Life Is an Adventure for NuTech's Zbigniew Michalewicz

When you hear that someone in a high tech firm spends his time thinking about neural networks, genetic algorithms and fuzzy systems, you figure the man is a real math geek, one whose world is limited to cold numbers and unfeeling equations. Polish-born Zbigniew Michalewicz, 50, doesn’t fit the stereotype at all. Just listen to the NuTech Solution co-founder’s philosophy of life: “Everything is an adventure, and mathematics is one of them,” he says.

This past year, Michalewicz went scuba diving for the first time, and in late November, tried skydiving for the first time, jumping out of an airplane at 13,000 feet. “I couldn’t resist the experience,” he says. “To take that step forward into nothingness - how could you live your whole life without knowing how that feels?”

Knowing how Michalewicz feels about life, his story is not surprising - emigrating from Poland in 1982 and ending up at UNC Charlotte as head of its Computer Science Department in 1989, then leaving the university in 1999 to begin, with his son Matthew, NuTech Solutions, Inc. By combining several artificial intelligence technologies, NuTech offers Fortune 500 companies the ability to optimize profits through simulation software and modeling techniques to facilitate and improve the decision-making process. NuTech has raised $12 million from private investors, including former Bank of America CEO Hugh McColl, and is now at the break-even point. Clients also include the U.S. Department Defense, and former Polish President Lech Walesa sits on the board of directors. read more...


McCrory honors Poland's Walesa

Charlotte Mayor Patrick McCrory will meet with Lech Walesa, former President of Poland and Nobel Peace Prize winner, on Saturday, December 14, 2002 and recognize his contributions to promoting Democracy. The Mayor will present a Proclamation and a crystal box to Mr. Walesa as part of a reception in his honor. The private reception is being held to celebrate the awarding of an Honorary Doctor of Laws Degree by UNCC to Mr. Walesa.

In planning for his meeting with Mr. Walesa, Mayor McCrory stated, “knowing that freedom and democracy are under siege in many corners of the world, it is an honor to stand with a man who just 21 years ago lead a struggle to gain freedom from communist rule. Mr. Walesa is truly an inspiration for the defenders of democracy and freedom.”

Mr. Walesa is making his third visit to Charlotte as the invited guest of NuTech Solutions, Inc. a Charlotte-based company of which Mr. Walesa is a member of the Board of Directors. read more...


Lech Walesa Wants to Use High Technology To Improve World

Lech Walesa may have founded the Solidarity movement in Poland and toppled communism, served as its first democratically elected president, and won the Nobel Peace Prize, but he remains, at heart, a tradesman, an electrician and a tinkerer.

“I insist on understanding how things work, “Walesa said. “If you don’t understand the basics of something’s functioning, then you can’t really understand its implications. That causes me some concern and anxiety.”

But don’t get the impression Walesa is a technophobe. Quite the contrary. He sat with a Palm Pilot in front of him during Thursday’s interview, uses a PC and laptop regularly, participates in Internet chat rooms and even has his own web site. And he believes technology can help make a better world. It’s that belief that motivated him to say yes to an offer to serve on the board of directors of Charlotte-based NuTech Solutions, Inc. That’s why he’s in Charlotte this weekend - to attend a board meeting and also to receive an honorary doctor of laws degree from UNC Charlotte.

“The process of globalization and continentalization requires a well-planned approach, and without a systematic approach to progress, things won’t work,” Walesa explained. “And human beings are, by nature, ambitious, so it’s difficult to reach a consensus on many things. To reach a consensus and make the proper decisions, we need software and programs to help us, something that verifies and draws conclusions from what we observe. NuTech’s software and technology fits this bill.” read more...


BB&T signs deal for courier routing

BB&T Corp. of Winston-Salem has inked a software licensing deal with NuTech Solutions Inc. of Charlotte for its ARROW application. BB&T will use the logistics software to identify optimal courier routes for improved efficiency and cost control. ARROW handles the complex service requirements of multi-branch banks, which routinely face scheduling constraints, issues distributing workflow into processing centers, and other variables uncommon to traditional logistics scenarios. Using a combination of advanced heuristics and evolutionary algorithms, ARROW can deliver significant, measurable reductions in transportation costs and travel times as compared to conventional Operations Research based products and methods.

