Natalie Mao

Natalie Mao is Senior Vice President of AI and Product at Rakuten, a global technology leader in services that empower individuals, communities, businesses and society, where she oversees the development of a diverse portfolio of AI-powered products and services that span the Rakuten Ecosystem. Her work covers search, recommendations, personalization, customer service, AI safety and agentic experiences. She also leads Rakuten International's AI-nization, an organization-wide effort to embed AI into every part of work, improving customer experience, operational and marketing efficiency, and measurable business impact at scale. Before Rakuten, Natalie spent nearly two decades at Amazon and Microsoft building and scaling AI-powered products used by hundreds of millions of customers worldwide, and she holds multiple U.S. patents. She is passionate about turning AI advances into measurable customer and business value, while fostering inclusive, high-performing teams.