I've spent 29 years learning how businesses really work - in high-volume retail, full-service hospitality, and financial services. Over a decade of that was spent running the operational side of one of America's most recognized restaurant-retail brands, where I was responsible for staffing, training, and building leaders at every level.

My experience is in the room, under real pressure, with real people counting on me to get it right - and I brought that same standard into 11 years as Chief Operations Officer of a financial services firm. I've seen what's broken from every seat in the building: the owner's, the manager's, and the person just trying to do good work inside a system that makes it harder than it should be. That's exactly the kind of mess I'm good at untangling.