“With ARROW, BB&T will be better positioned to integrate its many branches and transaction processing centers into a routing plan that favors the earliest possible crediting of deposits while optimizing the various courier routes according to staffing, routing and other constraints,” said NuTech Solutions’ CEO Matthew Michalewicz. “The system is adaptive and evolutionary in nature, which allows it to respond to continued growth, new markets, and one-off problems like occasional weather disturbances.”read more...


NuTech’s Director of Financial Markets to Speak at BAI Conference

NuTech Solutions, Inc., a premier provider of predictive analytics and profit optimization software for Global 1000 companies, announced today that its Director of Financial Markets, Tony Kaus, will be a guest speaker at the BAI “Combating Check and Deposit Account Fraud” Conference in Baltimore, Maryland on November 11-13, 2002. In his “Advanced Technologies for Fraud Detection” session, Tony Kaus will present how technology “waves” have confronted fraudulent activity in the recent past, and how the next generation of fraud detection software can automatically adapt to prevent the next “wave crest” in fraud.

“NuTech’s MERIX software application was designed with this “wave” concept in mind,” said Tony Kaus. “It is software that identifies fraud trends as they evolve and adapts before the new fraud technique can peak. MERIX uses a variety of seamlessly integrated techniques, which permit it to adapt and identify fraud more quickly and effectively than existing rules-based or neural net systems.” read more...


GM Rethinks Remarketing Methods

General Motors wants to apply a little science to a business infamous for relying on instinct. GM, the world’s largest automaker, now uses an advanced software program to choose the best auctions for used vehicles it wants to sell. Using a vast set of variables and preferences, the software recommends an auction for each vehicle, predicts a selling price and tracks its accuracy after each sale. The financial result can be significant, says Matthew Michalewicz, CEO of North Carolina-based NuTech Solutions, which developed the software over the past three years. The software — called Vehicle Distribution System (VDS) — is a self-learning system that constantly absorbs actual values like auction prices and transportation costs and adapts to them. The result is a more accurate decision about where to remarket certain vehicles, and that can be crucial in a time when many auto lenders are still stinging from overly high residual values set on lease vehicles in the late 1990s. read more...


NuTech lands ChevronTexaco deal

NuTech Solutions Inc., a Charlotte software company, has signed a licensing agreement with ChevronTexaco Corp. for use of NuTech's HEURO integrated optimization environment. ChevronTexaco and NuTech will use HEURO for the joint development of an advanced scheduling system to enhance oil production and reduce costs in the San Joaquin Valley of California. The first release of the scheduler to ChevronTexaco's operations is scheduled for November of this year. read more...


2002 Blue Diamond Winners Optimistic About Charlotte’s Tech Future

NuTech Solutions, Inc. was recognized for “Most Innovative Use of Information Technology” for their use of Genetic Algorithms. Michalewicz, who has led the company through a $10 million venture capital raise, the hiring of 100 employees, and the addition of more 20 Fortune 500 customers, would like to see Charlotte add more tech companies to build the consistency of the region’s IT reputation. Charlotte is a community where, because of leaders like Michalewicz, technology can grow. It is a city where technology works and continues to grow, despite changes in the economy. These companies are truly the heart of the Charlotte’s technology community. read more...


General Motors awards logistics contract to NuTech Solutions

NuTech Solutions, Inc., a provider of predictive analytics and profit optimization technology products to Global 1000 companies, announced today that it has signed a licensing agreement with General Motors for NuTech’s Vehicle Distribution System (VDS). The announcement comes after successful beta testing of the system at two additional major auto finance organizations, and marks the general availability of the Vehicle Distribution System (VDS) software application.

