OPERATIONS EXECUTIVE · FOUNDER, JARKARA STRATEGIES
Operating leadership for companies that have outgrown their systems.
Twenty years building operating models, financial discipline, and executive cadence, first across an 18-year global career at American Express, then as a COO and Chief of Staff in venture-backed and mission-driven organizations. I partner with CEOs of seed and Series A companies, before a raise or just after one, when growth outruns structure.
20+
years in finance, strategy, and operations
5
global markets: New York, London, New Delhi, Singapore, Sydney
$12M
top-of-funnel pipeline built as COO of a seed-stage startup
$40M
Series B raised by a client after I built the hiring process it still runs on
EXPERIENCE INCLUDES American Express · Twitter · Vibrant Emotional Health · DIVERSD · Bindle Systems
ADVISORY
Where I come in
Most engagements start with one of three problems. The common thread is turning strategy into an operating rhythm the team can run without me.
01
Operating leadership
A senior operator in the COO seat. Operating cadence, P&L ownership, planning and budgeting, and the performance systems that tell a CEO what is actually happening.
02
Organizational infrastructure
Org design, role architecture, and people operations built ahead of the next hiring wave, so headcount growth adds capacity instead of coordination cost.
03
Investor and board readiness
Financial models, long-range plans, and board reporting that hold up under diligence. The story a board or investor needs, backed by numbers that reconcile.
ENGAGEMENTS
Senior operating leadership, sized to the problem
Every engagement runs 90 days against a defined scope, with a clear finish line. You pay for what gets built, not for hours, invoiced in three monthly installments.
Raise Readiness
From $30K
90 DAYS, BEFORE A RAISE
A financial model, metrics that hold up in diligence, a board reporting package, and a data room, ready before investors ask for them.
Post-Raise Build
From $60K
90 DAYS, AFTER A RAISE
A hiring plan, budgets by function, a leadership operating cadence, and the metrics your next round will be judged on, built and running with your team.
Interim COO
From $90K
90 DAYS, RENEWABLE
An operator in the seat for a leadership gap, a restructuring, or a critical build. I own the operating cadence and run it through your leadership team.
SELECTED OUTCOMES
Enterprise discipline, startup speed
6 months
Runway added, and financials the board could rely on
Rebuilt a startup's financial model from the bottom up, leader by leader, into the source of truth for board reporting, investor reporting, and fundraising.
BINDLE SYSTEMS · HEAD OF FINANCE
5 hires, 90 days
An engineering team doubled, end to end
Built the hiring system from scratch, from job architecture and sourcing to technical assessment, executive interviews, and onboarding. The company has since raised a $40M Series B.
TRUNK TOOLS · TALENT INFRASTRUCTURE
35%
Executive capacity returned to the CEO and SVP
Designed a Director of Operations role from work sitting with the executive team, then led an organizational redesign shifting an $8M energy consortium toward product development and solar and electric.
POWEROPTIONS · FRACTIONAL COO
$5.4M a year
A money-losing $1.2B category turned profitable
Rebuilt a single-market P&L category by category, found the only one below zero, and took its margin from negative 23 to positive 22 basis points. Recognized with the American Express President's Award.
AMERICAN EXPRESS · AUSTRALIA
“I relied heavily on his financial experience and that of organizational management as together we created new systems, budgets and organizational structure.”
“...invaluable to translating my very rough vision into concrete plans for organization redesign. And bonus points, he helped communicate to the Board much better than I could...”
ABOUT
An operator's path, not a consultant's.
I started in consulting, then spent 18 years at American Express across FP&A, controllership, treasury, and global transformation, with assignments in New Delhi, London, Singapore, and Sydney. My last role there was Chief of Staff to an Enterprise Platforms CIO. After Stanford GSB, I moved into operating seats at venture-backed companies before founding Jarkara Strategies in 2021.
What I bring is translation: turning qualitative ambition into targets, cadences, and numbers a leadership team can manage against.
Stanford GSB, M.S. Management · Duke University, A.B. · Board Treasurer, Hope Loves Company
Bring me the operating problem.
Engagements from $30K over 90 days. The first conversation is about the problem, not the proposal.