Expertise That Delivers Results

Michael Makar is a technology executive and entrepreneur with more than 25 years of experience building and scaling global organizations, leading enterprise transformations, and delivering measurable financial results. He has spent his career at the intersection of technology, strategy, and business transformation, helping organizations figure out not just what to change but how to actually make it happen at scale. He brings an entrepreneurial mindset to every engagement, moving fast, questioning assumptions, and maintaining a relentless focus on business results.

Most recently, Michael served as Managing Director of a leading Fortune 500 financial services company's Romanian global delivery center, where he built and scaled it from inception into a 600+ person strategic technology hub in under four years. He designed and executed a scalable operating model that generated approximately $62M in recurring annual cost efficiencies while expanding digital capability and innovation capacity at scale. Under his leadership, the Romanian company earned recognition as a Top Employer in 2022 and 2023.

Prior to his most recent executive leadership role, Michael held senior leadership positions across the financial services, insurance, and technology sectors, where he built and scaled high-performing global organizations, drove large-scale technology transformation programs, and consistently delivered measurable business outcomes. His track record spans P&L ownership, enterprise-wide modernization, and the kind of operational leadership that turns strategic vision into executed results. He holds a BS in Computer Information Systems from Bentley University.

Arthur J. Riel brings over 40 years of IT and Business Process Operations leadership experience, with a proven track record of delivering hundreds of millions in documented cost savings. His career encompasses roles as educator, author, entrepreneur, software engineer, architect, and executive, managing teams from 5 to 3,500 FTEs with budgets exceeding $700M.

Arthur's expertise in Global Capability Center creation is unparalleled—he has created or significantly grown multiple GCCs (ranging from 80 to 2,800 FTEs) across India, Eastern Europe, and North America. At a Fortune 500 Financial Services Company, Arthur led the creation of GCCs in India (2,400 FTEs) and Romania (650 FTEs), achieving industry-leading attrition rates of 6-8% versus the typical 20-25%. These initiatives delivered $121M in documented three-year savings, increasing to $200+ million in year 5. Through numerous efficiency optimization levers, Arthur further reduced the IT budget from $700M to $520M in two years with continued reductions each year thereafter.

Prior to that, Arthur served in senior technology roles at a Global Financial Services Institution, including Chief Enterprise Architect, CIO of Finance IT/Infrastructure/Middleware, and CIO of Corporate IT, where he freed $40M from a $355M budget through comprehensive optimization. His career also includes leadership positions at leading investment banks, a major stock exchange, a global ratings agency, and other major financial institutions. Throughout his career, Arthur has managed hundreds of IT projects and programs spanning numerous domains and technology areas.

Arthur has founded two startup companies: Vanguard Training, which he operated for ten years, and Global Lighthouse Technologies, acquired by Atempo Inc in 2008. He has numerous publications including two books: "Object-Oriented Design Heuristics" (Addison-Wesley, 1996) and "Optimizing Corporate Efficiencies" (forthcoming 2026). Arthur has lectured at numerous conferences on a variety of technology topics. He holds an MS and BS in Computer Science from Northeastern University.