“Every leasing company in the world is interested in maximizing the resale value of off-lease vehicles,” said NuTech Solutions’ CEO Matthew Michalewicz. “Based on a myriad of adaptive technologies such as genetic algorithms, ant systems, and evolutionary strategies, VDS is able to optimize the distribution of off-lease vehicles so that profits are maximized.” read more...


NuTech Hires Peter Angeline as Director of Marketing Applications

NuTech Solutions, Inc., a provider of advanced predictive analytics and profit optimization software products for Global 1000 companies, announced today that it has hired Dr. Peter J. Angeline as Director of Marketing Applications. Dr. Angeline brings more than 15 years of software research and development expertise to the NuTech Solutions team. His experience ranges over a variety of advanced software applications for numerous clients in industry, government, and the military.

“Dr. Angeline’s background in developing advanced software applications for such a diverse collection of clients, coupled with his expertise in our core Artificial Intelligence techniques, make him a strategic addition to our team.” said NuTech Solutions’ CEO Matthew Michalewicz. “His background and expertise will greatly benefit our clients, as well as strengthen our suite of predictive marketing applications.” read more...


UNC Charlotte honors NuTech CEO

The chief executive of NuTech Solutions Inc. has been selected as the 2002 recipient of UNC Charlotte's Young Alumnus award. The award is the highlight of the Alumni Choice Awards created by the Alumni Association in 1996 to honor individuals who have achieved a high level of excellence in their careers and dedicated significant amounts of their time to serving the UNC Charlotte community. Michalewicz will receive his award during a formal dinner on the evening of November 2, 2002 on the campus of UNC Charlotte. read more...


Michalewicz appointed to Business Advisory Council for UNCC

NuTech Solutions, Inc., a provider of advanced predictive analytics and profit optimization software products for Global 1000 companies, announced today that the company’s president and CEO, Matthew Michalewicz, has been appointed to UNC-Charlotte’s Business Advisory Council for the Belk College of Business Administration. The Belk College Business Advisory Council is a group of business and community leaders who work to increase the visibility and presence of the college in the business community, and who provide feedback so the college can better serve the community.

“Matthew’s leadership and business talent will make him a valuable addition to our Business Advisory Council,” said Claude Lilly, Dean of Belk College of Business Administration. “We look forward to his contributions to UNC-Charlotte and the Belk College of Business Administration.” read more...


Companies That Bet On Start-ups

One typical protection strategy that customers are seeking is to insist that vendors put their source code in escrow. The code is held by a disinterested third party-often a law firm or a bank-which acts in accordance with instructions agreed upon by both sides. But NuTech Solutions is not a typical young company. CEO Matt Michalewicz says NuTech has several patents and considers its technology a competitive advantage-the company's algorithms solve multi-variable problems like eliminating inventory out of supply chains and finding the best routes for armored cars. Michalewicz, who says he graduated from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte in 1998, co-founded the company with his father, who chaired the Computer Science department at that same university and did research in Artificial Intelligence for over 20 years. Many of the 30-plus Ph.D.s who work at NuTech were people that the senior Michalewicz met during his career. read more...


Building an International Legend

At a time when most of the dot-com world has already dot-bombed, one Charlotte-based technology company has been amassing a name for itself - well, quite a few names in fact. NuTech Solutions, Inc., a provider of advanced predictive analytics and profit optimization software products for large companies around the world, has not only raised $11 million in private equity since its inception in 1999, acquired a client list of almost 100 Global 1000 companies, and grown from three founding partners to 133 employees worldwide, but, in the past year, it has also attracted Bill Gaither, former CEO of Heafner Tire Group in Lincolnton, Hugh McColl, former CEO of Bank of America, and Lech Walesa, Nobel laureate and former president of Poland, to its board of directors.

“It is the people that make the business and this company is no exception,” says President Matthew Michalewicz. “Not having any outside board members was a detriment to growing the business. We undertook a big initiative to expand both the management team and the board.” read more...


