Bank of America names AI transformation and digital-assets platform leaders

Bank of America has made several leadership changes inside its Global Markets organization, according to an internal memo reviewed by Reuters. Kevin Milsom was named head of platforms AI transformation, while Sonali Theisen was named head of the global digital-assets platform in addition to her role leading Global FICC e-trading and markets strategic investments.

The memo also moves Amy Avery and the Analytics, Modelling & Insights team into the global platforms group, where it will oversee data-driven insights. Ashok Krishnan leads that platforms organization and its broader work to modernize technology, increase automation and roll out generative-AI tools.

These are organizational appointments. Bank of America has not published a public newsroom announcement for them, and the available reports do not describe a new customer product, model, deployment architecture, budget or measured return on investment.

The changes formalize separate but related responsibilities:

• •AI implementation: Reuters says Milsom will lead platforms AI transformation within Global Markets. The scope is narrower than a bank-wide chief AI role.
• •Digital-assets platform: Theisen adds responsibility for the platform while retaining her Global FICC e-trading and strategic-investments role. The Block, citing internal memos first reported by Reuters and Bloomberg, says her remit includes the platform's design, development, scaling and governance.
• •Data and analytics: Avery's Analytics, Modelling & Insights team will join Global Platforms and support data-driven insights across the company, according to Reuters.

The Block separately says Theisen will work alongside digital-asset transformation chief Adam Dixon. Responsibilities such as tokenized deposits, stablecoins, digital collateral mobility, crypto settlement and custody are described as Dixon's remit, so they should not be treated as products that Theisen has already launched.

Global Markets combines trading, pricing, risk, client coverage, compliance and post-trade operations. AI introduced into those workflows has to respect data entitlements, model-risk review, human accountability and audit requirements. Naming a transformation leader can improve coordination, but the title itself is not evidence that systems are production-ready or producing value.

The digital-assets role carries a similar distinction. Building a governed platform is different from announcing a crypto-trading push. Any material deployment would still need evidence around custody, settlement, reconciliation, cybersecurity, legal treatment and operational resilience.

The appointments are a useful signal that Bank of America is moving AI and digital-assets work into named platform ownership rather than leaving it as loosely coordinated experimentation. The next meaningful evidence will be operational: disclosed use cases, deployment controls, error and override rates, processing-time changes, compliance outcomes and measurable economics. Until those results emerge, this should be read as an organizational step toward implementation—not as proof of a completed transformation.