[ About American Express ]Advancing trust, intelligence, and experience in financial services.
American Express is a global financial services company known for its leadership in payments, data intelligence, and customer experience. Founded in 1850 and headquartered in New York City, Amex has built one of the most trusted brands in finance—serving millions of consumers and enterprises worldwide through secure, data-driven products and relationships.
From card to ecosystem.
What began as a pioneering express mail service evolved into a global network that integrates payments, lending, travel, and analytics. American Express empowers its customers to spend, save, and invest confidently by combining personalized financial tools with real-time intelligence and seamless digital experiences.
A heritage of integrity and innovation.
For more than 170 years, American Express has stood at the intersection of finance and human connection—advancing trust through innovation. The company continues to reimagine how payments and partnerships shape the modern economy, using technology and insight to deliver value that endures.
[ My Role ]At American Express, I helped advance the intelligence of global payments—where AI meets trust, and automation strengthens every transaction.
At American Express, I led strategic AI and machine learning programs within the AMP Authorizations group, driving the modernization of how the company detects, decides, and delivers financial trust at scale. My focus was on shaping next-generation authorization systems that balanced technical precision with regulatory integrity—ensuring that innovation in payments always aligned with the company’s heritage of security and reliability.
In this role, I directed cross-functional AI initiatives spanning data science, engineering, and product design to create an intelligent fraud detection platform capable of real-time decisioning under 400 milliseconds. By aligning 11 global product squads under shared OKRs, I accelerated delivery velocity by 42% and strengthened cohesion between technology, compliance, and customer experience.
Beyond delivery, I championed enterprise-wide AI literacy—designing enablement programs that equipped more than 120 stakeholders with a deep understanding of LLM integration, ethical governance, and automation strategy. These initiatives positioned American Express as a leader in responsible AI adoption, where every algorithm reinforces the brand’s promise of trust, transparency, and measurable impact.
[ strategic outcomes ]Strategic Outcomes
AI-Driven Fraud Detection
Delivered enterprise-scale fraud detection using PyTorch and Hugging Face—cut false positives by 31% and reduced authorization latency to <400 ms globally.
Cross-Functional Acceleration
Unified 11 product squads across data science, UX, and engineering through agile OKRs—boosting delivery cadence and visibility by 42%.
Responsible AI Enablement
Established LLM integration and AI literacy programs for 120+ stakeholders—embedding governance and ethical AI principles across the enterprise.
Operational Resilience & Trust
Advanced Amex’s mission of secure payments through intelligent automation—aligning innovation with regulatory compliance and client confidence.
“John’s leadership transformed how we applied AI at American Express—turning complex systems into engines of trust, precision, and measurable impact.”
— Priya Deshmukh, Vice President, AI & Machine Learning Strategy, American Express
AI → Data → Trust → Impact
Stage 01AI Systems
Developed Amex’s intelligent fraud detection engine using PyTorch and Hugging Face—reducing false positives by 31% and cutting authorization latency to under 400 ms.
Stage 02Data Intelligence
Unified data science, engineering, and product workflows to create transparent, auditable decision signals—strengthening reliability and speed across global platforms.
Stage 03Operational Trust
Advanced AI governance and model explainability across the enterprise, embedding ethical AI principles and measurable accountability into every transaction.
Stage 04Measured Outcomes
Delivered enterprise-scale improvements in fraud accuracy, decision velocity, and cross-functional efficiency—boosting quarterly throughput by 42%.
[ the journey ]A disciplined ascent through data, design, and trust.
Inclusions
At American Express, my journey centered on transforming how intelligence serves trust. From building real-time fraud detection models to aligning teams around explainable AI, each initiative was a step toward creating systems that learn responsibly and act transparently. My focus was on uniting data, automation, and governance to advance decision velocity without compromising integrity.
This stage reinforced that innovation isn’t just measured by speed—it’s measured by confidence. The goal was never to automate decisions, but to amplify the trust behind them.
Exclusions
I learned that progress in AI doesn’t come from disruption alone—it comes from discipline. At Amex, success meant designing intelligence that could be trusted as much as it could be scaled. It wasn’t about chasing models for novelty, but building ones that made reliability the foundation of every transaction.