Paul Daugherty is the Chief Technology Officer for Accenture, a Fortune Global 500 company and one of the largest consulting firms in the world. He is also a member of Accenture’s Global Management Committee.
As CTO, Daugherty spins many plates. He oversees all aspects of the company's technology strategy from top to bottom. He drives innovation through research and development activities in Accenture Labs, and also oversees Accenture Ventures, which focuses on strategic equity investments and open innovation to accelerate growth. His numerous responsibilities include developing and scaling Accenture's new cutting-edge businesses: Blockchain, Extended Reality, and even Quantum Computing. He also leads the company’s highly skilled, certified technology architects.
Daugherty, who joined Accenture in 1986 and made partner in 1999, has his fingerprints all over the company. In the past he's played a key role in evolving Accenture’s technology business to respond to the changes in the industry. He spearheaded pioneering research in AI and helped shape Accenture’s early moves into the realm of digital business leadership. Furthermore, he founded Accenture’s cloud computing business and was instrumental in launching Accenture’s SaaS, big data, and open source businesses. On top of that, he played a key role in the company’s technology business during the major transitions to client/server computing and internet-based computing.
Before being named CTO in 2012, Daugherty was Accenture’s chief technology architect, leading more than 17,000 professionals globally who focused on advanced technology solutions.
Looking back, Daugherty can trace his passion for technology to some of his earliest days. During the early 1980s, he studied computer engineering at the University of Michigan, where he became hooked on AI after taking a course with Douglas Hofstadter on cognitive science and psychology. Since then, he has never looked back.
A much sought-after pundit on the future of technology innovation and its implications for business and society, Daugherty is regularly featured in a variety of media outlets, including The Economist, Forbes, USA Today, Fortune, Harvard Business Review, The Wall Street Journal, Fox Business, and CNBC. He is also co-author of the highly acclaimed book "Human + Machine: Reimagining Work in the Age of AI."
Additionally, Daugherty serves as chairman of the board of Avanade, a joint venture of Accenture and Microsoft.