Aspiring Ops

On this episode of Aspiring Ops, we meet with David Rosenberg to hear about his journey into the role of COO and Chief of Staff for the Indiana Economic Development Corporation. After multiple positions in the private and public sectors, David shares how he has charted the course for his career by surrounding himself with incredible Leaders and how the combination of great leadership with incredible teams has helped him bring together a big vision with measurable outcomes during his time with the Indiana Economic Development Corporation.  

Josh Streets is the Founder and CEO of Scoreboard Group - a consulting firm that advises strategy and operations leaders of complex call centers on strategic execution while leveraging the latest technologies. On this episode of Aspiring Ops, Josh shares his learnings and observations in strategic consulting, the approach he takes with his clients, and how organizations can move faster by slowing down.  

Mike Sellberg is the Interim Chief Product Officer and Chief of Staff at Coviance - a fintech company that's making the home equity lending process simpler, faster, and more scalable. On this episode of Aspiring Ops, Mike shares how his unique product-focused background has equipped him with the tools and perspective needed to successfully scale companies to new heights.

Dr. Bill Murphy is the COO at Indianapolis Public Schools. On this episode of Aspiring Ops, Bill dives into his leadership style and how he has helped create a culture rarely found within public school systems. Just one year into the role, Bill's efforts have allowed individual contributors to thrive in their day-to-day roles while also creating a better learning environment for over 30,000 students in Central Indiana.

Josh Mawhirter is the VP of Operations for Care Design New York, a Health Home Care Management organization providing services to people with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities. On this episode of Aspiring Ops, Josh dives into the dynamics of Strategy and Operations within the HealthCare space, and the role his organization's mission plays in his daily processes.

Keith Ward is the AVP of Operational Strategy, Change Management, and Organizational Impact for the National Wildlife Federation, America's largest non-profit conservation organization. On this episode of Aspiring Ops, Keith dives into the role he plays as “the connective tissue” across their team, and how the focus he's placed on investing in people above all else, has ultimately created operational success.

Megan Longo is the Chief of Staff at Buildertrend, a cutting-edge project management software that is empowering how the construction industry continues to build. On this episode of Aspiring Ops, Megan shares her experience creating the Chief of Staff role within Buildertrend, and how it has evolved over time. She also offers her advice on creating immediate value, utilizing resources, and the importance of a clear, consistent framework to execute company objectives.   

Erik Hardenbergh is the Senior Vice President of Strategy at the Pac-12 Conference, a leader in collegiate athletics that is made up of 12 of the most prestigious universities in the world. On this episode of Aspiring Ops, Erik shares his journey from student athlete to Strategy leader at one of the preeminent voices in the collegiate landscape. He also provides a glimpse into what it looks like to work in the field of sports and entertainment, and the dynamic role Strategy leaders play in bringing together long-term vision with goals across multiple stakeholders. 

Jerry Limber is the VP of Strategy and Operations at ZoomInfo, a global leader in go-to-market intelligence solutions. On this episode of Aspiring Ops, we hear Jerry's unlikely journey from professional poker player to VP of Strategy and Operations at one of the fastest-growing software companies in the world. He also shares how his career in poker taught him to focus on the decision making process, not just the results.

Jordan Gift is the Director of Strategic Initiatives at BeyondTrust, the worldwide leader in Privileged Access Management (PAM), empowering organizations to secure and manage their entire universe of privileges. On this episode of Aspiring Ops, Jordan shares her journey into the Chief of Staff role at BeyondTrust, and how it led to her role as Director of Strategic Initiatives in the Transformation Office. She also highlights the impact the Transformation Office has within the business, and how the team has helped unlock the company's strategy and drive alignment.  

Toby Carrington is the EVP of Global Operations at Seismic, the global leader in enablement, helping make sales teams better by becoming more productive and engaging with buyers in a compelling way. On this episode of Aspiring Ops, Toby shares how he's helped build a world-class operations team, and the focus he's placed on finding team members with a complementary skill-set. He also highlights the role Operations plays in Strategic Planning, and how OKRs have helped drive alignment and execution throughout the company.

Abby Parker is the COO and Co-Founder at Elate, the leading Strategic Planning software built to help high growth companies communicate their vision, create alignment, and track performance all in one place. On this episode of Aspiring Ops, Abby discusses some of the keys to success for making an effective transition from planning to execution. Abby, also shares why simplicity is the key to an initial OKR roll out, and highlights how focusing on the fundamentals can increase adoption across the company.

Lu Li is the VP of Global Sales and Strategy at Indiegogo, a leading crowdfunding platform empowering people around the world to fund projects that matter to them. On this episode of Aspiring Ops, Lu shares her journey into strategy and operations, and how her go-to-market experience helped shape how she connects a company's vision with execution. Lu also provides a glimpse into how prioritization is key to success at a growth stage company when opportunities seem to be everywhere.

