Chalapathy Neti, Ph.D., was recently named as Fordham University’s new inaugural assistant vice president (AVP) of Enterprise Artificial Intelligence (AI), effective Feb. 9.
In this role, Neti will be responsible for developing a university-wide strategy concerning the use of AI, establishing frameworks regarding AI governance and the implementation of AI-related policies across campus.
“Our goal of designing practical AI applications focuses on optimizing experiences to best serve our community of students, faculty, and staff,” Neti said in an email statement to The Ram. “This strategic approach uses the Jesuit view of cura personalis as a lens to implement AI across the student experience.”
According to Vice President and Chief Information Officer Anand Padmanabhan, this AI strategy will move Fordham toward unified AI strategies.
“Our priorities include establishing a formal governance framework, auditing current projects for scalability, and engaging with campus stakeholders to identify high-impact opportunities that will shape our long-term AI roadmap,” said Padmanabhan in his email.
Padmanabhan additionally emphasized the importance of preparing students for rapidly evolving emerging technologies.
“We also want to empower students with AI literacy and skills as they enter the workforce after graduation, and leverage AI’s ability to improve workflows while keeping ‘humans in the loop,’” Padmanabhan said.
Neti has a Bachelor of Science in electrical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology. He later received a Master’s degree in electrical engineering from Washington State University and then a Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University.
Neti has 14 years of industry experience at International Business Machines (IBM), where he worked on implementing Watson AI, a data analytics processor, in the healthcare industry. His division ultimately became IBM Watson Health and was sold off in 2022 for over $1 billion.
Neti then helped expand the use of Watson AI in education, where he served as IBM’s director of Education Transformation.
After leaving IBM in 2020, Neti worked at SWIFT, a global interbank messaging company, where he helped outline an AI innovation strategy through the company’s AI Center of Excellence, focusing on responsible AI use, while simultaneously working on fraud prevention in the company.
Neti said that his past experiences will aid him in his new position at Fordham.
“Having a wide variety of experiences provides a strong foundation for stepping into the complex role of navigating AI in higher education,” Neti said.
He said his experience with AI and technological solutions in various industries has given him a “solution-first” mindset, which he will bring to Fordham.
“I have spent years building solutions that bridge the gap between complex theory and industry transformation, and will bring this experience to Fordham as we strive to utilize AI to improve all aspects of the student experience,” Neti said.
In addition to appointing Neti to his current position, Fordham has implemented other AI usage programs on campus. In the spring of 2025, the university announced it would join the AI Alliance, an organization focused on furthering responsible innovation in AI that was jointly created by Meta and IBM.
Fordham’s AI Alliance membership allows students and faculty to collaborate with other community members on larger AI-related initiatives.
Fordham alumni have also pledged financial support for AI programs at Fordham. Peter Zangari, FCRH ’89, and Jennifer Zangari recently donated $1 million through the Zangari fund for AI research.
“[The fund] not only will benefit the faculty, but also the students,” Zangari said in a Fordham Now article.
According to the Fordham Now article, “the Zangari Family Faculty Research and Innovation Fund will support faculty AI research projects, some of which will involve students as well.”
Since the rise in AI usage, Fordham has created several AI initiatives, and hiring Neti as the AVP of Enterprise AI was just one of them.
