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Business Insider
01-08-2025
- Business
- Business Insider
I'm a CEO who's led teams in the US, Latin America, and Europe. One country's business culture stood out as the most sophisticated.
This as-told-to essay is based on a transcribed conversation with 50-year-old Marco Santos, the Global CEO of GFT Technologies, an IT solutions company headquartered in Germany. The following has been edited for length and clarity. I've worked in IT my entire career. In 2011, I joined GFT as a country manager for Brazil. I focused on growing our presence there, but over time, I assumed more responsibilities. I became the CEO of GFT USA and Latin America, and then CEO of the Americas as a whole, including Canada. I was honored to become the company's global CEO in 2024, overseeing its strategic direction and over 12,000 employees. In July, I moved to Germany, where we're headquartered. During my tenure at GFT, I've lived and worked across South America, North America, and Europe. Here's what the work and business culture were like in each of those areas and how I think leaders can adapt to different environments where they may have to travel. I joined GFT in Brazil after working for an IT consultancy. I led a small operation of about 80 people, working for clients in Europe. We didn't have any clients in the local market. I had to take a startup approach, focusing on growing the business and building a local client base in Brazil. At that time, business culture in Latin America was very relationship-driven. Delivering on promises to build trust was very important. I leveraged my IT connections in Brazil to build good relationships and open doors. I tried to meet with people I already knew in the market and had worked with before, talking with them about how GFT could meet their needs. As we scaled, we were able to grow the business throughout Latin America more broadly. I assumed responsibility over GFT Costa Rica and Mexico, and then I assumed the whole of Latin America. The US market is super competitive I became CEO of GFT USA and Latin America in 2020. I couldn't fly to the US because of the COVID-19 pandemic, so I had to manage things remotely until moving to the US in July 2021. Our US headquarters are in New York, where I'd travel frequently, but I chose to stay in Florida because some of our key clients were moving operations there. Florida was also a more convenient location for flying back and forth from Latin America. I believe the US has the most sophisticated business environment in the world. I noticed clients are so open to new things. Innovation and transformation come before regulation. With so much innovation, particularly in IT, there's a lot of competition. I had to come to understand the US market well and articulate the company's competitive advantage. When we pitched to top banks, we communicated our previous experience in this area, how we solved problems for our clients, and the skills we had that no one else had. Compared to Brazil, where pitches were more generic and often involved talking about who you are and what you can do, pitches in the US have a heightened focus on the metrics you achieved while solving problems for previous clients, and your key differentiators. People in the US tend to be more direct and to the point than people in Brazil. They place a stronger emphasis on efficiency, key performance indicators, and return on investment. I learned a lot from my US colleagues and was eager to adapt to this communication style. In Europe, I'm learning to navigate a longer decision-making process I moved to Germany in July 2024. The former global CEO and I worked together as co-CEOs until January 2025, when I fully assumed the global CEO role. Recently, I've noticed a desire to accelerate the pace of change in Europe, but compared to the US, the decision-making process takes longer here, and the culture is more risk-averse. If there's an opportunity to bring something new, there'll be a longer process to evaluate that new thing. Across our clients, teams, and partners, there's a focus on planning strategically before implementing ideas. The culture requires you to look at all the options and scenarios, produce a comprehensive analysis of where you are and where you want to be, and create an operational plan. People will expect you to understand all the variables at play. As GFT's CEO, I have to learn from this culture to ensure that I'm planning more and assessing all the scenarios before we execute something. I've noticed that in Europe, once you do this comprehensive planning and come to an agreement, you can really start to execute, and things don't change. Meanwhile, in the US, things accelerate very quickly, but they can also change very quickly due to the competitive environment. Even if you're doing a good job with a project, a competitor might come along and start outpacing you, so you may have to make rapid changes. Leaders need to be adaptable to lead globally As an executive, I have found it very enriching to travel to different continents and cultural contexts. Coming to Europe is like experiencing a new world. It's multicultural, and it's relatively easy to visit different countries on the continent, so the diversity I'm experiencing is fantastic. Living in different countries has developed my skills. Being a fast learner and an adaptable person are essential for strong leaders, especially in IT. When changes happen in business, leaders with these skills should think about how to adapt and keep moving toward their long-term goals.
