Michael J Critelli Biography

Michael J. Critelli is a veteran CEO, board leader, and transformation strategist whose career has focused on guiding large, complex institutions through periods of structural disruption. He is best known for his tenure as Chairman and CEO of Pitney Bowes, where he led one of the most significant reinventions in the company’s long history.

When Critelli became CEO in 1996, Pitney Bowes was a mature manufacturer of mailing equipment, heavily dependent on a regulated product line. Over the next 12 years, he led a disciplined transformation that repositioned the company as a diversified technology and services enterprise focused on mailstream solutions. 

The company expanded globally, reduced reliance on regulated revenues, and built new growth platforms for a digital economy. Central to his leadership was confronting uncomfortable realities early—about markets, regulation, technology, and organizational inertia—and acting before external pressures forced change. His commitment to innovation was reflected in 15 U.S. patents. His industry leadership included regulatory and legislative reform that produced the first comprehensive postal reform legislation in 37 years.

Critelli’s systems-level approach also encompassed workforce wellbeing. His leadership in employer-sponsored health innovation at Pitney Bowes was the subject of a 2009 Harvard Business School case study published by Professor Michael Porter and Senior Researcher Jennifer Baron, which highlighted how employer-led health initiatives not only improved employee health, but enhanced long-term enterprise performance.

He has since advised numerous organizations and presented this work at forums including the World Economic Forum, the Skoll World Forum on Social Entrepreneurship, The Business Council, the World Health Organization and the National Business Group on Health. He is currently co-authoring a book on building workforce cultures of health.

Beyond his operating role, Critelli has remained deeply engaged in governance, public policy, and advisory work. He has led major transportation and environmental policy initiatives, including chairing state-level public-private task forces focused on Clean Air Act compliance and transportation reform. He served for more than 15 years on the board of the New York–based Regional Plan Association and co-chaired its Connecticut Committee during the release of its Third and Fourth Regional Plans.

Critelli spent 23 years on the board of Eaton Corporation and, since 2008, has advised RAND on issues at the intersection of health, economic wellbeing, and public policy. He also advised Proudfoot for eight years, bringing an operator’s perspective to enterprise execution.

Following his Pitney Bowes tenure, he became a serial entrepreneur, serving as CEO of the Dossia Service Corporation, which focused on deploying patient-controlled, lifelong electronic health records. His advocacy contributed to revised FDA rules granting patients unrestricted access to diagnostic results.

Critelli’s work spans business, policy, and storytelling. He created and produced the feature-length film From the Rough and serves on several nonprofit boards focused on health, education, and opportunity.

Today, Critelli is CEO of MoveFlux Corporation, an AI-enabled software platform that helps organizations identify emerging risks, opportunities, and system-level blind spots. He is also co-founder of the MakeUsWell Network, which uses AI-supported tools to translate complex health and wellbeing science into practical guidance. Together, these efforts reflect the consistent through-line of his career: helping leaders see what others miss and act before change becomes unavoidable.

He holds a BA from the University of Wisconsin and a JD, cum laude, from Harvard Law School.