Matt is the former Chief of Staff at Segment and Twilio, a leading Customer Engagement Platform that helps power personalized interactions and trusted global communications to connect you with customers. On this episode of Aspiring Ops, Matt shares his journey to the Chief of Staff position at Twilio, and how he helped drive clarity for his executive team and employees by focusing on the problem to be solved. Matt also shares how his previous experience stepping into strategic planning at Segment shapes the advice he provides to new Chiefs of Staff looking to understand how to introduce strategic planning to a company for the first time.  

Kip Zurcher is the COO at Authenticx, the leading customer experience platform built to help humanize conversational intelligence in healthcare. On this episode of Aspiring Ops, Kip highlights his journey into the role, and how the range of experience from Fortune 500 companies to startups has shaped his approach to the position. Kip also shares how he balances the pressures of driving efficiency and scalability across the organization with a culture-driven approach. For those Aspiring Operations leaders, Kip closes out the episode with three unique pieces of advice he would share with anyone early in their career. 

Christy Lynn White is the Chief of Staff at Fullscript, the leading platform to help make healthy habits stick with access to practitioner-grade supplements and powerful adherence tools. On this episode of Aspiring Ops, Christy shares how the Chief of Staff position can help build a culture of alignment and ownership throughout the company. She also provides a glimpse into the strategic planning process at Fullscript, and how the company has continued to evolve the process to help employees understand the 'why' behind their work. 

Nancy Hang, the former Head of Engineering Program Management at Mozilla, is no stranger to implementing process and structure at high growth companies. With an incredible background in project management at companies like Google, Disney, and Mozilla, Nancy shares how her project management background helped lay the foundation for how she thinks about strategy and operations. On this episode of Aspiring Ops, Nancy also provides practical advice on how to successfully introduce a foundation of process that can close gaps and accelerate growth for any company.

Amy Liu is the Chief of Staff at SmartHop, an AI-powered app that helps interstate truckers make their routes more efficient and lucrative, while removing a lot of the administrative hassle for drivers. On this episode of Aspiring Ops, Amy shares how her background in strategy and operations drives the way in which she thinks about success in the Chief of Staff position, and the role data plays in influencing the direction of the company. From a career that started at enterprise companies like Goldman Sachs and Uber to the transition into the Chief of Staff role at an early stage company, Amy's journey provides a range of perspective for any aspiring strategy and operations leader.

Maariyah Choudery is the Chief of Staff, VP Global Business Development at Uber, overseeing global business development across Uber Eats, Rides, and new verticals. On this episode of Aspiring Ops, Maariyah shares her incredible journey from JP Morgan to Uber, and her ascent into the Chief of Staff position. She also gives a glimpse into how confidence and courage can help any aspiring leader pursue opportunities they might not be qualified for on paper.

Noah Mishkin is the co-founder and COO at CraftJack, a lead generation service that gives contractors an easier way to get more referrals and win more jobs. On this episode of Aspiring Ops, Noah shares his entrepreneurial journey to building CraftJack, and how his early focus on customers gave him a complete view into the current and future direction of the business. He also discusses how his background in architecture helped him bring together the art and science of building a business and thriving in the COO role.

Carmeanna Eberly is the Director of Operations at Refine Labs, a demand accelerator for B2B SaaS companies. On this episode of Aspiring Ops, Carmeanna shares how as a Strategy and Operations leader she is constantly evaluating whether her company has the right people and processes in place to continue growing. She also provides practical advice for aspiring Strategy and Operations leaders on how to find the right company and role in your career development, and why communication and proactiveness is key to any role in strategy and operations.

John Quayle is the Chief of Staff at Four Growers, an industrial automation platform that develops harvesting robots for greenhouses. On this episode of Aspiring Ops, John shares how his unexpected journey into entrepreneurship led to his role at Four Growers, and why the Chief of Staff position at an early stage startup provided the career development he was looking for at a company. John also gives a glimpse into how the position might look different at earlier stage companies, and the advantages of hiring someone who can ‘duplicate' the presence and impact of their principal.

Ben Miller is the Chief of Staff at Ladder, the digital life insurance company of tomorrow that uses an all-digital architecture and real-time underwriting to make life insurance as accessible, affordable, and beloved as it should be. On the latest episode of Aspiring Ops, Ben provides a glimpse into his experience in consulting at Bain, and how his experience being part of a consulting team helped him make the transition to a startup. He also shares how his first position at Ladder on the Data Science team and probabilistic thinking shapes how he thinks about building the business.

Rajsi Rana is the Chief of Staff at Skyflow, a data privacy vault for customer data, radically transforming how businesses handle users' financial, healthcare and other personal data that powers the digital economy. On this episode of Aspiring Ops, Rajsi shares how her willingness to take on new initiatives within Amazon and Oracle gave her a bird's eye view into a number of different areas of a business. She also shares how her product background helped shape the lens through which she views the Chief of Staff role, and provides advice any aspiring strategy and operations leader should ask themselves before stepping into the position.

