Adrian Balfour

About Adrian Balfour

I don’t build companies one at a time. For 30 years I’ve often built and operated several at once — across wildly different industries most people would never connect: professional sports, AI engineering, project management communities, and sustainable agriculture.It began in 1994 with PCUBED, a global Project Management and transformation consultancy. I scaled it over 19+ years into an international business before selling it to Alten, a French engineering group with employees, in 2013. That exit provided both the resources and conviction to keep building at scale.One of the most complex challenges of my career came in 2017 when I co-founded Major League Rugby, the professional rugby union league in the United States. Constructing an entire league ecosystem — governance, franchises, broadcast deals, regulations and commercial model — from the ground up was an entirely different beast. I am the OG of 5 active board members governing the league.I followed that by founding the league’s original franchise, the Seattle Seawolves in 2018, to bring professional rugby to the Pacific Northwest. I have served as board chairman since inception.My active portfolio today includes:Envorso (2016) An Artificial Intelligence Engineering company partnering with automotive OEMs and Tier 1 suppliers to build the Software-Defined Vehicles of the future — bringing tech velocity to one of the world’s most complex engineering domains. Recently (2022) we have expanded into Finance, Energy and Defense industries with offices across USA, UK and Germany.EMPWR.ai An AI-powered platform for the hybrid workforce. We combine humans with agentic bots and make personalized, high-impact coaching, and development accessible at every level of an organization (not just the executive suite).MPUG The world’s largest community of Microsoft Project users and Project Management Professionals — a global network I’ve nurtured for over 25 years.Fern Hall Estate & Woolery (2020) Two connected ventures rooted in the land. Fern Hall is a farm retreat offering families and companies an authentic connection to farm life. The Woolery is a fully vertically integrated sustainable Merino wool clothing brand — we raise the sheep, shear, process the wool, and create premium garments with no outsourcing.I regularly post about entrepreneurship, leadership, AI, professional sport business, sustainable models, and the hard-won lessons from three decades of building across industries.If you’re building something meaningful or this resonates with you, I’d love to connect.

Experience

1. Founder and Chairman

   Envorso

   Jan 2016 — Present

   Envorso (2016) We’re an Artificial Intelligence Engineering firm that exists for one reason: to help the world’s most complex industries turn software into their biggest competitive advantage.At the heart of it all is the Automotive Sector’s most profound transformation in a century — the shift from mechanical vehicles to software-defined machines. We partner with Automotive OEMs and Tier 1 suppliers, along with leaders in Energy, Financial Services, and Defense, to design, build, and deploy AI, Machine Learning, and Automation Solutions that create and scale entirely new revenue streams.For nine years we’ve been doing what others only talk about: injecting the speed and agility of a Silicon Valley Tech Company into environments that were never built for it — modernizing how vehicles are designed, tested, and brought to market.We’re growing fast and now operate from Seattle • Palo Alto • Detroit • Austin • New York • London • Cologne.

Education

• Ulster University

  Micro Electronics

  1986 — 1989

• Sheffield Hallam University

  Electronic Engineering

  1984 — 1986

Skills

• Management Consulting
• Project Portfolio Management
• Program Management
• Epm
• Pmo
• Business Transformation
• Project Delivery
• IT Management
• Ms Project
• Governance
• Project Planning
• Management
• Change Management
• Enterprise Architecture
• Cross-Functional Team Leadership
• IT Strategy
• Business Process Improvement
• Process Improvement
• Pmp
• Project Management
• Consulting
• Professional Services
• Enterprise Software
• Business Analysis
• Business Process
• Strategy
• Integration
• Business Intelligence
• Vendor Management
• Sharepoint
• Outsourcing
• Software Project Management
• Business Strategy
• Saas
• Agile Project Management
• Prince2
• Stakeholder Management
• Start-Ups
• Sdlc
• Business Process Re-Engineering