster. The through-line across all of it: strategy, operating model, and governance have to work as one system. Most enterprises treat them as separate workstreams. That gap is where most AI programs stall - and closing it is the work I find most rewarding. I speak regularly at industry conferences, was named Tech Leader of the Year and have been featured routinely across CNN, Forbes, Wall Street Journal, American Banker, Bloomberg etc. on Enterprise AI. More at shobhitvarshney.com
Chief AI Officer for UnitedHealth Group Optum, bringing AI strategy, AI platform, and AI delivery together under one mission. Accountable for how AI is built, governed, and scaled across Optum and UHG in service of better health outcomes, lower friction for patients and clinicians, and a health system that works better for everyone. - AI strategy across Optum's businesses, anchored to business outcomes - Ownership of the enterprise AI platform, including United AI Studio - AI delivery, working with the AI engineering and data science teams embedded across the enterprise - Responsible AI, with appropriate guardrails and human oversight on the decisions that matter Do the right AI, and do AI right.
Global mandate to define and execute Citi's enterprise AI agenda - across firmwide AI strategy, AI operating model, process transformation and Responsible AI governance. The role spanned five interconnected themes: - Firmwide AI Strategy - Unified fragmented AI activity across all businesses into a common framework with committed outcomes and executive sponsorship. - AI Operating Model - Established a common governance structure and embedded AI leadership across every business and function, with clear accountability, matrix reporting and velocity. Established and co-chaired the AI Leadership Council. - Process Re-imagination - Led a C-suite-sponsored multi-year program to radically reengineer 50+ of the firm's most complex, high-impact processes with agentic AI and the right guardrails. The discipline: radical simplification and elimination before automation - resolving upstream/downstream constraints, changing policies, removing unnecessary steps - so we're not just automating a broken process. - Responsible AI - Shaped the firm's risk posture for the Agentic AI-era: established appropriate risk tiering and controls; co-chaired the AI Risk Management Committee. - AI Command Center - Designed end-to-end firmwide visibility across all AI models and agents: AI lifecycle management, real-time risk monitoring, regulatory compliance. Reported to the Chief Operating Officer.
Led IBM Consulting’s Data, AI & Automation business across the US, Canada, and Latin America. Full P&L accountability for a multi-billion dollar practice - growing it from ~$200M to ~$2B, with consistent double-digit growth year over year. Accountable for offerings, delivery, talent, and go-to-market across every industry IBM Consulting serves. Personally led large-scale AI transformations at some of the world’s most complex enterprises, and built the practice infrastructure - partnerships, assets, skills, and ecosystem - to scale delivery across the Americas. Partnered with IBM’s COO organization to drive enterprise AI deployments across internal operations as a Client Zero — contributing to $4.5B in annual productivity value firmwide. Regular keynote speaker and published author on enterprise AI strategy and responsible AI deployment.
Built and led IBM Consulting's AI & Analytics practice across the Americas - responsible for sales, delivery, and offering development across all industries. Personally led multi-year AI transformations at PepsiCo (Data, AI platform, Responsible AI), Elevance Health (AI-powered member experience) and Merck (ML-powered finance). Broader client portfolio across machine learning at scale, conversational AI, computer vision, unstructured content intelligence, and agentic workflows included CVS Health, Amex, NY Life, GM, Toyota, Pfizer, Progressive, Hyatt, AT&T, Sevilla FC, and others across multiple industries. Consistent track record of exceeding targets 2x-3x every year.
Built the analytics and AI foundations of IBM Consulting's Americas practice. One of the fastest consultant-to-partner progressions at IBM in under 5.5 years. Delivered AI and advanced analytics engagements across financial services, healthcare, pharma, and CPG. Early work included ML-driven financial planning, social analytics, and intelligent workflow automation across Fortune 100 clients. Started the journey in IBM's Chief Analytics Office before moving into client-facing delivery roles across the Americas.
Co-founded a green ready-mix concrete company in India while working full-time at Bloomberg - bootstrapped on personal funds, buying used equipment and building from the ground up. The sustainability angle was intentional: using fly ash as a substitute aggregate earned the 'green concrete' designation, which opened doors to large government infrastructure contracts during India's construction boom. Scaled to 3 manufacturing plants, 49 employees, and $1M in annual revenues with 10% profit margins within two years before handing day-to-day operations to my co-founder.
Led product development for visualization and analytics on the Bloomberg Terminal - translating complex financial data into actionable tools for professional traders and analysts. Managed full software lifecycle across design, prototyping, delivery, and maintenance. Built analytics to predict stock price movements, analyze trading patterns, and surface insights from market and historical data.