Return On Intelligence

Kristin Milchanowski is BMO Financial Group’s Chief AI & Quantum Officer and the Founding Director of the BMO Institute for Applied Artificial Intelligence & Quantum, an enterprise-wide Centre of Excellence focused on the responsible innovation, application and governance of artificial intelligence and the advancement of quantum capabilities. 

In this role, Kristin leads BMO’s AI and Quantum agenda across the enterprise and is a member of the Technology & Operations (T&O) Executive Committee. She is responsible for shaping and advancing the bank’s AI and quantum strategies and supporting technologies, while strengthening data management, governance and trust. Through the Institute, she brings together expertise across science, policy, ethics and commercialization to translate leading edge technologies into meaningful, well governed value for BMO clients and the broader economy. 

Kristin is a global AI executive with more than 20 years of experience across financial services and manufacturing, known for transforming organizations by unlocking the full potential of data and advanced technology. Prior to joining BMO, she was a Global Innovation Partner and Principal at EY, where she led the Global Lab focused on AI, high performance computing and quantum technologies. Earlier in her career, she served as Chief Data Scientist at Morgan Stanley and held senior leadership roles at JPMorgan Chase, including Head of Global Financial Crimes Compliance Technology and Model Management. Kristin is an AI Associate Fellow at the University of Oxford, where she completed post doctoral studies in artificial intelligence. She holds a Ph.D. in Decision Sciences, a Master of Business Administration from the University of Colorado, and a Bachelor of Business Administration from Texas A&M University. Her current research sits at the intersection of AI and quantum, including pioneering work in Quantum Game Theory. 

She is the author of Return on Intelligence: A Strategic Enterprise Playbook for Scalable AI Agents, which redefines enterprise transformation in the age of artificial intelligence and outlines a governing framework for deploying AI agents at scale. 

Kristin has previously served as a foundation board member of Children’s National Hospital in Washington, D.C., and of Automobili Lamborghini in Bologna, Italy. She is also the author and illustrator of the children’s book Tell Me Henry, created to advocate for greater diversity in children’s literature. Most recently, she was named one of AI Magazine’s Top 100 Leaders in AI and to American Banker’s Most Innovative People in Finance list.