Exclusive: KPMG reorgs AI division to create new incubator — with a new executive role reporting directly to the CEO

KPMG is reshaping its AI effort into a single new unit and giving it a direct line to the chief executive. The new Client Technology & Innovation group will be announced Sept. 22 and start Oct. 1, with Todd Lohr running it as vice chair and reporting straight to CEO Tim Walsh.

That is a very deliberate move. KPMG is not treating AI as a side project or a support function; it is trying to turn it into a place where new businesses get built. Lohr, a 15-year firm veteran, said he had been pushing for exactly this kind of setup for years: one leader, one reporting line, less lag.

The new group pulls together AI, innovation and ecosystem work that had been spread across the firm. It will cover products and platforms, commercial infrastructure, firmwide AI and data strategy, and an incubation arm meant to create what Lohr calls “edge disruption plays.” KPMG’s existing ties to Anthropic, Google Cloud, Microsoft, OpenAI and Databricks all fold into that ecosystem mandate.

Lohr’s pitch is that KPMG has plenty of ideas but has not always commercialized them well. He wants the new unit to operate more like a Silicon Valley incubator, with multiple paths for what gets built: folded back into KPMG, spun out with outside capital, or run as a joint venture with a tech partner. He even said he hopes a billion-dollar company comes out of it.

The timing matters too. The launch lines up with the retirement of Steve Chase, who built KPMG’s original AI and Digital Innovation group in 2023 and later took on a KPMG International AI role. And it comes after the firm’s own embarrassment over AI-generated hallucinations in a flagship report, which makes the new obsession with “trusted AI” and content checks feel less like a slogan and more like damage control.