Shafat Qazi

Shafat Qazi is a Kashmiri-American entrepreneur and film producer. He is the Founder and former CEO of BQE Software, a cloud-based project management and accounting software company. In 2018, he was listed among the top 50 CEOs by USA Today.

Early life and education Qazi was born in Kashmir, India and later relocated to New York in 1986. He later pursued a master's degree in structural engineering from the State University of New York at Buffalo. While at SUNY Buffalo, Qazi developed a medical billing software for his personal doctor, eventually leading him to venture into the software development industry. During this time, Qazi also served as the chairman of the Structural Engineers Association Computer Applications Committee and a board member of the association.

BQE Software and Serent Capital Acquisition Qazi founded BQE Software in 1995, initially bootstrapping the company to serve the architectural and engineering sectors. Under his leadership, the company developed a deep strategic partnership with Intuit, becoming one of the earliest and most prominent integrators for QuickBooks. By focusing on automated billing and project management, BQE expanded its user base to over 400,000 professionals globally.

In March 2021, after 25 years of independent growth, Qazi led the company through a major milestone when Serent Capital, a private equity firm, made a significant strategic investment in BQE Software. This transaction marked Qazi's transition from Chief Executive Officer to a member of the Board of Directors, where he continues to serve as an advisor on product strategy and innovation.

The company maintains a significant global footprint, including a large development and support hub in Srinagar, which Qazi established to leverage local technical talent from his home region.