Finextra
31-07-2025
- Business
- Finextra
GFT unveils AI coding assistant
Global digital transformation company GFT has announced its work to drive U.S. and Canadian financial institutions' cloud and AI digital transformation projects with Wynxx, its new AI-powered software development product. 0 This content is provided by an external author without editing by Finextra. It expresses the views and opinions of the author. As financial institutions modernize their legacy systems, including transitioning to the cloud and deploying new AI use cases across the organization, they are looking for ways to maintain quality while reducing costs. GFT's Wynxx makes this possible, reducing the amount of time cloud and AI capabilities take to launch by up to 95%. The proprietary AI tool has already enabled a global tier-1 investment bank to reduce the time a cloud deployment development task took from over one month to just one day. Financial institutions want to take advantage of AI driven efficiencies – but less than 40% have even taken the first step: going all in on cloud environments. This is largely because for most financial institutions, digital transformation projects, like the move to the cloud, are a complex undertaking that require significant developer resources. As a result, these financial institutions are facing challenges as they look to harness the power of AI – which typically relies on centralized cloud ecosystems – to bring a competitive edge by reducing operating costs while enhancing the customer experience. It's against this backdrop that GFT is bringing Wynxx to the U.S. and Canada, allowing financial institutions to decrease the developer time and resources required for large scale digital transformation projects. The new product allows financial institutions to significantly drive efficiency in key digital transformation projects, including: The move from decentralized, legacy systems to a comprehensive cloud environment. GFT partners with leading hyperscalers – including AWS and Google – to deliver a cloud environment that fits each financial institutions' unique needs. Since cloud deployments take months, or even years to complete in some cases, institutions typically choose to move to the cloud slowly and incrementally. Now, with Wynxx, GFT is able to deliver the same leading cloud transformation services it's grown a reputation for over 20 years faster, so organizations can spend more time innovating new AI solutions that leverage the cloud infrastructure. Staying up to date with the latest advancements in automation. Most financial institutions have harnessed some form of automation in workflows – such as fraud prevention, anti money laundering and more in recent years, but these technologies continue to improve over time. Updating older automation tools, though, presents a challenge, especially if there are gaps in code documentation (which explains how the code works). With Wynxx, GFT can now reduce the time required for documentation by over 90%, while ensuring the utmost quality, to reduce complexity in new updates. Injecting AI into manual, error prone tasks to scale offerings and increase revenue. In recent years, financial offerings like private credit have rapidly increased in demand. But most firms cannot scale their manual credit risk analysis at the rate needed to meet this demand without risking accuracy, and subsequently revenue, in lending decisions. At the same time, building a proprietary AI-credit analysis system, with all of the firm's internal risk controls and parameters, is often counted out because of the developer hours required. Now, Wynxx enables GFT to build custom software solutions that interact with the financial firm's existing systems, while taking into account its internal risk preferences and controls – quickly. 'Over the past 35+ years, GFT has built and maintained a reputation for delivering the effective, custom configured technology financial services need to build their business, offer an enhanced customer experience and streamline operations,' said Christopher Ortiz, Regional CEO North America, UK and APAC at GFT. 'Now, with Wynxx, we are able to provide the same quality of service our clients have come to expect from us, in a shorter span of time. We look forward to working alongside our clients to solve their most pressing business challenges, now on a timeline that wasn't previously possible, to foster new avenues for innovation.' The launch of Wynxx is the latest step in GFT's plan to become a fully AI-centric company by 2025, where AI will be central to not only the company's internal operations, but also the services it provides clients.
Glasgow Times
25-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Glasgow Times
Glasgow Film appoints chief executive and head of programme
This September, Seonaid Daly will be taking the role of chief executive, and Paul Gallagher will serve as the head of programme at Glasgow Film. The pair will succeed Allison Gardner, who will be retiring in October after more than 30 years with the organisation. Glasgow Film is an educational charity that manages Glasgow Film Theatre, the city's first independent arthouse cinema. The charity also runs the Glasgow Film Festival and the Glasgow Youth Film Festival, and serves as the lead organisation for Film Hub Scotland. Yahya Barry, chair of the board of trustees at Glasgow Film, said: 'Our people are Glasgow Film's greatest asset – and in Seonaid and Paul, we have two truly exceptional leaders stepping into key roles at a pivotal time." Seonaid has been the executive director of Glasgow Film for more than five years. Her career has also included roles as head of partnerships at The Prince's Trust (now The King's Trust) and Director of the Scottish Contemporary Art Network. Seonaid Daly will take up the post of Chief Executive this September (Image: Supplied) Seonaid said: "I'm proud to take on the role of CEO at Glasgow Film, a place that has shaped both my career and my love of cinema. "It's a huge privilege to be responsible for such an important institution, and I'm very excited to play a key role in ensuring its future. 'I'm inspired by my brilliant colleagues, our dedicated partners, the filmmakers we work with, and our loyal audiences, who remind us daily why our cinema means so much to them." Paul, who has been a part of Glasgow Film's management team for more than a decade, will assume the role of head of programme. He has been instrumental in the year-round programming at Glasgow Film Theatre since 2018. Paul will step into the new role of Head of Programme at Glasgow Film this September (Image: Supplied) Paul said: "I am thrilled to take on the responsibility and privilege of the new head of programme role at Glasgow Film. "Over the past six years, I have loved leading on the year-round programme at GFT: working with such a wide range of partners and receptive audiences has been an education in expanding my horizons and understanding the vital role that independent cinema can play in the lives of so many different people." Allison Gardner, the outgoing chief executive of Glasgow Film and director of Glasgow Film Festival, expressed her confidence in the new appointments. She said: "I am delighted that Seonaid will be taking up the position of chief executive at Glasgow Film as I know she is passionate about our organisation and upholding our values. "I know she will do an excellent job, working alongside our brilliant staff to continue to make Glasgow Film a vibrant and important cultural venue for film and talent. 'Paul is an excellent appointment to make sure GFT and GFF continue to provide great cinema that is accessible to all. "His programming work at GFT has been exceptional and, alongside the teams, has made our cinema the best in the world. "I retire knowing that our organisation is in good hands and will be celebrating Glasgow Film's future successes from afar.'