Mackenzie Regent is the Chief of Staff at Notation Capital, and former Chief of Staff at Able. After starting her career in auditing at PWC, Mackenzie made the leap into strategy and operations at WeWork. On this episode of Aspiring Ops, Mackenzie shares why she believes the Chief of Staff position ultimately comes down to providing your principal leverage in order to focus on the long-term future of the company. She also provides insight into how a Chief of Staff can take on the high priority initiatives that don't have a true owner, and successfully work across all areas of the business.

Céline Felan is the Chief of Staff at SugarCRM, a software solution that helps businesses create customers for life with the world's most intelligent CRM platform. After starting her career as a business analyst with stops along the way in program management, business transformation, and mergers & acquisitions, Céline found herself drawn to opportunities where she was helping leaders bring ideas to life. On this episode of Aspiring Ops, Céline shares how her willingness to accept opportunities with open arms led to her role as the Chief of Staff at Sugar, and helped her understand the importance of providing clarity and managing expectations across the business.

Scott Amenta is the founder of the Chief of Staff Network, the leading private membership network for Chiefs of Staff. Scott's professional journey began in the early days of the New York startup tech scene at Foursquare and Techstars. After his initial exposure to working with early stage companies, Scott decided to make the jump to a four-person startup called Spring where he pitched the idea of joining the company as a Chief of Staff. Although he didn't come on immediately as the Chief of Staff, he gradually made the transition into the role, and his career path played a pivotal role in the emergence of the Chief of Staff position as we know it today. On the Season Two Finale of Aspiring Ops, Scott shares how his experience as a Chief of Staff led to the creation of the Chief of Staff network, and why the position is becoming more prominent for businesses today. Scott also shares how the position has evolved, and what he believes the future has in store for the role.

Ben Battaglia is the Chief of Staff at Lessonly, a simple training software that helps teams learn, practice, and do better work. On this episode of Aspiring Ops, Ben takes us through his decision to transition from Marketing to Strategy and Ops, and how he saw the construction of the Chief of Staff role as a balance of the relational and operational. Ben also shares how his experience in a management role lends itself to the position, and why he reminds himself that ‘slow is smooth, smooth is fast' when it comes to his first 30 days in the role.

Grace Sutherland is the Chief of Staff at Yext, a knowledge engine platform that helps brands deliver official answers to consumer questions. As a former teacher, Grace wanted to make the transition out of teaching into another field, but initially had trouble sharing how her experience would lend itself to the corporate world. After receiving an opportunity to come on as the Executive Assistant to the CEO at Yext, Grace quickly realized how her experience as a teacher shaped her ability to work with people across every part of the business. On this episode of Aspiring Ops, Grace shares how her background in teaching and founding a school led to her role as the Chief of Staff at Yext.

Peter Clare is the SVP of Operations at Jobvite, an applicant tracking software and recruiting platform that helps thousands of companies source, hire, and onboard top talent. As someone who has regularly found himself flexing into unique roles across all areas of the business, Peter's desire to serve others has been at the forefront of his journey into strategy and ops. On this episode of Aspiring Ops, Peter shares how serving others and focusing on outcomes led to his customer-centric approach to building an operational structure that's focused on serving over 10,000 customers at Jobvite.

Throughout her career in strategy and ops, Lindsay Soergel found her purpose in work and simplified it into two verbs: connect and transform. From leading change inside some of the most prominent Fortune 500 companies, like Westinghouse, PNC, and Equifax, to building strategy for leading technology companies, such as Headspace, Lindsay has helped pave the way for what strategy and operations looks like today. On this episode of Aspiring Ops, Lindsay shares how casting a vision for the future and building companies with designed thinking can help any company take the next step in their journey.

Jacob Stein is the Chief of Staff at Clyde, a software platform that connects retailers with insurance companies to launch and manage product protection programs. Jacob joined Clyde right out of college after sending a cold email to the founders about a summer internship that would alter the course of his career. After initially pursuing a career in product management to help build things, Jacob realized that at an early stage company, everything is either in the process or hasn't yet been built. On this episode of Aspiring Ops, Jacob shares how he has continued to develop the confidence to operate in an ever-changing environment, while following his love of building things, taking different areas of a business from zero to one.

Steph Shaw is the Chief of Staff at Agio, an industry leading Cybersecurity and Managed Service Provider for the healthcare industry. After graduating from business school and spending three years in management consulting, Steph found that she thrived in environments where she could serve as a strategic advisor focused on development and execution. On this episode of Aspiring Ops, Steph shares her journey to the Chief of Staff role at Agio, and how her experience helped create a mindset of moving through influence, not authority. 

