Bank of America names leaders for digital assets and AI

Bank of America appointed Sonali Theisen as head of its global digital assets platform and Kevin Milsom as head of AI transformation, according to internal memos. Theisen will add oversight of the bank’s digital-assets platform to her current responsibilities; Milsom will lead deployment of artificial intelligence across the firm’s markets platforms.

Theisen will continue to lead electronic trading and strategic investments in the bank’s fixed income, currencies and commodities division while taking charge of the design, development, scaling and governance of the digital-assets platform. Her role covers the technical roadmap, operational controls and governance needed to support tokenized products and crypto custody services within the bank’s markets infrastructure.

Theisen is expected to work with Adam Dixon, the bank’s digital asset transformation chief, whose remit includes tokenized deposits and stablecoins, digital collateral mobility, and settlement and custody for cryptocurrency trading. The bank described Theisen’s brief as integrating blockchain-based products into its existing markets systems and establishing the operational frameworks to support them.

Milsom will focus on applying machine learning, automation and advanced analytics across the bank’s global markets operations. His responsibilities include scaling AI tools for trading and market-facing platforms, coordinating data governance, and aligning technical development and deployment processes across teams that run high-volume trading and risk systems.

Other financial firms and technology employers have been recruiting for roles that combine digital assets and AI capabilities, including searches for heads of digital assets and hires to lead crypto strategy and tokenization efforts. Employers are seeking specialists who can link tokenization, custody and on-chain data with existing trading and custody services.

Both appointments formalize senior operational and technical oversight for product development, scaling and compliance in the bank’s work on digital assets and AI. The changes assign named leaders responsibility for engineering, governance and deployment of blockchain-based products and AI-driven market tools.