Balancing Innovation and Risk in the Age of AI

Monica Caldas is executive vice president and global CIO of Liberty Mutual Insurance.

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Before joining the company in 2018, she spent 17 years at General Electric working on transformation projects, including digitizing supply chains and using data to predict locomotive engine failures. An immigrant from Portugal who came to the U.S. at age 8, Caldas has had a problem-solving orientation throughout her career. Caldas received the 2025 MIT Sloan CIO Leadership Award for her work at Liberty Mutual and her efforts to champion women in STEM. MIT Sloan Management Review spoke with Caldas about her approach to deploying generative AI, managing modernization, and developing talent. This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

How do you think about the main function of the CIO role, especially as technology evolves so rapidly?

I look at the role through two lenses: defense and offense. The job is to protect data and make sure that you have systems that are secure and stable so that the company can operate. But you simultaneously have to play offense by building new features and functionality.