Carlos Recalde

Founder & Principal, Resilience by Design · President & CEO, Successful Technology LLC

Four decades at the intersection of technology leadership, enterprise risk, and business transformation — where strategy meets the operational reality that most advisors never see from the inside.

Carlos Recalde has spent his career operating at the exact boundary where strategic decisions meet operational consequences. His approach to risk is practical, not theoretical — built on direct experience leading organizations through genuinely hard problems, not consulting engagements about them.

As the architect and President & CEO of Sheltered Harbor, he built the global standard for protecting consumer account data against catastrophic cyber events — establishing the certification program adopted by hundreds of institutions holding tens of trillions in consumer assets.

◈ Architect of Sheltered Harbor ◉ 4 Companies Founded ◬ CIO 100 Honoree

Key Credentials

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Sheltered Harbor

Architect of the financial sector's global standard for consumer account data protection and cyber-resilience — adopted by hundreds of institutions holding tens of trillions in consumer assets. Now owned and managed by FS-ISAC.

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Four Companies Founded

Serial entrepreneur with four technology businesses built from the ground up across advisory, software, and infrastructure sectors.

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CIO 100 · Premier 100 IT Leader

CIO Magazine CIO 100 honoree (2018) and Computerworld Premier 100 IT Leader (2004).

What Carlos Does Today

Through Resilience by Design, Carlos focuses on the single hardest problem in cyber resilience: helping critical sector organizations build and validate their ability to survive and recover from a devastating cyber outage — one where primary systems, backups, and conventional recovery tools fail simultaneously.

The practice is built on direct experience creating Sheltered Harbor — the framework the U.S. financial sector chose for this exact problem. AI-assisted tools now make the approach tractable for organizations of all sizes, not just large institutions with dedicated resilience teams.

Through Successful Technology LLC, Carlos also advises boards and senior executives on AI governance and enterprise risk — treating AI not as a technology problem but as an organizational transformation opportunity with risk consequences most enterprises are underestimating.

Engage Carlos

Available for board advisory, facilitated leadership workshops, executive education, and keynotes on cyber resilience and AI governance.

Request an Engagement → SuccessfulTechnology.com →

Career

Career Highlights

Sheltered Harbor

President & CEO

Built the financial industry's global cyber-resilience standard from the ground up. Established the certification program now adopted by hundreds of institutions holding tens of trillions in consumer assets — the definitive framework for protecting account data and enabling recovery from catastrophic cyber events. The framework is now owned and managed by FS-ISAC.

Barclays Capital

Enterprise Architecture, Global Investment Bank

Led Enterprise Architecture for the global investment banking division, defining the technology blueprint underpinning one of the world's largest capital markets operations.

Lehman Brothers

Global Head of Product Management, Prime Services

Directed global product management for the Prime Services division, overseeing the technology and service portfolio supporting the firm's hedge fund and institutional client base.

SunGard Asset Management

Chief Technology Officer

Grew revenues by over 15% in two years by transforming a legacy product business into a software-as-a-service operation — an early and consequential SaaS conversion in the asset management technology sector.

KPMG Americas

Executive Director of Technology

Directed $90M+ in annual technology investment for 38,000 professionals. Created the International Security Group, hired the firm's first CISO, and built the technology infrastructure for the Americas practice — work recognized with the 1997 PC Week Best Practice Award for Technology Innovation and KPMG IS being named a Computerworld 100 Best Places to Work.

Successful Technology LLC

Founder & CEO

Founded to deliver executive-level advisory on risk, AI governance, and cyber resilience — bringing four decades of operational experience directly to boards and senior leadership teams navigating complex transformation and risk environments.

Recognition

Awards & Honors

2018

CIO Magazine CIO 100 — Recognized among the top 100 CIOs globally for innovation and technology leadership.

2004

Computerworld Premier 100 IT Leader — Named among the most influential technology leaders in the United States.

1997

PC Week Best Practice Award — Technology Innovation — Awarded for technology innovation at KPMG Americas; KPMG IS also named a Computerworld 100 Best Places to Work.

Ready to Bring This Experience to Your Board?

A facilitated Resilience Journey Assessment brings Carlos's direct Sheltered Harbor experience to your leadership team — validating your actual readiness and producing a prioritized roadmap.

Request an Engagement → Take the Free Assessment