Amrit Kanesa-thasan is the Chief of Staff at Relativity, an e-discovery platform built to manage large volumes of data and identify key issues during litigation, investigations, and compliance. After spending three years at Bain as a consultant, Amrit joined Relativity as the Chief of Staff to the CEO for the opportunity to learn first-hand what it looks like to lead a high growth SaaS company. On this episode of Aspiring Ops, Amrit shares his unique perspective working with two CEOs, and how he views trust as the greatest currency available to a Chief of Staff.

Zeke Fraint is the Chief of Staff at Clearcover, a digital car insurance provider disrupting the auto insurance industry through technology that helps automate certain aspects of the insurance process. After recently closing a $200M round of funding, Zeke and Clearcover are set to enter hyper growth mode, as they plan on doubling headcount in the coming year. On this episode of Aspiring Ops, Zeke shares his journey to Clearcover, and how even before joining the company he helped shape the role in a way that set him and the business up for long-term success. 

Karn Khunger is the Chief of Staff at Split, a feature delivery platform that builds software for engineering teams to build products. After graduating from Boston College, Karn found himself at a crossroads: enter the world of software sales or investment banking? Thanks to some great advice from a mentor, Karn took an opportunity as a BDR at RelateIQ, which would go on to be acquired by Salesforce. On this episode of Aspiring Ops, Karn shares his journey to Split, joining as one of the earliest employees, and how his sales background has helped him model a listen-first approach in the Chief of Staff role.   

Garr Punnett is the Chief of Staff at Rheaply, a climate tech company that combines a resource-sharing network with a user-friendly asset management platform. After a short stint in the media and entertainment industry, Garr quickly found himself following his passion for sustainability, joining Rheaply as the fifth employee to help make operations and business models more efficient. On this episode of Aspiring Ops, Garr shares his experience at an early stage company and how he views the Chief of Staff role as a force multiplier across all areas of the business. 

Kelsey Cohen is the Senior Revenue Operations Manager at PetDesk and former Chief of Staff at Bloomscape. As the third employee at Bloomscape, Kelsey played a foundational role in scaling the company to 150 employees and helping to raise over $24M in funding. On this episode of Aspiring Ops, Kelsey shares how her willingness to step through open doors and take on new opportunities led to her unlikely journey from graphic designer to operations leader at one of the fastest growing companies in the midwest.

On the Season One Finale, I am joined by co-founder and COO at Elate, Abby Parker, as we look back on the best quotes, advice, and stories we heard from Season One. We also spend some time discussing the current landscape of operations, as well as the recurring themes and trends shaping the future. 

Chelsey Krisay is the Chief of Staff at Trainual, an all-in-one training and knowledge platform for small businesses. From roles in Sales and Customer Success to Operations and everything else in between, Chelsey shares how her journey at Trainual led to her responsibility working as an extension of the CEO and overseeing the company's operating framework as the Chief of Staff.

Brynn Michelich is the Chief of Staff at Jellyvision, the makers of ALEX, a software platform built to help people make smart decisions about their health, benefits, and finances. On this episode of Aspiring Ops, Brynn shares her journey from a Project Manager to the Chief of Staff role, the challenges a new Chief of Staff can expect, and why volunteering for everything helped set her up for success.

John Covad is the SVP of Operations at Gravy, a leading customer retention and failed payment recovery platform. Prior to joining Gravy, John served as the VP of Operations at Deputy where he helped lead the company to over 5x growth and $100M in Series A & B funding. On this episode of Aspiring Ops, John shares how operations can serve as a growth engine at scaling companies by removing friction for team's to execute.     

Emad ElShawa is the Chief of Staff at Fundbox. On this episode of Aspiring Ops, Emad discusses why his time in Business Ops led to his progression into the Chief of Staff role, and how the alignment between executive leadership and individual contributors allows Fundbox to drive accountability towards achieving company goals.   

Eric Smith is the Head of Business Design at High Alpha, a leading SaaS Venture Studio. Prior to joining High Alpha, Eric was the COO at One Click Ventures where he led the company to an incredible exit to FGX International. As the Head of Business Design, Eric has the unique opportunity to help bring startups from the ideation stage to public launch. On this episode of Aspiring Ops, Eric shares his experience building and leading Operations at a growth stage company, as well as his insights on how operations can play a pivotal role in a startup's success. 

Sydney Cummings is the Chief of Staff at Terminus. On this episode of Aspiring Ops, Sydney shares her background as an early employee leading Customer Success at Terminus, and how risk-taking helped her on her journey to leading operations at a company creating a new software category. 

Russell Lester is the Head of Finance and Operations at Calendly. On this episode of Aspiring Ops, Russell shares his journey to leading Operations at one of the fastest-growing SaaS companies in the world, and how he encourages his team to create proactive, persuasive insights that drive growth and efficiency.