The Herald Scotland
25-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Herald Scotland
Glasgow Film appoints new Chief Executive and Head of Programme
Glasgow Film is an educational charity which runs Glasgow Film Theatre. It also runs the award-winning Glasgow Film Festival and Glasgow Youth Film Festival, and is the lead organisation for Film Hub Scotland. Seonaid Daly said: 'I'm proud to take on the role of CEO at Glasgow Film, a place that has shaped both my career and my love of cinema. It's a huge privilege to be responsible for such an important institution and I'm very excited to play a key role in ensuring its future. 'Glasgow Film is in a really strong position thanks to all the staff, volunteers, different people and organisations who make up our vibrant communities, and of course Allison Gardner, whose leadership has been central to Glasgow Film's success. READ MORE: 'Cinema creates empathy in you. And we need a lot more empathy in this world' Lynch, Hitchcock, Tarantino lead GFT birthday line-up 'I'm inspired by my brilliant colleagues, our dedicated partners, the filmmakers we work with, and our loyal audiences, who remind us daily, why our cinema means so much to them. There's always more to do to ensure everyone can see themselves on screen, explore creative careers, and feel at home in GFT. Cinema has the power to both reflect and shape the world around us and I believe deeply in the importance of open, inclusive cultural spaces, places where people feel welcome, inspired, and connected.' Paul Gallagher said: 'I am thrilled to take on the responsibility and privilege of the new Head of Programme role at Glasgow Film. Over the past six years I have loved leading on the year-round programme at GFT: working with such a wide range of partners and receptive audiences has been an education in expanding my horizons and understanding the vital role that independent cinema can play in the lives of so many different people. I'm excited to take that experience and build on those relationships as I step up to lead the curatorial vision for GFT and GFF. I can't wait to work with Seonaid and the brilliant GFT and GFF Programme teams on what is an incredibly bright future for Glasgow Film.' Allison Gardner, outgoing Chief Executive of Glasgow Film and Director of Glasgow Film Festival, said: 'I am delighted that Seonaid will be taking up the position of Chief Executive at Glasgow Film as I know she is passionate about our organisation and upholding our values. I know she will do an excellent job, working alongside our brilliant staff to continue to make Glasgow Film a vibrant and important cultural venue for film and talent. Allison Gardner will retire in October from her dual role as Chief Executive of Glasgow Film and Director of Glasgow Film Festival (Image: Gordon Terris) 'Paul is an excellent appointment to make sure GFT and GFF continue to provide great cinema that is accessible to all. His programming work at GFT has been exceptional and, alongside the teams, has made our cinema the best in the world. I'm sad to be leaving after over 30 years but immensely proud to have worked here and helped to contribute to the success of GFT, GFF and our youth and community work. I retire knowing that our organisation is in good hands and will be celebrating Glasgow Film's future successes from afar.' Sambrooke Scott, Head of Audience Development at Screen Scotland, said: 'Seonaid and Paul have each played a vital role in the success and growth of Glasgow Film in recent years and their appointments reflect the organisation's commitment to excellence and to developing talent within the Scottish screen exhibition sector. 'Under their leadership, the future of Glasgow Film is bright, and the GFT will continue to flourish as a vital home for cinema culture, a welcoming home to diverse audiences and filmmakers, and a driving force for independent cinema from Scotland and beyond. We congratulate them both and look forward to working with them closely.'