Where Lech Does Tech

The first corporate board Walesa, 58, has agreed to join is that of NuTech Solutions, a closely held company founded three years ago in Charlotte, N.C., by a pair of Polish immigrants. NuTech creates software that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to boost efficiency in its clients' manufacturing, distribution and customer service. NuTech software allows Ford to find profitable new ways to sell vehicles that are coming off leases. It helps Unilever target inefficiencies in its supply chain. And it is being used to detect check and credit-card fraud at Bank of America - whose legendary former CEO, Hugh McColl, also serves on NuTech's board. read more...


University stresses links to area's financial firms

Charlotte's growing dominance in the financial services industry offers a wealth of opportunity for business executives. At the same time, it presents a tremendous challenge for academic institutions to provide the intellectual capital needed to sustain the momentum behind this economic engine. In true Charlotte fashion, the Belk College of Business at UNC Charlotte continues to get the job done, in the classroom and the boardroom, as it counts among its alumni two of Charlotte's most successful young entrepreneurs: Matthew Michalewicz, president and chief executive of NuTech Solutions, and Jim Kunevicius, chief creative officer of Seurat. read more...


Darwin and Financial Services

The upcoming Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference (GECCO) in New York will include the presentation of successful applications of techniques inspired by Darwinian evolution to difficult problems in the banking industry. Tony Kaus, Financial Markets Director for NuTech Solutions, describes the use of Evolutionary Computing in fraud detection: "In the 1980's there was the rules-based approach; in the 1990's neural nets; but in the 2000's it is evolutionary tools that can best detect fraud and even predict fraud through software that learns while it monitors for criminal activity. As more and more customers turn on these new systems, initial results indicate that the savings will be in the millions of dollars in avoided losses." read more...


Lech Walesa: Tech Freedom Fighter

When former Polish president Lech Walesa pops into a chat room to discuss politics, people have a hard time believing they're debating issues with the man largely credited for the downfall of communism in Eastern Europe. In a telephone conversation from his home in Gdansk, the former shipyard electrician turned Nobel Peace Prize winner spoke about government attempts to stifle technology, as well as his decision to join the board of directors of NuTech Solutions, a software company based in North Carolina. NuTech Solutions, which was launched by Polish-born Matthew Michalewicz, writes analytical software that predicts behavior and reduces spending. read more...


NuTech hires Ted Grabowski as General Counsel

NuTech Solutions, Inc., a provider of advanced predictive analytics and profit optimization software products for Global 1000 companies, announced today that it has hired Ted Grabowski as vice president of business and legal affairs. Grabowski will serve as NuTech’s general counsel and legal and business strategist for NuTech, which serves global organizations primarily in the financial services, manufacturing, and retail industries. Grabowski brings more than 10 years of executive legal experience to the NuTech Solutions team. His experience ranges from corporate law, including mergers and acquisitions and public offerings, to intellectual property law and litigation.

“The combination of Ted Grabowski’s legal and business expertise will be invaluable to NuTech as our company continues on its path of steady growth and corporate development,” said NuTech Solutions CEO Matthew Michalewicz. read more...


New Software Takes Some Guesswork out of Remarketing

Selling used cars has always been a game of intuition, especially when unloading stale inventory at auction. Until recently, there was very little science involved in choosing which vehicles to wholesale and where to send them. Some big sellers realized they could probably save a lot of money by streamlining how they assign vehicles to auctions. Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F), one of the industry's biggest remarketers, approached a technology company in Charlotte, N.C., and asked it to develop a more efficient way to assign off-lease vehicles to auctions. That company, NuTech Solutions, then created a software program that recommended an auction for each vehicle based on market research, daily run lists and individual preferences.

"It predicts the best auction site to send it to," said Pete Bennett, sales manager for NuTech. "It takes out a lot of the guesswork." The system lists a net predicted price for each auction that includes auction fees, transportation costs, and reconditioning fees. If the remarketer sends the car to the recommended auction, the system crafts a report after the sale to gauge its accuracy. "It's a unique system," Bennett said. "There is nothing else out there that really does this." NuTech says its distribution system can improve sales prices $240 per car. In a test run, the system helped Ford add nearly $100 per car to sales prices in auction lanes. read more...


