Synchrony, a Stamford-based consumer financial services company, has appointed Nimrod Barak as its new Chief AI Officer, effective June 30. Barak joins from Citi, where he spent about nine years leading the bank's AI Center of Excellence.
At Synchrony, he will lead enterprise AI strategy and accelerate the rollout of AI capabilities across the business, including agentic commerce initiatives.
The appointment reflects Synchrony's commitment to scaling AI adoption — nearly 100% of its professional workforce have been using AI tools including Synchrony GPT since 2024.
What happened
Nimrod Barak, who spent about nine years at Citi as managing director and head of its AI Center of Excellence and Emerging Technologies, was appointed Chief AI Officer at Synchrony effective June 30. He will oversee development and deployment of AI capabilities across the consumer financial services company, including agentic and intelligent automation initiatives.
Why it matters
Synchrony has been rolling out AI capabilities across the organization and preparing for what leadership calls "the next phase of agentic commerce." The hire signals the company's intent to accelerate AI adoption at scale — nearly 100% of its professional workforce has been using AI tools including Synchrony GPT since 2024 — while embedding AI responsibly into products and operations.
What to watch
Barak brings more than 20 years of experience leading large-scale engineering, data, and AI organizations. At Citi he built and scaled global teams and pioneered deployment of emerging technologies to modernize operations and improve customer experiences.
Stamford-based consumer financial services company Synchrony appointed Nimrod Barak as Chief AI Officer effective June 30, bringing in a technology executive with more than 20 years of experience in large-scale engineering, data, and AI organizations. Barak spent approximately nine years at Citi, where he served as managing director and head of the bank's AI Center of Excellence and Emerging Technologies. In that role, he built and scaled high-performing global teams, pioneered deployment of emerging technologies, and helped organizations modernize operations, improve customer experiences, and create new sources of business value through innovation and responsible AI.
At Synchrony, Barak will spearhead the company's enterprise AI strategy and execution, overseeing the development and deployment of AI capabilities across the business. His mandate includes accelerating innovation, advancing agentic and intelligent automation initiatives, and ensuring AI is embedded responsibly into products, operations, and decision-making. Florin Arghirescu, Synchrony's Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, framed the hire as essential to the company's next growth phase. "Over the past several years, Synchrony has been thoughtfully rolling out new AI capabilities across the organization and preparing for the next phase of agentic commerce," Arghirescu said. "We look forward to Nimrod's leadership to accelerate AI adoption as part of our commitment to responsible innovation built on decades of trust with consumers and partners."
The appointment comes as Synchrony has already scaled enterprise-wide AI readiness considerably. Nearly 100% of the company's professional workforce have been using AI tools, including Synchrony GPT, since 2024. That adoption rate underscores that the infrastructure and cultural readiness for broader AI deployment is already in place; Barak's role is to formalize and accelerate that effort into a coherent strategy for agentic commerce and intelligent automation across the enterprise.
Synchrony's appointment of Nimrod Barak reflects an intentional shift toward embedding artificial intelligence more deeply across the consumer financial services business. The company has already been piloting AI capabilities for several years — nearly all of its professional workforce adopted AI tools including Synchrony GPT starting in 2024 — but leadership frames Barak's hire as a way to accelerate and formalize this transition into what Florin Arghirescu, the company's Chief Technology Officer, calls "the next phase of agentic commerce." This suggests Synchrony is moving beyond basic AI tool adoption toward more autonomous AI systems that can execute tasks with minimal human intervention.
Barak's background at Citi positions him to lead that transition at scale. Over nine years at Citi, he built global teams, deployed emerging technologies, and helped modernize operations and customer experiences through responsible AI — experience directly relevant to Synchrony's stated goal of embedding AI responsibly into products, operations, and decision-making. The hire also signals confidence that the company's foundation is already in place; bringing in a seasoned leader to accelerate adoption rather than starting from scratch suggests Synchrony views its AI readiness as mature enough to warrant aggressive scaling.
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