Dr. Anand Rao Global Artificial Intelligence Leader, PwC

Dr. Anand S. Rao is the Global Artificial Intelligence Leader for PwC and heads its AI pillar within the Innovation Hub, Products & Technology segment. With over 35 years of experience, he advises C-level executives and implements advanced analytics and AI-based solutions for strategic, operational, and ethical use cases. Combining his PhD and research in AI with management consulting expertise, he brings business domain knowledge, software engineering expertise, and statistical expertise to generate unique insights into the practice of data, analytics, and AI.

Before entering management consulting, Anand was the Chief Research Scientist at the Australian Artificial Intelligence Institute. He received his PhD from University of Sydney (with a University Postgraduate Research Award) in 1988 and an MBA (with Award of Distinction) from Melbourne Business School in 1997. Anand has co-edited four books on Intelligent Agents, has published over 130 papers and articles in major journals, conferences, workshops, business press.

Dr. Rao has received numerous accolades for his contributions in consulting and Artificial Intelligence Research, including the Most Influential Paper Award for the Decade in 2007; MBA Award of Distinction from Melbourne Business School, 1997 and University Postgraduate Research Award (UPRA) from University of Sydney, 1985; Distinguished Alumnus Award from Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani, India. He has been recognized as one of Top 50 Data & Analytics professionals in USA and Canada; one of Top 50 professionals in InsureTech; one of Top 25 Technology Leaders in Consulting; one of Top 25 Technology Leaders in Consulting; The Enterprise CXO Leader of the year by CogX; and one of 50 Outstanding AI in Business Influencers. He has also won the ASBPE and Marcomm Awards for Best Technical Writing in 2018, 2019, 2021 and 2022.

Currently, Dr. Rao serves as an Adjunct Professor in BITS Pilani’s APPCAIR AI Center. He also serves on the Advisory Board of Oxford University’s Institute for Ethics in AI, World Economic Forum’s Global AI Council, OECD’s Network of Experts on AI (ONE), OECD’s AI Compute initiative, Advisory Board of Northwestern’s MBAi program, Responsible AI Institute, Nordic AI Institute, and International Congress for the Governance of AI.