Andrew Welch
Microsoft MVP award logo

Andrew Welch

Managing Partner | Chief Strategy Officer

Boston and Valencia

Andrew serves as the Managing Partner and Chief Strategy Officer (CSO) at Cloud Lighthouse—the company he founded—and as the Executive Director at The Center for Trustworthy AI. He is a globally recognized technology leader, Microsoft MVP (Most Valuable Professional), speaker, published author, and regular writer of essays and papers on cloud technology including the multi-edition Crafting your Future-Ready Enterprise AI Strategy, Ecosystem-Oriented Architecture in the Public Sector, Power Platform in a Modern Data Platform Architecture, The Cloud Strategist, and many others. Andrew works directly with C-level leaders, Microsoft partners, Microsoft product engineering groups, technologists, and investors to guide their Trustworthy AI, cloud strategy, and ecosystem architecture. His previous service includes that as Chief Technology Officer (CTO) at a large international Microsoft partner, global Vice President, Practice Director, VP of Operations, and other tech and business focused roles at various firms based in North America and Europe. He’s guided organizations in over a dozen countries through their Trustworthy AI journey, and has previously led some of the world’s largest Microsoft adoptions on all seven continents (yes, including Antarctica), serving startup to Fortune 100 organizations, public sector agencies, and global NGOs. Based in València and Boston, Andrew makes frequent visits worldwide.

Highlights

  • Founder, Managing Partner, and Chief Strategy Officer at Cloud Lighthouse

  • Executive Director at The Center for Trustworthy AI

  • Service as CTO, global Vice President, Practice Director, and VP of Operations at various Microsoft partners

  • Lead architect of the AI Strategy Framework, AI Maturity Model, and Ecosysytem-Oriented Architecture

  • Former uniformed U.S. Coast Guard, “driving boats” and later leading strategic planning

  • Author of Crafting your Future-Ready Enterprise AI Strategy, Ecosystem-Oriented Architecture in the Public Sector, Power Platform in a Modern Data Platform Architecture, The Cloud Strategist, the multi-addition Power Platform Adoption Framework, and the novel Field Blends

  • Recipient of global and national-level Microsoft “Partner of the Year” awards

  • Led enterprise Microsoft adoptions on all seven continents, including:

    • Microsoft’s AI technologies in complex enterprise settings

    • Cloud adoptions of Azure, Fabric and the data platform, Power Platform, and Microsoft 365

    • Complex global data platform development and deployment

    • App development, migration, and modernization

    • Microsoft business applications implementations

Papers | Essays | Ideas

Expertise

Topics

  • Trustworthy AI with an emphasis on AI strategy, maturity, scalability, regulatory and ethics

  • Enterprise cloud and artificial intelligence strategy in mid-market to enterprise-scale organizations

  • Ecosystem-Oriented Architecture (EOA) with a focus on architecting across different cloud technology families (e.g., Power Platform integration with Fabric)

  • Digital and cloud transformation in mid-market to enterprise-scale organizations

  • Technology trends and market forces in the technology industry globally, but with a particular focus on North America and Europe

  • Development and growth of technology partner consultancies, new market entry, practice development, etc.

  • Scaling cloud technologies across organizations in global NGOs, public sector, legal services, and financial services in particular

Technologies

  • Data Platform technologies including Microsoft Fabric and Azure data services

  • Composable application platform technologies including Microsoft Power Platform and OutSystems

  • Business applications including Dynamics 365, and (earlier in career) SAP and Oracle

  • Cloud infrastructure including Microsoft Azure and (earlier in career) physical infrastructure, networks, etc.

Industry Expertise

  • Enterprise Non-Governmental Organizations (various organizations within the United Nations system, American Red Cross, and others)

  • Public Sector (US Coast Guard, US Department of Defense, US Department of Homeland Security, London Metropolitan Police, and others)

  • Legal Services (Motley Rice, Ganado Advocates, Baker McKenzie, and others)

  • Financial Services (Evercore, Willis Towers Watson, Liberty Mutual, Progressive, Geico, and others)

  • Private Equity

  • Microsoft Partners and IT Services (Applied Information Sciences, HSO, Codec, Damco, Permuta Technologies, and others)

In addition, Andrew has worked with several organization spread across the healthcare, utilities, and manufacturing sectors.

Noted Publications