Lena Mass-Cresnik, PhD

Dr. Mass-Cresnik is the Generative AI Strategy and Center of Excellence Lead at Amazon Web Services (AWS), Generative AI Innovation Center. In her leadership role, she works with the largest global cross-industry customers in Healthcare, Consumer Retail, and Financial Services among others, as well as public sector and start-up customers.

Previously, Dr. Mass-Cresnik was Chief Data Officer, Partner & Managing Director, at Moelis & Company (NYSE: MC), an independent investment bank, where she created and led the global Data Science & Analytics business. Dr. Mass-Cresnik has two decades of experience creating innovative, cross-functional technology solutions — covering AI/ML, data science, investments, FinTech, R&D, cloud, and mobility, among others — across the financial services industry. Previously, she was the Head of Technology Strategy and Technology Research & Development in the Office of the CTO at Charles Schwab. Prior to that, Dr. Mass-Cresnik was at BlackRock, where she held the roles of Global Head of Innovation in Technology and Head of Innovation in Strategic Product Management focused on institutional and retail investment products. There she established a new technology engagement strategy & model focused on emergent technologies and investments, early-stage start-up technologies, collaborations with Silicon Valley, product and service scalability, and evaluated their feasibility and commercial viability globally.

Dr. Mass-Cresnik holds a DPhil (PhD) from the University of Oxford in Innovation & Technology Management, where she focused on complex systems and networks. She also holds a MS from Harvard University in Policy & Management, and a BA from Wellesley College in Economics. She was an inaugural member of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s FinTech Advisory Group, a Steering Committee member of multiple World Economic Forum advisory groups, an Advisory Board Member at Atlas Crest Investment Co. (NYSE: ACIC), and a member of Extraordinary Women on Boards.