Gunawan Santoso

Leaders fall into two categories: visionaries and doers. I belong to the latter — I take the visionary’s business idea and make it a reality.

One of my defining traits is my willingness to take calculated risks and make operational changes that others hesitate to do. In private equity, I am the go-to person deployed to transform underperforming portfolio companies, working alongside CEOs, COOs, and CFOs to direct operational changes that enable business agility, scalability, and profitability.

Additionally, I have a strong bottom-line orientation, which means I prioritize time to market and long-term value. When restructuring operations, I don’t just select the shiniest solution with easy wins. I assess current capabilities, processes, and human resources and innovate solutions that contain costs and generate sustainable returns. Additionally, I coach and motivate employees and build teams with long-term success.

My success also stems from my IT background since all modern companies need strong digital capabilities. In addition to my in-depth knowledge of IT infrastructure and operations, I am an eager early adopter of new technologies. At BTPN bank, I introduced virtualization architecture years before it became a common practice, earning recognition from VMware as having the most advanced virtualization setup in all of Indonesia’s financial industry.

More recently, I’ve adopted other differentiating technologies like hybrid cloud systems, staying on the cutting edge of business operations. I don’t distinguish between business and digital transformations, because I believe they are one and the same. For over a decade, I have repeatedly transformed business operations by defining processes, streamlining workflows, and establishing scalable IT infrastructure.

Finally, I am a recognized thought leader on digital transformations, having presented at 10 different industry events at the national and global level.

If you have a vision, I would like to translate it into reality.

Areas of Expertise: Change Management, M&A Infrastructure Integration, Systems Design, Cloud + Virtualization Architecture, Business Scalability, Motivational Coaching, Process Mapping, Team Restructuring, Cost Containment Strategy, Financial Services Systems, Enterprise Architecture