Dive Brief:
- MetLife selected Nick Nadgauda as its EVP and global CIO, effective March 10, 2025, the insurance company said Wednesday. Nadgauda will report to Bill Pappas, EVP and head of global technology and operations.
- Nadgauda joins MetLife after two decades at Citi, where he held several leadership roles. Most recently, he served as CIO of the company’s Services business, leading a team of 15,000 employees.
- The Citi veteran will replace Pawan Verma, who joined MetLife in 2020 after an executive stint at Foot Locker. Verma departed MetLife in November to join pharmaceuticals giant Cencora.
Dive Insight:
MetLife has leaned into its digital capabilities to compete in the insurance and financial services sector.
“We see our capacity to invest in technology at MetLife’s scale as a true differentiator relative to our competitors, which we believe will only get more impactful over time,” said CEO Michel Khalaf, speaking during an earnings call in August. “There are many tools in our toolbox that will help drive this advantage forward, including artificial intelligence.”
Earlier this week, the company launched New Frontier, a five-year plan to accelerate global growth. AI-driven automation and digitization are among the strategies the company outlined to expand margins, according to an investor presentation.
Customer journeys and market differentiation are at the core of Nadgauda’s remit, MetLife said in the announcement. The executive will oversee MetLife’s application development, infrastructure, enterprise platforms and architecture teams.
Businesses across sectors are grappling with the challenges of deploying AI at scale, including data and security issues. In July, MetLife bolstered its tech leadership roster, appointing Tamar Shapiro as chief data and analytics officer and Dan Antilley as CISO.
Data challenges are pervasive in the financial services industry. More than half of businesses in the sector grapple with the costs of data integration investments required to power AI, according to a Digital Realty survey published earlier this month.
