Michael A. Pagnotta is the CEO and Principal Consultant of Insightful Summit Business Advisors. A seasoned management consultant and business technologist, Michael brings over 30 years of experience helping organizations streamline operations, improve customer engagement, and scale sustainably. Today, he leads the firm’s expansion into AI-powered business solutions—helping small business owners and entrepreneurs harness automation to capture more leads, save time, and grow with confidence.
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With a proven background in entrepreneurship, enterprise consulting, and applied AI, Michael blends strategic insight with practical execution—making technology approachable and transformation achievable for businesses of all sizes.
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Shortly after graduating Cornell University with an engineering degree, Michael founded Riesling Associates, Inc., a tutoring and SAT training company aimed at helping high school students achieve academic success. This early venture sparked his entrepreneurial spirit and laid the groundwork for his future business endeavors. He also joined International Paper, as an internal consultant, developing training curriculums for the company’s worldwide paper mills to help them improve the company's products using custom designed laboratory equipment he and his team created.
He made the leap to project management from engineering and took those skills to BOC Gases, where he took over a failing technology upgrade project, leading a $3MM overhaul of the company’s worldwide logistics equipment and software. Then, Michael got his real first taste of business consulting with the approach of Y2K. Michael took part in managing the remediation of thousands of old systems at one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world, mitigating the risk of lost time and money.
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After Y2K, Michael reported directly to the CEO of a small technology provider, revamping the account and project management departments. He helped retail clients digitally transform their distribution operations, retiring paper-based picking, packing and labeling and moving to semi-automated electronic systems that vastly increased productivity and skyrocketed accuracy.
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After 6 years of helping dozens of Fortune 1000 clients, Michael ventured out on his own with his first business consulting practice, Pagnotta Enterprises, Inc., a consultancy specializing in digital transformation and technology integration projects. He guided companies through complex technology implementations, developed training programs, and managed multimillion-dollar automation installations. His role as a business management consultant involved rescuing troubled projects and driving operational improvements, taking on clients from apparel distributors to scientific products suppliers. His client base expanded from supply chain and logistics into the burgeoning SaaS (Software as a Service) world.
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In 2009, Michael moved into another crucial consultancy role inside a leading SaaS provider of customer engagement solutions. Beginning with Program Management and moving into Customer Success, Michael took on some of the largest Fortune 500 names across Telecommunications, Financial Services and Banking, eCommerce, and Technology industries supporting their click to chat and click to messaging initiatives. During his 13-year tenure, Michael became a mentor to many new recruits, trained hundreds of customer support personnel, and was certified as an AI Cohort, managing the integration of virtual AI assistants into his clients' operations.
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Michael could not resist the call of emerging Virtual Reality technologies and in 2017 co-founded Uncharted Realities, LLC - an entertainment center in downtown Portland, Oregon - with a focus on providing services to the local businesses who would use his facility for team-building initiatives. As a small business owner, Michael developed the operational processes for the firm, managed all the finances and cash flow, established partnerships with key organizations such as Travel Portland to tap into underserved communities, and outmaneuvered his competition growing B2B market share in the greater Portland metro area.
In 2022, Michael joined a New York-based startup as fractional CTO, leading key technology initiatives including mobile app development, biofeedback integration, generative AI experimentation, and strategic advising for the CEO. This role deepened his commitment to applied AI as a business growth tool.
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In 2024, Michael rebranded and expanded his consulting practice as Insightful Summit Business Advisors, placing AI-driven automation at the core of his service model. Today, he helps small business owners implement affordable, done-for-you AI tools that reduce manual effort, capture more leads, and create scalable, sustainable growth.
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