26+ years - insurance IT, global delivery, AI transformation

M. Arif Khan

CIO  ·  Fractional CIO  ·  Senior Solutions Consultant  ·  IT Operations  ·  IT Infrastructure Management

I lead enterprise IT for insurance carriers and MGAs — building the infrastructure, offshore delivery, and governance those businesses run on. Over 26 years I've architected cloud-native platforms, scaled offshore development centers (ODCs) and BPO operations past 600 staff, and stood up AI-driven automation and disaster recovery programs that hold up under board and regulator scrutiny.

COVERAGE MAP4 INDUSTRIES · MULTI-REGION
M. ARIF KHAN CIO — INSURANCE & GLOBAL IT INSURANCE & MGA 22 entities · $1.59M rationalized ASSET MANAGEMENT $1T+ AUM firm supported INSURTECH $4.5M revenue launched RETAIL & SUPPLY CHAIN Enterprise DR, 300+ personnel

Brought in when "stable" isn't optional anymore.

Most of my engagements start the same way: leadership has just changed, an audit surfaced a gap, or a disaster recovery test didn't go the way it was supposed to. My job is to walk in, find out what's actually true about the environment, and rebuild the parts that are quietly at risk — before they become the story.

That's shown up as a CIO chair leading insurance and insurtech IT organizations, a VP infrastructure seat scaling global delivery, and now as an independent consultant working directly with boards and executive teams who need senior judgment without a permanent hire.

Stabilize

Root-cause outages, close single points of failure, and get incident response back under real command and control.

Modernize

Rationalize legacy platforms, move workloads to resilient cloud architecture, and layer AI-driven automation on top — without cutting capability.

Scale

Build and run offshore development centers (ODCs) and BPO operations at scale — 600+ staff across global delivery centers — without losing governance or quality.

Govern

Stand up BC/DR programs, risk reporting, and audit-ready controls that hold up under SOX and regulator scrutiny.

Track record

// selected outcomes across four industries
$1.59M+
in IT cost rationalization delivered in a single portfolio audit
430 TB
of critical carrier data protected across 5 hybrid data centers
22
global entities brought under one BC/DR program
600+
ODC & BPO offshore staff led across 3 global delivery centers
50%
of manual support volume automated through AI-driven resolution pathways
$4.5M
in new revenue enabled by a greenfield cloud platform I architected
0
security breaches or privacy incidents on my watch
300
cross-functional staff coordinated in a zero-impact enterprise DR exercise
100%
growth in offshore engineering capacity delivered under strict governance

Deployment log

// roles, in sequence
MAR 2025 — PRESENTLIVE
Senior Technical Consultant — BC/DR, Risk & Resiliency
Independent Consulting (Remote)
  • Ran resiliency and DR programs for a $1T+ asset manager and a national off-price retailer, closing regulatory gaps in core operations.
  • Commanded a 300-person enterprise DR exercise end to end with zero impact to live operations.
  • Re-architected failover across cloud and on-prem estates using AWS multi-region, multi-AZ design.
  • Digitized BIAs and recovery roadmaps in ServiceNow and Archer; aligned the program to ISO 22301.
SEP 2023 — NOV 2024COMPLETE
Senior Vice President, IT Infrastructure & Operations
Bank of New York Mellon Corp. (BNY)
  • Built a 22-person global delivery organization for Global Fund Accounting spanning onshore, nearshore, and offshore.
  • Cut data discrepancies 50% and doubled Enterprise Data Lake capacity while improving upstream data quality 50%.
  • Accelerated product delivery 30% and cut ticket resolution time 25% by restructuring L1–L3 support flows.
  • Automated 50% of manual support calls with AI-driven resolution pathways, cutting incident times from days to hours.
  • Held zero audit deficiencies across SOX and regulatory reviews while managing budget within 5% of target.
DEC 2019 — MAY 2023COMPLETE
Chief Information Officer
Synchrono Group Inc.
  • Architected a 100% cloud-native tech stack from scratch for an insurtech MGA startup, generating $4.5M in revenue within three years.
  • Scaled an offshore engineering & QA org 100% while holding governance and quality standards.
  • Cut time-to-market 100% with Agile delivery, enabling 30-day releases and 10% monthly revenue growth.
  • Delivered SSO for a 12,000-agent broker network in 30 days; built full BCP/DR framework with zero downtime during disruptions and zero security incidents.
JUL 2006 — DEC 2019COMPLETE
Vice President, Global IT Operations, Infrastructure, Development & QA
Arch Insurance Group / Arch Capital Services (Nasdaq: ACGL)
  • Ran a $20M global operating model across 3 delivery centers (US, Asia, EU) — 600 offshore plus 34 onshore staff.
  • Led the Program Management of a legacy Policy Administration overhaul into modern Java architecture.
  • Rationalized platforms and vendors across 19 offices for $1.59M+ in savings — cloud migration, telecom consolidation, an in-house ticketing tool, and asset/telecom audits.
  • Built a BC/DR program across 22 global entities, protecting 430TB of carrier data across 5 hybrid data centers.
JUN 2000 — JUN 2006COMPLETE
Consultant — QA/QC Test Manager
State Farm Insurance
  • Owned QA and delivery for consumer-facing insurance portals and online rate quotation systems (Auto, Life, Fire).
  • Built a custom XML capture tool that replaced manual testing, saving $500K over five years.
  • Promoted from Test Engineer to Test Manager, eventually leading a 6-person QA team.

Ways to work together

// ways to bring me in
Engagement — Strategic

Fractional CIO

Ongoing, part-time executive technology leadership for organizations that need the judgment without the full-time seat.

  • Board and executive-level technology strategy
  • Budget, vendor, and delivery governance
  • Global org design and offshore/onshore scaling
  • Technology due diligence for M&A
Engagement — Technical

Senior Solutions Consultant

Hands-on architecture and resiliency work for a defined project or program, from assessment to deployed solution.

  • Architecture reviews and gap analyses
  • Cloud migration & modernization (AWS/Azure)
  • BC/DR program design, RTO/RPO, tabletop testing
  • Risk governance via ServiceNow, Archer, ISO 22301
Engagement — Crisis

Turnaround & Stabilization

Short-cycle, high-intensity engagements following a leadership transition, outage, or failed audit.

  • Root-cause elimination of recurring outages
  • SOX and regulatory audit readiness
  • Rapid cost rationalization across vendors and platforms
  • Interim command & control during live incidents
Engagement — Transformation

Global Delivery & AI Leadership

Stand up or scale offshore ODCs and BPO operations, then layer AI-driven automation on top to compress cost and cycle time.

  • Offshore ODC & BPO buildout and governance
  • AI-driven support automation & decision-tree resolution
  • Global delivery center performance management
  • Change management across onshore/offshore teams

Credentials

// certifications & education
MBCI — Member, Business Continuity Institute
CBCI — Certificate, Business Continuity Institute
ITIL v4 — PeopleCert
PMP — Project Management Institute
CSQA — Quality Assurance Institute
AINS — The Institutes Knowledge Group

Master's Degree in Computer Applications · Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science

Initiate engagement

If your environment is unstable, under-governed, or waiting for the next audit finding — let's talk about what a fractional CIO or a focused consulting engagement could fix in the next 90 days.

Email me directly →
arif2@outlook.com New York City Metro Area & New Jersey