Business Wire
15-07-2025
- Business
- Business Wire
GFT Acquires SAP Specialist Megawork to Accelerate Strategic Growth
NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--GFT Technologies SE (GFT) has agreed to acquire 100 percent of Megawork Consultoria e Sistemas Ltda. (Megawork), a leading Brazilian SAP consultancy, in a strategic move that aligns directly with GFT's five-year strategy. The acquisition advances the company's goals for high-value added service growth, expanded profitability, and deeper integration with major Independent Software Vendors. With this acquisition, GFT formally enters the SAP ecosystem – built around one of the most influential software companies worldwide. The move paves the way for GFT to offer a comprehensive SAP portfolio, supported by its GenAI product Wynxx to help accelerate and streamline SAP transformations. This offering will include implementation, upgrades, migrations, and ongoing support, while also embedding its next-generation AI capabilities to help clients navigate the evolving SAP landscape, particularly around SAP Cloud ERP. 'This deal reflects our ambition to scale into high-margin, high-value added services with SAP, one of the world's most recognized ISVs,' said Marco Santos, Global CEO of GFT. 'Megawork's SAP expertise, combined with GFT's leadership in cloud and AI, forms a powerful growth engine for the future. We want to massively improve the efficiency of SAP migrations, upgrades and implementation projects by 40 percent or more with our leading GenAI Product Wynxx. It's a natural next step as we continue to go beyond traditional transformation and deliver real business impact.' 'For everyone at Megawork and all our clients, this marks an exciting new chapter,' said Alexandro Carvalho, CEO of Megawork. 'Megawork becoming part of GFT gives our clients access to a global talent pool, cutting-edge innovation, and a broader set of capabilities to support their digital transformation journeys – regarding their SAP projects and beyond. We see a strong cultural and strategic fit, and this will strengthen our ability to deliver even greater value to our clients.' GFT is acquiring Megawork in an all-cash transaction, fully financed from existing funds, from the company's founders. The current leadership team are staying on to ensure continuity and a smooth transition. The acquisition advances GFT's five-year strategy. It accelerates the company's growth by opening new industry verticals – especially in manufacturing, pharma, public sector, energy, and consumer goods – where SAP is deeply embedded. And critically, it solidifies GFT's position in high-value added services by initiating collaboration with SAP. This partnership has the potential to enhance both GFT's revenue growth and profitability, as SAP services represent a higher-margin segment with sustained global demand. A key strategic advantage of the acquisition is the integration of Wynxx, GFT's GenAI product, into Megawork's SAP services. Wynxx will play a central role in accelerating SAP Cloud ERP migrations and project implementation, driving automation, reducing complexity, and unlocking faster time-to-value for clients. This not only reinforces GFT's AI leadership but also positions the company as a preferred partner for clients seeking to adopt SAP's AI-powered innovations. The acquisition also unlocks substantial cross-selling opportunities. A majority of GFT's existing global client base already uses SAP, presenting a clear path to expand services, secure new project wins, and deepen client relationships. Conversely, Megawork's clients will now benefit from GFT's strengths in cloud transformation, AI, data platforms, and Salesforce. There is minimal client overlap between GFT and Megawork, which presents clear opportunities for complementary growth and cross-selling across both portfolios. Megawork's team consists of approximately 350 highly skilled professionals. They are specialized in SAP consulting, support, and implementation. In 2024, the company reported revenues of around €14 million and an EBITDA margin of 21 percent, underscoring its strong profitability and operational efficiency. The closing of the transaction is planned for the fourth quarter of 2025 at the latest. The transaction is subject to approval by the national antitrust authority in Brazil. This press release is also available for download via the GFT newsroom About GFT GFT Technologies is a responsible AI-centric global digital transformation company. We deliver advanced Data & AI transformation solutions, modernize technology architectures, and develop next-generation core systems for industry leaders in Banking, Insurance, Manufacturing and Robotics. Partnering closely with our clients, we push boundaries to unlock their full potential. With deep industry expertise, cutting-edge technology, and a strong partner ecosystem, GFT delivers responsible AI-centric solutions that combine engineering excellence, high-performance delivery, and cost efficiency. This makes us a trusted partner for sustainable impact and customer success. Our team of 12,000+ technology experts operate in 20+ countries worldwide, offering career opportunities at the forefront of software innovation. GFT Technologies SE (GFT-XE) is listed in the SDAX index of the German Stock Exchange. Let's Go Beyond_
