Matt Sanchez

CTO | Board Director | Entrepreneur | AI Leader in Austin, TX

I’m a product and technology leader focused on building AI systems that reason, decide, and drive measurable business outcomes.

At IBM, I serve as Vice President & CTO for IBM Apptio, where I lead technology strategy and architecture for the market-leading platform in IT Financial Management (ITFM) and FinOps. My focus is evolving Apptio into an AI-native enterprise financial intelligence layer, enabling organizations to understand, optimize, and act on the relationship between technology spend and business value in real time.

Previously, I led product strategy and development for watsonx Orchestrate, where we pioneered AI assistants and agentic technologies that are redefining digital labor and intelligent workflows.

Throughout my career, I’ve operated at the frontlines of innovation—from launching startups to scaling global AI platforms. I served as Global Chief Data and AI Officer at Tecnotree, driving adoption of advanced AI across telecom and healthcare, and as Co-Founder & CTO of CognitiveScale, where we built one of the world’s largest AI patent portfolios and delivered trusted AI solutions across financial services, healthcare, and digital commerce.

My journey with IBM began in 2006 as part of the Webify acquisition, where I helped shape IBM’s BPM and SOA platforms. In 2011, I was part of the founding team of the IBM Watson Group and led Watson Labs, contributing to the early generation of AI-powered enterprise systems.

I also serve as Vice Chairman of the Responsible AI Institute, advancing human-centric, transparent, and ethical AI.

I’m driven by bold ideas grounded in execution—aligning product vision with architecture, scaling global teams, and delivering outcomes at the intersection of AI, automation, and enterprise transformation.

In my free time, I enjoy spending time with my family, exploring new technology, and the occasional round of golf.