Following somewhat of a record year for GFT Technologies, with Marco Santos being named to the top job, the German tech giant has signed up Rishi Chohan as the chief executive officer for its largest market, the U.S.
The former Ernst & Young and SoftServe executive’s main job will be to scale the digital transformation company’s AI growth, both internally as well as among U.S. financial institutions.
Among its clients are some of the biggest names in financial services, including Deutsche Bank, Santander, HSBC and Standard Chartered.
The company, which primarily focuses on leveraging technology to increase client productivity through software solutions, enterprise AI, data and digital finance solutions, has long-standing partnerships with major cloud providers such as AWS, Google Cloud and Microsoft Azure.
Currently, GFT operates in 20 markets around the world with a workforce of just over 20,000 staff.
Chohan “has big shoes to fill,” as the Stuttgart-based company put it, as he succeeds former CEO of the Americas Marco Santos, who took over as GFT’s Global CEO in January of this year.
He and Chohan will continue scaling GFT’s work in the U.S. as they execute on a five-year strategy to transform GFT from the inside out with AI.
“Along the way, it will leverage its deep domain experience to roll out a series of vertical-specific AI solutions,” the company shared.
Although 92% of companies plan to increase their investments in AI, only 19% have managed to increase their revenue by more than 5% as a result of these investments, GFT stressed.
This is largely because becoming AI-ready requires first transforming their legacy internal infrastructures to cater to new AI use cases.
In recent years, GFT has been guiding its global banking and financial services clients through large-scale infrastructural transformations with a heavy focus on AI integration.
Now, undergoing its own transformation, the company is scaling its internal AI usage to innovate faster and deliver on the next phase of digital journeys with new AI-powered products and services.
Chohan will lead this initiative stateside. Externally, his focus will be on deepening GFT’s existing relationships with leading U.S. banks, financial institutions and manufacturers.
He will additionally expand GFT’s core technology partnerships and explore new partnerships with technology companies that complement GFT’s emerging offerings.
“AI is creating an opportunity for companies to fast-forward to a state that doesn’t exist today, defined by limitless potential to develop new products and services, acquire new customers and generate new revenue streams,” said Chohan.
“To capitalise on AI’s potential, companies need to innovate with forward looking partners who can transform their digital infrastructures quickly,” he added.
Chohan will work closely with GFT’s regional head Chris Ortiz, who has led the company’s footprint expansion in the Asia-Pacific and UK markets.
“It’s my personal vision for GFT that over the next five years, all of our products and services will be delivered with AI in their hearts, completely AI-Centric,” said global CEO Marco Santos.
Over the last year, GFT has made several investments in deepening its AI expertise on a global level.
New global chief
Santos took over as CEO from Marika Lulay after three years in the job. She announced her decision to step down from the position in December of last year.
By appointing the Brazilian national, Santos is writing somewhat of GFT history as he became the Frankfurt-listed firm’s first non-German global CEO ever. He grew up and studied in Sao Paulo.
There were ample reasons for GFT to hand Santos the top job.
His rise within the company started with his work to carve a market for GFT in the Americas, beginning with growing the firm’s Brazilian operations from 0 to 1,800 people within a year.
As a result, in January of 2020, Santos took over as the company’s CEO for the Americas and achieved a 35% increase in year-over-year revenue just one quarter into his appointment.
Prior to joining GFT as country manager for Brazil in 2011, he held several positions at TATA Consultancy Services, Oracle, CPM Capgemini and Organic. Santos holds an MBA from FIA-USP in Brazil and he has a degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, specialising in the impact of artificial intelligence on business strategies.
U.S. strategy
By far the biggest growth for GFT, both in revenue and staff, was recorded across the Americas in the last two years, accounting now for nearly half of all the company’s global income. Santos has been credited to be behind that success, largely responsible for pushing further into the lucrative but crowded and competitive U.S. market.
The company’s U.S. ambitions revolve around GFT’s competitive nearshoring and offshoring model, and the ability to guide both strategy and delivery across the entire digital transformation lifecycle.
“Marco Santos is a guarantor of growth. He opened up new markets.”
– Ulrich Dietz
Santos, who has been with the company since 2011, has ambitious plans to place “an increasing emphasis on providing banks and financial institutions the data and cloud infrastructures they need to introduce competitive AI-driven use cases,” stressed Ulrich Dietz, since 2017 chairman of the GFT board.
Dietz, who was CEO between 2015 and 2017 and generally considered a well-respected name within the global software and digital transformation community, called Santos in December “a guarantor of growth and innovation.”
He added that “Santos has proven this time and again throughout his career at GFT, both in North and Latin America. He opened up new markets.”
Dietz went on to say that “Santos is consistently among the first to use the potential of new technologies, such as artificial intelligence, for the benefit of GFT and our clients.”
Sophos takeover
What may have paved the way for Santos to be handed the top job was the major takeover deal he recently negotiated and sealed in South America when, in February, GFT made headlines across the industry when Santos struck an agreement to acquire Colombia-based IT firm Sophos Solutions.
The takeover was aimed to expand GFT’s footprint across Latin America, the market Santos was responsible for. The move was keenly monitored and admired internally at the company’s headquarters in Stuttgart.
By acquiring Sophos Solutions, GFT managed to get a foothold in the region’s largest IT banking markets, including Brazil, Mexico, Panama, Chile and Colombia.
“The move aligned with GFT’s ambition to bolster its banking IT services across the region and enhance its global delivery model,” Dietz said. As a result of the deal, 1,700 staff will be added to GFT’s global workforce this year, an increase of nearly 10%.
Alongside Santos’ appointment, GFT appointed Jochen Ruetz, CFO, as Deputy CEO. Having been GFT’s finance chief for more than 21 years, since 2003, Ruetz’s contract was extended until 31 December 2029.
Santos’ appointment and Ruetz’s promotion came only weeks after industry insider Ian Oswald was poached by GFT to leave professional services giant EY.
Oswald has been made part of GFT’s core leadership team as the firm’s new executive director of strategy and offerings.
He joined the company’s 280-strong UK team from EY where Oswald was a partner in the business technology consulting team, primarily responsible for engagements on technology strategies and rolling out transformation roadmaps within the financial services space.
For years, Oswald was responsible for the execution and implantation of digital innovation proposals at large banks across the UK and a number of challenger banks.
Oswald’s appointment marks the second major hire in GFT’s UK leadership team in just under six months.
In October, the company appointed Priya Lakshmi as its new chief revenue officer in Britain.
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