Kashi Kakarla

US index provider MSCI has appointed Kashi Kakarla as its chief technology officer and head of product engineering, effective June 22, reporting to Henry Fernandez, the company’s chairman and chief executive officer.

At MSCI, Kakarla will lead product technology and engineering across all product lines and client segments. A key priority, the company notes, will be leveraging artificial intelligence ( AI ) to transform the way clients access and engage with its content and expand the reach of its solutions to a broader audience of investment professionals.

By embedding AI more deeply into the investment ecosystem as a strategic enabler, the company aims to help clients navigate complexity and uncertainty with greater speed, scale and foresight.

Kakarla will also lead the establishment of a new MSCI office in Silicon Valley as an innovation and talent centre driving the firm’s AI and technology transformation.

He joins from Intuit, where he spent 17 years building and transforming products and platforms serving millions of customers worldwide. Most recently, he led technology and engineering for the Intuit Small Business Platform.

Previously, he helped transform QuickBooks into an AI-driven expert platform powered by agents and intelligence and led the development of new products for enterprise businesses and accounting firms. Earlier in his career, Kakarla held engineering leadership roles at SiRF, a pioneer in the commercialization of GPS technology, and Motorola.

“His deep experience building and enhancing technology makes him the ideal leader to drive the next chapter of the company’s transformation,” Fernandez adds. “In particular, his track record of using AI to modernize and scale complex products is exactly what we need as MSCI looks to increase the number of clients who consume our data, models, analytics and other content, and make it easier for them to do so.”