Financial services consultancy GFT has formally appointed its new managing director and CEO, following a four-month transition period.
Marika Lulay (pictured), formerly managing director and COO of the company, has taken over leadership from Ulrich Dietz, who resigned from the position a decision that GFT said was taken “in agreement with the administrative board and of his own accord”.
Lulay was unanimously elected by the board to fill the position.
Dietz will remain as chairman of the administrative board and the anchor shareholder of GFT Technologies.
Lulay has been with GFT for 15 years, and has overseen significant growth in that time. In her new role, she will focus on expanding GFT’s offering and exploring new trends and technologies, such as cloud technology, artificial intelligence, distributed ledger technology and integration of financial transactions.
She and Jochen Ruetz, CFO of GFT, will also jointly form a new board of managing directors.
Responsibilities for the COO role will now be split between board members Carlos Eres, managing director for GFT Spain, and Alfio Puglisi managing director for GFT Italy.
Lulay said: “GFT continues to ‘think global’ and ‘act local’, meaning clients are able to access transnational resources, with specialists on hand to work alongside clients at their offices, while experienced teams of delivery resources provide additional support from our efficient nearshore locations.”
“I am delighted to take on the role of CEO to drive GFT forwards 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.”
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