Matthew Michalewicz named as a “40 under Forty” winner

Matthew Michalewicz, President and Chief Executive Officer of NuTech Solutions, Inc., was selected from a record number of nominees as a 40 under Forty winner for 2002 by the Business Journal. The 40 under Forty program honors 40 men and women under the age of forty based on outstanding achievements both in business leadership and community involvement. Matthew Michalewicz was also recently honored with the 2002 Young Alumnus of Year award by the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, and was named as a finalist for the 2002 Entrepreneur of the Year awards by the Charlotte Chamber of Commerce.


Do you remember me?

From zero clients and three employees in 1999 to more than 40 clients and 130 employees in 2002, the high-flying software company NuTech Solutions, Inc. stunned the world by recently announcing that former President Lech Walesa had joined its board of directors. Why Walesa? “Strong companies have strong boards,” said Matt Michalewicz, NuTech’s President and Chief Executive. “We believe our company will be strengthened immensely with the addition of such a legendary and experienced leader of men and nations.” Hugh McColl, Jr., former Chairman and Chief Executive of Bank of America, and William Gaither, former Chairman and Chief Executive of Heafner Tire, also serve on NuTech’s board of directors. read more...


Faces in the News

Lech Walesa is a self-described "man of passions." That's why the statesman and Nobel Prize winner says he's accepted a position as director at NuTech, a Charlotte, N.C. firm providing advanced predictive analytics and profit optimization software to companies and governments. In a phone interview with Faces In The News, the good-humored Walesa noted he'd been offered "many, many" positions at companies over the years, but he turned them all down. Why? Walesa said his ambitions are reserved for "truly meaningful opportunities. NuTech is doing important things." read more...


Adding a Corporate Entry to his Resume

Lech Walesa, the former president of Poland who got his start in Politics by founding the Solidarity movement that helped topple Communism in Eastern Europe, has kept busy on the lecture circuit and by promoting the Lech Walesa Institue, which he founded to support free-market reforms. Now he is going corporate, accepting a seat on the board at NuTech Solutions, a software company in Charlotte, N.C. read more...


Walesa named to board of Charlotte company

Lech Walesa, the charismatic Nobel Peace Prize winner who led Poland out of communism, is joining the board of a fast-rising Charlotte technology company, NuTech Solutions Inc. Walesa, the mustachioed former shipyard electrician who has long been interested in artificial intelligence, accepted NuTech's offer in one afternoon in Poland, after meeting the company's executives for the first time.

NuTech Chief Executive Matt Michalewicz credits the coup to NuTech's track record in Poland, the company's future potential and its Polish roots; Michalewicz and his father, Zbigniew Michalewicz, two of the company's founders with partner Dan Cullen, were born in Poland. NuTech is looking to Walesa to aid in a strategy for further international expansion. Walesa adds another high-profile member to NuTech's board, which lured former Bank of America Corp. CEO Hugh McColl Jr. as a member and investor last year. read more...


Lech Walesa joins NuTech’s board of directors

NuTech Solutions, Inc., a provider of advanced predictive analytics and profit optimization software products for Global 1000 companies, announced today that former Polish President and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Lech Walesa has joined its board of directors.

“NuTech is the kind of company that is transforming the business world with its breakthrough technology and software applications,” said Lech Walesa. “The company stands as a testimony to the ability of talented individuals to turn their dreams into reality if given the chance.”

Lech Walesa’s contribution to ending communism in Europe, and hence the end of the Cold War, stand beside those of Pope John Paul II and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. Lech Walesa led the 10 million-member Solidarity Labor movement that ended communist leadership in Poland and throughout the rest of Eastern Europe. For this work Walesa was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, the U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Award of the Free World, and was named Man of the Year by Time Magazine, The Financial Times, and The London Observer. In 1990 Lech Walesa became Poland’s first democratically elected president by winning more than 74 percent of the vote, and during his five years in office set the country on the path to becoming a free-market democracy. read more...


