NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--GFT, the leading provider of business, design and technology consulting to the financial services community, has appointed Marika Lulay as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) to drive international expansion and deliver transformative technologies that help clients improve their own efficiency and performance.

Most recently serving as GFT Chief Operating Officer, Lulay brings extensive experience across financial services and technology. Within her 15-year tenure at GFT, she has overseen a five-fold increase in workforce, multiple acquisitions, and an expanded presence in global markets, while maintaining a client-first approach.

Furthering GFT’s strong momentum, Lulay’s appointment comes during a landmark 30-year anniversary for the company and she will help lead the company through its next phase of growth. Founded by departing CEO Ulrich Dietz in 1987 in Stuttgart Germany, GFT now operates in 12 countries with 5,000 employees. GFT’s focus on the finance sector enables the firm to provide technology solutions for clients that take account of the highly complex nature of banks and other financial service organizations.

“GFT continues to ‘think global’ and ‘act local’. We enable clients to access transnational resources with specialists on hand to work alongside clients at their offices, whilst experienced teams of delivery resources provide additional support from our efficient nearshore locations,” said Marika Lulay, CEO at GFT. “I am delighted to take on the role of CEO to drive GFT forward in the next phase of its evolution. Success in recent years confirms we’re pursuing the right strategy – not only to establish GFT as an innovative industry specialist, but also to leverage this as a means to drive international growth in all markets.”

In addition to helping clients manage and improve legacy technologies, GFT examines new and emerging trends to help clients create future efficiency and growth in areas such as:

• Cloud migration – managing and simplifying complex migrations of individual IT systems to scalable cloud infrastructures
• Artificial intelligence – embracing robotics and use of cognitive banking methods based on self-learning systems, to service customers better and grow revenue
• Distributed ledger adoption – testing real-world use-cases in GFT’s blockchain incubator, such as the successful collaborative project with the Royal Bank of Scotland running on Google Cloud
• Industry 4.0 – working to integrate future financial transactions into the supply chain of traditional industries, as technology becomes ubiquitous

Lulay is passionate about new technology and in helping clients face the difficult challenge of introducing efficient new global systems, while managing a complex interconnected legacy of historic IT infrastructure and applications.

“We are thrilled that Marika has been appointed as CEO, building on the successful growth of the firm since Ulrich Dietz founded GFT 30 years ago,” said Gareth Richardson, Managing Director, Atlantic Region at GFT. “I am sure with her deep knowledge of the GFT’s expertise and talented team of specialists, GFT will go from strength-to-strength as it embraces new technologies that help our clients grow.”

About GFT

GFT Technologies SE (GFT) is a business change and technology consultancy trusted by the world’s leading financial services institutions to solve their most critical challenges. Specifically defining answers to the current constant of regulatory change – whilst innovating to meet the demands of the digital revolution. GFT brings together advisory, creative and technology capabilities with innovation culture and specialist knowledge of the finance sector, to transform the clients’ businesses.