German tech giant GFT Technologies is experiencing somewhat of a record year and the person who has been singled out as the key driver behind that success has now been promoted to chief executive officer.
The Stuttgart-based company confirmed to QA Financial today that Marco Santos will take 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 GFT history as he will become 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.
Currently, GFT operates in 20 markets around the world with a workforce of just over 20,000 staff.
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.
Among its clients are some of the biggest names in financial services, including Deutsche Bank and Standard Chartered.
“Marco Santos is a guarantor of growth. He opened up new markets.”
– Chairman Ulrich Dietz
Santos, who has been with the company since 2011, 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, called Santos “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.”
Latin America deal
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 is 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.
“Last month’s move aligns 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%.
Deputy CEO
Alongside Santos’ appointment, GFT said its board has appointed Jochen Ruetz, CFO, as Deputy CEO.
Having been GFT’s finance chief for more than 21 years, since 2003, Ruetz’s contract has been extended until 31 December 2029, Dietz confirmed.
“Over the past two decades, Jochen Ruetz has been a key figure in the success and professionalism of GFT,” Dietz said.
“His sound financial expertise, leadership skills and strategic foresight are important foundations for a new era of growth. He is therefore predestined to be Deputy CEO,” he added.
Looking back on Marika Lulay’s tenure and ahead to the future of GFT, Dietz remarked that “Lulay has shaped GFT for over 20 years, first as COO and then as CEO. Together with our team, she has developed GFT into a company that occupies a leading and recognised position worldwide.”
He credited “the successful international expansion in particular due to Marika Lulay’s strategy. She has set high standards for her successors.”
New strategy director
Santos’ appointment and Ruetz’s promotion come 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.
Stay up to date and receive our news, features and interviews for free
Our e-newsletter lands in your inbox every Friday. Sign up HERE in one simple step.
NEXT WEEK IN TORONTO
More about GFT? Please check out our dedicated page HERE.
READ MORE
- LambdaTest launches tool that runs tests directly into browsers
- Chaos engineer Steadybit raises millions in fresh funding
- Exclusive sitdown with IAR’s newly appointed CEO Cecilia Wachtmeister
- Xceptor poaches Keith Man from Duco to drive APAC growth
- Yethi rolls out codeless test ‘workbench’ for large QA teams
