Sastry Durvasula joins Marsh as Chief Digital Officer

Marsh has appointed Sastry Durvasula as its new Chief Digital Officer and Chief Data & Analytics Officer, he was most recently at American Express as its Senior Vice President & Unit CIO of Enterprise Head of Data and Digital Tech. He will start in the role mid-way through August.

Marsh & McLennan Companies, which along with Marsh includes consultancies Oliver Wyman and Mercer, has been going through a sustained period of inorganic growth over recent years. Earlier in 2017, Marsh & McLennan Agency acquired RJF Financial Services and US-based Blakestad. The Marsh & McLennan Companies group as a whole announced earnings for its second quarter of 2017 had increased by 8%, and subsidiaries are now seeking to consolidate on the further growth within the network.

Sastry Durvasula will join Marsh as Chief Digital Officer and Chief Data & Analytics Officer from September 14th 2017. He is currently a Senior Vice President & Unit CIO with American Express, in the role of Enterprise Head of Data and Digital Tech for the past 2 years, having previously served the firm as Vice President of Global Information Management and Digital Capabilities for four years, as well as Vice President of Global Payments Network and Director, US Card Technologies, for five years.

Durvasula started his career in the consulting industry, first at Tata Consulting Services as an IT Consultant for two years, before moving to Accenture, where he worked for five years in the roles of Technical Architect and Lead Engineer in its Financial Services practice.

In his new role at Marsh, Durvasul will focus on the design, development and delivery of the firm’s digital capability’s, which, among others, include data and analytics and a number of client-facing technologies. In addition, he will take responsibility for the firm’s Marsh ClearSight offering, which, among others, includes risk, safety, and claims management software. The role of CDO is becoming increasingly important as new regulations such as the GDPR press companies to enact stronger safe guards for personal information across Europe. 

Durvasul will report to John Drzik, who is currently the President of Global Risk and Specialties at Marsh, a role he held for the past three years and a bit. He previously worked at a sister company, Oliver Wyman, where he was the President & CEO for more than 19 years.

Commenting on the high-level appointment, Drzik said, “Leveraging significant opportunities arising from emerging technology is fundamental to how Marsh serves clients and helps them achieve their business goals.” He added, “Sastry brings a superior in-depth knowledge of digital technologies – including big data, blockchain, and artificial intelligence – and a proven track record of leading enterprise transformation at scale. We’re delighted that Sastry is joining us to develop Marsh’s global digital strategy and help us harness technology, data and analytics to benefit our clients, carrier partners and colleagues.”