Osaic brings its software fight into the C-suite with first AI chief

Osaic has moved its software fight into the C-suite, naming Sayee Bellamkonda its first chief AI and technology officer and giving him a newly created seat on the firm's executive committee. Bellamkonda will oversee advisor- and client-facing technology, artificial intelligence and cybersecurity strategy, reporting directly to chief executive Jamie Price from Scottsdale, Arizona. The appointment puts a technology executive in the inner circle just as Osaic, one of the country's largest independent wealth management platforms at roughly $700 billion in assets under administration, leans into AI tools for its advisor network. Price said in April that the firm's AI-powered planning platform Jump and workflow-automation tool Zocks hit nearly 30% advisor adoption within a year of launch, a pace he called unlike anything he had seen in his decade at the company.

Bellamkonda joins from Vialto Partners, the global mobility services firm spun out of PwC, where he was executive vice president and chief digital and technology officer. Earlier in his career he held senior technology posts at CBRE, Ameriprise Financial and American Express, and he holds a Global Doctor of Business Administration in AI and Data Science from Rennes School of Business. It is the kind of resume a firm hires when it wants technology at the highest level from day one. The appointment follows a stretch of departures across Osaic's leadership ranks over the past year, a reminder that the C-suite talent war runs in both directions; Osaic has already watched a senior executive leave for Carson this month.

In announcing the hire, Price said Bellamkonda has spent his career connecting technology strategy with business outcomes and knows how to build the organizations, capabilities and culture needed to turn that strategy into action. Bellamkonda said the move comes at a pivotal time for the firm and that he plans to build on the strong infrastructure already in place while applying data, AI and technology responsibly. The shared vocabulary amounts to a claim: Osaic is treating technology as construction rather than decoration.

Osaic's appointment follows a week in which four C-suite hires landed across the industry, the latest proof that the talent war has moved to the C-suite and that the platform arms race has turned to software and services. Osaic spent August landing advisor teams — a $367 million father-son book and a $250 million LPL practice, per PWD's records — which makes the technology hire a companion piece to the recruiting push. A platform can buy teams with a check, but it cannot buy nearly 30% advisor adoption within a year; that takes a leader whose entire job is making the technology feel like the advisor's own. Osaic is betting the software layer around the advisor is now a retention tool as important as the recruiting grid — and if the bet pays off, the market for AI leadership in wealth management will look very different by next year.