Ashok Sami

Senior technical leader and C-suite advisor with 35+ years building AI, data, IoT, and cloud platforms at enterprise scale. Proven record guiding architecture, implementation plans, and production adoption with Fortune 500 clients and partner teams across high-tech, retail, financial services, energy, and healthcare. Currently leads enterprise GenAI adoption, agentic workflow programs, responsible AI governance, and Azure-based AI platform delivery at PwC Digital.

Brings hands-on credibility across LLM/RAG systems, MLOps, Kubernetes, Docker, streaming data, predictive maintenance, and executive-level partner engagement, with a strong fit for accelerating NVIDIA Omniverse and physical AI ecosystem adoption through reference architectures, enablement, and technical problem solving.

Chief Technology and Innovation Officer - PwC - Dallas, TX

(2016-01)

Serve as a senior technical advisor and delivery leader for PwC's Chief Data Office and Fortune 500 clients, shaping AI strategy, partner implementation plans, platform roadmaps, and production delivery across multiple industries.

• Define and drive enterprise-wide AI strategy for 10+ Fortune 500 clients, translating business goals into technical roadmaps, integration plans, and measurable adoption programs
• Architect and deploy production GenAI solutions using Azure OpenAI, LangChain, and RAG frameworks, including reusable patterns that partner engineering teams can adapt for enterprise workflows
• Spearheaded agentic workflow programs for finance, HR, and operations functions, achieving 40-60% reduction in manual processing time in pilots now scaling enterprise-wide
• Advise boards, C-suite leaders, product owners, and engineering teams on AI architecture, vendor selection, build-vs.-buy tradeoffs, adoption sequencing, and investment prioritization
• Established enterprise AI governance frameworks including responsible AI guardrails, bias monitoring, explainability standards, and audit trails satisfying financial services regulatory requirements
• Defined data ethics policies and AI risk assessment processes positioning clients to meet emerging EU AI Act and U.S. executive order requirements ahead of enforcement deadlines
• Lead PwC Insights platform as Product Lead overseeing roadmap, global onshore + offshore team, 30+ client POC engagements, and enterprise delivery on Azure using Kubernetes, Docker, Azure ML, Azure OpenAI, and Cloudera
• Delivered Azure-native predictive maintenance SaaS platform using Data Lake, Data Factory, Event Hub, Stream Analytics, Azure ML, Power BI, and pre-built anomaly detection models, cutting client deployment time by 65%
• Drive measurable time-to-insight improvements across 30+ client engagements through platform standardization, reference patterns, self-service enablement, and repeatable solution playbooks
• Create executive-ready workshops, solution narratives, and technical enablement artifacts that help business, product, and engineering stakeholders align on architecture, adoption milestones, and production readiness

Head of Data & Analytics - Ziosk - Dallas, TX

(2013-06 - 2016-01)

Built and led the enterprise data function for the nation's largest restaurant tablet network, standing up IoT data pipelines, real-time streaming analytics, and ML-powered operational insights across thousands of restaurant locations.

• Designed ML models for customer behavior analysis, restaurant benchmarking, demand forecasting, and operational decision support, delivering actionable intelligence to C-suite and field teams
• Architected enterprise data warehouse on PDW/APS, modeling ODS, MDM, Data Warehouse, and OLAP layers; partnered with executives on KPI frameworks and strategic analytics roadmaps

Business Systems Architect - Think Finance - Dallas, TX

(2009-07 - 2013-05)

Partnered with CIO and CTO to define enterprise data architecture strategy; architected Hadoop-based platform enabling scalable reporting, ad-hoc analysis, and ML model scoring.

• Designed enterprise credit decision engine incorporating statistical risk scoring models directly impacting loan approval quality and risk-adjusted returns

Engagement Manager - Strategy& (PwC) - Dallas, TX

(2006-09 - 2009-01)

Advised Fortune 100 companies including Duke Energy, BP, and Toyota Motor Services on IT strategy, enterprise analytics architecture, modernization, and digital transformation.

• Toyota engagement: delivered $4.8M savings and $6.2M cost reductions through architecture modernization and data quality improvements

Director - Oracle Energy Upstream - Denver, CO

(1998-01 - 2006-09)

Designed and implemented enterprise data warehouses and BI solutions for major energy clients, covering data modeling, ETL, OLAP, executive reporting, and analytics enablement.

Data Architect - Transamerica Life - Kansas City

(1996-01 - 1997-12)

Claimant Information Systems - WCB - Albany, NY

(1995-01 - 1996-12)

Software Engineer - Protech Electronics

(1994-01 - 1995-12)

Software Engineer - Center for Railways Info. Systems - India

(1991-01 - 1993-12)

M.S. - Electrical Engineering - Montana State University (1995)

B.E. - Electronics & Communication Engineering - Tamil Nadu College of Engineering (1991)