New York Life today announced the appointment of new Chief AI Officer Zhen Zhao. In this role, Zhao will lead the company’s AI strategy, platforms and execution, driving the development and delivery of advanced AI and data science solutions, including agentic AI and machine learning capabilities.
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New York Life Chief AI Officer Zhen Zhao
“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 New York Life Executive Vice President and Chief Information Officer Deepa Soni. “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 joins New York Life from Chubb, where he most recently served as senior vice president, global head of AI Platform. In that role, he led global teams across AI platform development, governance and machine learning and large language model operations.
Earlier in his career, Zhao held leadership roles at Barclays and Comcast, where he led AI engineering, data platforms and machine learning innovation initiatives. He began his professional career as a software engineer at the People’s Bank of China.
In addition to his corporate leadership experience, Zhao is an accomplished innovator and researcher. He holds multiple patents and serves as an adjunct associate professor at Temple University.
Zhao earned a Ph.D. and master’s degree in computer engineering from Drexel University, as well as a master’s degree in electrical engineering from Sun Yat-sen (Zhongshan) University.
ABOUT NEW YORK LIFE
New York Life Insurance Company (www.newyorklife.com), a Fortune 100 company founded in 1845, is the largest1 mutual life insurance company in the United States and one of the largest life insurers in the world. Headquartered in New York City, New York Life’s family of companies offers life insurance, disability income insurance, retirement income, investments and long-term care insurance. New York Life has the highest financial strength ratings currently awarded to any U.S. life insurer from all four of the major credit rating agencies.2
1 Based on revenue as reported by “Fortune 500 ranked within Industries, Insurance: Life, Health (Mutual),” Fortune magazine, 9/30/2025. For methodology, please see https://fortune.com/company/new-york-life-insurance/.
2 Individual independent rating agency commentary as of 10/28/2025: A.M. Best (A++), Fitch (AAA), Moody’s Investors Service (Aa1), Standard & Poor’s (AA+).
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