Jared K.

About Jared K.

I work with leadership teams when something important isn’t working, but the symptoms don’t point to a clear cause.Most organizations don’t struggle because of effort, talent, or tools. They struggle because decisions are unclear, made too late, or made too far from the work they affect. Over time, that creates friction, escalation, rework, and quiet margin erosion.My work focuses on decision design — helping organizations turn judgment into systems that scale.I advise PE-backed and growth-stage companies by diagnosing where decisions stall, drift, or escalate unnecessarily; separating predictable decisions from judgment-based ones; and reducing decision distance between leadership and execution. The work often centers on stabilizing operations during growth, post-acquisition integration, or AI adoption, and translating executive intent into defaults, guardrails, and escalation paths that actually hold under pressure.The role is intentionally cross-functional and COO-adjacent. I’m often engaged during periods of complexity, when leadership knows something is off but execution issues keep masking the real problem.I don’t sell tools.I don’t run departments.I help organizations become calmer, clearer, and more predictable — without lowering the bar.If your company is growing but feels heavier than it should, the issue usually isn’t speed.It’s unfinished decisions.

Experience

1. Principal Strategic Operations & Decision Design (Independent)

   Independent

   Jan 2025 — Present

   Partnering with leadership teams to identify and resolve decision breakdowns that impact execution, integration, and EBITDA. Typical engagements involve post-acquisition integration support, decision system design, and operational stabilization during periods of rapid growth or change.Emphasis on separating authority from accuracy, reducing decision distance, and designing defaults that allow organizations to scale without increasing pressure.

Education

• Carnegie Mellon University - Tepper School of Business

  Master of Business Administration - MBA, AI in Business

• Spartanburg Community College

  Associate of Arts and Sciences - AAS, HVAC-R

  2012 — 2014

• Southern New Hampshire University

  Bachelor of Business Administration - BBA, Business Administration and Management, General

  2018 — 2021

• NMITC

  None, Military Intelligence, General

  2009 — 2010