Vetted Chief of Staffs

Ariana Bavarian

Screened

Executive Operations Leader specializing in M&A integration and marketing/tech transformation

Chicago, IL20y exp

“Operations-focused leader who joined a consulting firm immediately after consolidating 5 companies via M&A and built standardized time tracking plus utilization analytics that became a core executive-management tool. Experienced in change management and cross-functional redesign of business systems, including simplifying an over-engineered Salesforce CRM to improve sales adoption and pipeline data integrity.”

“Executive-operations/program leader who supports senior leadership through multiple concurrent, high-visibility initiatives (tech rollout, cost optimization, growth strategy). Known for creating portfolio dashboards, operating cadences, and decision logs that reduce initiative sprawl, accelerate executive decision-making, and keep cross-functional teams aligned while maintaining strict confidentiality during sensitive changes like leadership restructures.”

Ann-Marie Waterman

Screened

Executive Higher Education Administrator specializing in operations, finance, and enrollment management

Baltimore, MD29y exp

“Higher-education operations leader (Assistant Dean at Howard University School of Business; inaugural Associate VP of Student Affairs/Enrollment Management at University of the District of Columbia) known for rebuilding and modernizing internal operations under constraint. Delivered measurable results including sustaining fiscal integrity across three budget cycles post-staff reduction and improving admissions throughput (+25% applications, 50% faster decisions) through process re-engineering, automation, and cross-functional governance.”

“Chief of Staff with experience driving cross-functional execution and executive alignment, including in real estate development environments with shifting timelines. Implements PM tooling (Notion/Monday.com) plus KPI/OKR systems to improve clarity, accountability, and executive productivity, and has experience mediating priority conflicts between functions like marketing and operations.”

Lauren Stein

Screened

Executive Chief of Staff specializing in operations, HR, and GTM enablement for SaaS

7y exp

“Chief of Staff with strong cross-functional leadership across go-to-market and product/engineering, focused on revenue-aligned prioritization and executive operating cadence. Implemented integrated Looker reporting to connect product usage/adoption with revenue, retention (GDR/NDR), churn risk, and upsell—enabling faster executive decision-making and clearer accountability.”

Daniel LeBlanc

Screened

Executive Operations Leader specializing in scaling high-growth and regulated businesses

11y exp

“Operator who has repeatedly stepped into high-growth, founder-led agencies to stabilize and scale execution across functions (hiring, GTM, finance, investor comms). Known for building lightweight operating cadences, dashboards, and decision artifacts anchored on leading indicators (time-to-value, unit economics, throughput) to improve margins, delivery speed, and reduce founder dependency.”

Matthew Knecht

Screened ReferencesStrong rec.

Executive Chief of Staff / Legal Operations leader in nonprofit public defense

Neptune, New Jersey11y exp

“Former attorney turned senior operations/Chief of Staff-style leader with ~20 years balancing strategy and day-to-day execution. Led multi-office expansions (e.g., launching a new Detroit office) and built a professionalized finance function with audit-ready controls to free up CEO bandwidth. Also led an emergency COVID-era shift to remote operations while safeguarding safety, morale, and revenue.”

“Bootstrapped founder/fractional-CTO type building a community-first tooling platform and niche product lab, emphasizing trust and "family" culture. Operates extremely lean by self-hosting open-source LLM tooling locally and leverages a network of senior generalists willing to trade short-term compensation for learning and equity. Has worked across real estate tech, logistics, and hospitality POS and is applying a multi-modal "brain trails" concept to product opportunities.”

“Operations/program leader with experience supporting CEOs and scaling organizations through rapid expansion and multi-team initiatives. Implemented RACI + Asana-based execution systems and built board/KPI reporting cadences that improved executive decision speed and visibility across departments. Has worked across startups and in a foundation environment in C-suite-adjacent roles.”

“Chief of Staff at Molecular Affinities and former Investor Relations & Operations manager at JCAM Investments, with hands-on experience supporting capital raising while simultaneously tightening operations (website, investor onboarding, back office). Strong operator who implements and drives adoption of systems like HubSpot, Asana, and Slack to improve executive productivity and team accountability.”

“College basketball recruiter and operations leader with 10+ years in collegiate athletics and 5+ years as Director of Operations for the Nike Elite Youth Basketball League. Has managed NCAA-certified live recruiting events and helped scale EYBL programming to 206 high school teams while expanding into Junior EYBL, overseeing Midwest and Southwest regions. Also brings sales/IT recruiting experience plus strong video and on-camera content creation that has supported recruit signings and fundraising outcomes.”

“Recruiting leader who has managed teams of up to 6 while remaining hands-on with requisitions, owning end-to-end process design, ATS administration, and performance metrics reporting to senior leadership (including CFO/CPO). Built retention and quality feedback loops (7/30/90-day, 1-year check-ins and exit interviews) and drove process improvements like job description revisions to increase candidate quality and secure additional headcount when demand exceeded capacity.”

“Cross-functional operator and executive partner with experience leading ERP implementations, process redesign, quality initiatives, and platform/new-market launches. Known for building governance and executive-briefing systems that reduce operational noise, protect leadership bandwidth, and keep large multi-division organizations aligned—while maintaining discretion during sensitive restructurings.”