Michalewicz wins UNC-Charlotte Young Alumnus Award

Matthew Michalewicz, who is a 1998 graduate of UNC Charlotte's Belk College of Business, has been selected as UNC Charlotte’s 2002 Young Alumnus Award Winner. The university’s Alumni Association chose Michalewicz, CEO of NuTech Solutions, for his commitment and devotion to UNC Charlotte and to the local Charlotte community. The other Alumni honorees include Choice Chancellor Emeritus winner F. K. Fretwell, Distinguished Alumni winner Cedric Maxwell, Faculty Service winners Dr. Robert Mundt (posthumous) and Dr. Rick Conboy, and Hall of Fame winners Larry Ferguson and Bobby Lutz. Matthew Michalewicz and the other Alumni Award winners will be honored at an on-campus dinner on November 2^nd. read more...


NuTech helps Fortune 500 clients maximize revenue

NuTech Solutions of Charlotte, founded in 1999 by then 23-year-old Matthew Michalewicz and based on the adaptive business intelligence technology developed by his father and a team of scientists, is working with the U.S. Department of Defense to develop an advanced artificial intelligence program. If this technology works for national security, imagine what it can do for business.

Where business decisions were once made based on past statistics and linear models, today’s corporations make plans based on adaptive technologies, artificial intelligence systems, and real-time data mining applications. Rather than focus on what has happened, they explore what might happen. “Our technology appeals to old economy businesses doing billions of dollars in revenue-companies looking to optimize areas of their businesses to increase revenues,” says chief executive Matt Michalewicz. read more...


NuTech prospers as other companies fail

June 1999 was a glorious period for technology companies. An entrepreneur could fill plush offices with fancy furnishings and equipment, hang out a tech-sounding name, preferably with dot-com at the end, and success was assured. But in the spring of 2000, what went up came down. As fast as the tech world blossomed, it withered even faster. It was in this atmosphere that NuTech Solutions opened its doors in Charlotte, offering software solutions to businesses and organizations around the world. But NuTech would prove to be slightly different than many of the other newly founded tech companies. It would grow and prosper.

Today, NuTech’s list of clients includes some of the biggest names from the nation’s business pages: Ford Motor Co., Daimler-Chrysler, Siemens AG, Royal Phillips Electronics, Unilever and Bank of America. Government agencies using NuTech services include NASA, the IRS, The Dutch Ministry of Traffic, the Polish Air Force, U.S. Navy, and the Department of Defense. The board of directors is a familiar-sounding roster with names such as Hugh McColl Jr. and Bill Gaither, former CEO of Heafner Tire in Lincolnton. The firm also boasts offices in Boston, Warsaw, Poland and Dortmund, Germany as well as its headquarters off Harris Boulevard in Charlotte. read more...


NuTech wins Blue Diamond Award

NuTech Solutions, Inc. was honored by the Information Technology Council of the Charlotte Chamber of Commerce with the Most Innovative Use of Information Technology award for 2001. A pioneer in genetic algorithm technology, NuTech won the award for its Asset Distribution System (ADS), which helps sellers at wholesale auctions predict the best sites for their products. ADS makes faster and better decisions than supercomputers or teams of human experts. Other category winners included Bank of America, Duke Energy, and Time Warner. read more...


Artificial Intelligence?

NuTech Solutions, Inc. Chief Scientific Officer, Dr. Zbigniew Michalewicz, is interviewed by Software 2.0 reporter Iza Krul in the ‘Interview of the Month’.

"The technologies used in our products include a variety of Artificial Intelligence techniques, including evolutionary algorithms, rough sets, ant systems, and genetic programming," says Dr. Zbginiew Michalewicz, Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer. "These technologies are characterized by their ability to adapt to dynamic environments, thus they provide a competitive advantage to the user as market conditions are in constant flux." read more...