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Ariel Partners was founded in 2000 by technology experts who continue to be deeply involved in the local NYC IT Community as well as open-source projects, commercial product user groups, and worldwide technology conferences. Ariel staff have presented papers and given talks, and several team members are well-known contributors to high-profile Apache open source projects in ubiquitous use today. This involvement has proven over the years to be a key success factor for Ariel, as top technologists generally want to work with other top technologists.

Several Ariel staff members are current or former contributors to various open source technologies and remain active in open source communities sponsored by Apache, GitHub, SourceForge, Stack Overflow, and the like. Ariel consultants have introduced numerous best practices including agile, development operations, continuous integration, continuous deployment, automated code-level testing, automated GUI-level testing, automated infrastructure configuration and validation, process automation, and document generation.

Shilpa Strong, President

_{CSM, MBA}
Shilpa Savant Strong is a highly accomplished executive with a background in Innovation, Business Transformations, Profitable P&L Management, Strategic Planning, Operations, Investor Relations, and Insurance Underwriting. She began her career at Swiss Re in Zurich, and has worked for Munich Re, Quanta Capital Holdings, and AIG before coming to Ariel Partners, where she has served as President for eleven years. Mrs. Strong has more than 25+ years of managerial and leadership experience, and she has led global teams across Europe, Asia, and North and South America. At Ariel Partners, Mrs. Strong drives our market and sales strategy, our relationships with key partners and customers, and oversees the finance and accounting recruiting. Mrs. Strong brings a wealth of expertise in managing large-scale projects, including global deployments for Oracle, SAP, and low-code/no-code solutions. She has led automation initiatives and executed comprehensive IT landscape transformations, driving efficiencies, enhancing digital capabilities, and deploying productivity tools across shared service centers. With experience evaluating over 400 technology startups, Shilpa combines deep software consulting and strategic insights, empowering transformative growth at Ariel Partners. She has a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering and a master’s degree in management studies from University of Mumbai as well as an MBA in International Business from Simon Fraser University in Canada.

Craeg Strong, CTO

_{FLC, AKT, KCP, CSM, CSP, CSPO, ITILv3, PMI-ACP, PMP, SPC, FLC, ICP-ACC, ICP-ATF, CEH}Craeg Strong is the CTO of Ariel Partners, a digital services company based in Times Square. He teaches public classes in Kanban and Human Centered Design and coaches teams to adopt and mature Agile/Kanban practices in the NYC area. He has 25 years of experience in information technology, starting at Project Athena during his undergraduate studies at MIT. Mr. Strong has successfully instituted Agile and DevOps practices on large and complex commercial and government software projects, helping them to obtain new capabilities and realize significant cost efficiencies. Mr. Strong leverages his experience as a hands-on software architect, trainer, and agile coach to help remove the barriers that prevent organizations from adopting new technologies– such as cloud. Mr. Strong led a successful transformation of a major FBI Criminal justice program from a traditional waterfall lifecycle and manual intensive processes to lighter weight agile processes and full DevOps automation.

Juliann McGowan, Director of Operations

Juliann McGowan is an Operations Executive with 20+ years of expertise in problem solving complex challenges. Results oriented with cross-functional experience across all core business functions, including staff hiring and management, finance, human resources, technology systems, and productivity improvement. Multi-Site management experience handling operations for US East & West Coast offices as well as International (Kuala Lumpur and Dhaka) office locations. Juliann has excellent proficiency in developing, coordinating, budgeting & executing departmental plans, including space planning and equipment management. She orchestrated several successful office relocations all within strict time Frames. She implemented cost savings strategies such as switching to a Professional Employer Organization (PEO) model to reduce overhead costs. She prepared & executed a COVID-19 return to the office plan for staff. She implemented safety protocols, prevention measures and an action plan for the constantly changing landscape during the pandemic. Her areas of Expertise include Project Management, Staff Management, Technical Support, Facilities Management, Needs Assessment, Budget Administration, Vendor Relations, Recruitment/Training, Benefit Contract Negotiations, Problem Solver, Operational Streamlining, Cost Control/Cost Reduction.