ALLIANZ Global Corporate & Specialty announced that effective from April 1st Ali SHAHKARAMI (46) will be appointed as Chief Data Officer for AGCS. "In this newly created position he will be responsible for the development and the delivery of ALLIANZ Global Corporate & Specialty's (AGCS) data strategy and will report directly to AGCS Chief Operating Officer (COO) Bettina DIETSCHE".

According to the press release, "data and analytics are important drivers for the future success of AGCS and form an essential part of the company's transformation strategy. This has been recognized by the AGCS Board with the creation of the role of Chief Data Officer in order to lead the drive to data-first decision making culture at AGCS".

In his new role, SHAHKARAMI will focus on aligning various data initiatives, tools and investments with AGCS's business and data strategy as well as ALLIANZ Group's data strategy. Together with the AGCS Data Solutions & Architecture team, which is reporting to him, he will empower and expand AGCS's data governance framework to ensure privacy and fidelity of all data and applications and ensure that AGCS has the capabilities needed to deliver business-ready solutions that inform and strengthen decision-making across all activities.

Ali SHAHKARAMI joined AGCS in 2012 as Head of Catastrophe Risk Research where he was responsible for research and development activities to capture risks of man-made and natural catastrophes. In 2018 he moved to AGCS's digital incubator initiative XSE to become the Global Capability Lead for Underwriting where he lead activities on digital transformation of client facing functions. A successor for his previous role will be announced shortly.