professionals in the largest organization I’ve led
Business & Technology Executive · Chicago, Illinois
I build the teams that deliver transformation at scale
I’m a business and technology executive that knows how to (re)build teams, transform the business, and get things done. I’ve led large teams, managed sizable budgets, and have delivered products that have had real business impact.
- Currently
- CIO, Bahler Management
- Previously
- CIO Colibri · CTO Apollo Education
- Based
- Chicago, IL
Latest
- On The You’ve Been Heard Podcast, episode 445 “How CIOs Build Teams That Scale”—47 minutes on hiring, structuring, and growing technology organizations that hold up as the business grows.
- AI has a PR problem On employee sentiment toward AI outside the tech industry—and why adoption stalls when the conversation stays inside three or four major tech companies instead of becoming civil discourse.
- Managing Shadow IT in the age of AI AI coding tools let people assemble applications faster than any IT function can govern them. On why blocking is a losing strategy, why approved‑only lists are too slow, and where an AI gateway and clear paved paths fit.
- Court Logic is live Run any tournament, master every game. Tournaments, leagues, and brackets for any sport at any age—built for youth organizations, schools, colleges, and adult social leagues. Created at Prairie Mill Consulting Services, with CYBN as key reference client.
- On working with the Norex team Time with the Norex peer network and its members.
- Panel: balancing business expectations and software sustainability Featured panelist for Forte Group, on the tension between what the business wants next quarter and what the engineering organization can sustain.
Operating at scale
largest technology budget owned and operated
faster customer quotes at Bahler—72 hours down to two
three‑year enterprise modernization led at Apollo Education
acquisitions diligenced and integrated across two companies
cut to enterprise IT spend—while accelerating growth
teams rebuilt and revitalized, corporate and non‑profit
applications consolidated through a disciplined COTS/SaaS strategy
AI, with real vision
At Bahler Group we’re replacing a twenty‑year‑old Excel sales tool, connecting data across operating companies, and putting AI to work in three specific places. A person stays in the decision loop on all three while the team learns where the model can actually be trusted.
Three pillars of the vision
AI‑assisted development
The team ships faster. Not a demo—a working part of how we build software day to day.
Department copilots
Operational data becomes something you can just ask a question of, instead of filing a report request and waiting.
Purpose‑built quality checks
Copilots that read estimates, contracts, and material takeoffs looking for the detail a tired human misses at 6pm.
20%
better quote accuracy, already delivered
50%
further cut to quote time, on track
We are not using AI to replace people. We’re using it so the same person can support more revenue moving through the business—which is the only version of this that actually compounds.
The question I put in front of my team
“If we add $100 million to the bottom line, what does that look like—and how do we do it without adding a person?”
It’s a deliberately unfair question. That’s the point. It isn’t a cost‑cutting exercise and it isn’t about replacing anyone—it’s a design constraint that forces you to build a business where the same team can carry far more revenue than it could yesterday.
The decision criteria I give my teams
“It’s on‑time delivery, on budget, quality software, and how we treat people.”
I give this decision criteria to every team I lead. This isn’t in any particular order and each one is just as important as the other, especially how we treat people. I tell the team that if they can show me that they made a decision based on this criteria, I will support their decision 100%, even if I disagree with it. It keeps them focused on the most important aspects of IT, we need to deliver value to the business.
Turnarounds…
Every one of these started the same way: a technology function the business had stopped believing in. Here is what changed, and what it was worth.
Case 01
Bahler Management
The seventy‑two hour quote
Before
A seven‑company enterprise that had never had a formal CIO. Customer quotes took 72 hours. IT was something you called when the printer broke.
After
Two hours. A modern application stack, AI working inside sales and operations, and a technology function with a standing seat at the table.
- ~97% reduction in quote time
- 50% lift in end‑user productivity
- 18% software spend consolidated across seven operating companies
- 20% lower cyber insurance premiums after the first‑ever pen test
- Hybrid cloud stood up on Azure Stack Hub and Azure Arc
Case 02
Colibri Group
Growth by acquisition, minus the chaos
Before
A business buying companies faster than it could absorb them—and running the whole technology function without an IT budget.
After
A repeatable integration playbook, a doubled function, and security turned into something the sales team could sell with.
- IT due diligence on 25+ targets
- 18 acquisitions integrated, supporting $100M in M&A‑fueled revenue
- >$1M first‑year savings from the company’s first IT budget
- NIST CSF implemented; premiums cut 9%
- Security used as a B2B retention lever
Case 03
Apollo Education Group
$36M to $18.5M, without slowing down
Before
Nine universities, 1,500+ applications, $36M in enterprise IT spend, and a Salesforce program three years behind schedule.
After
$18.5M, under 300 applications, and the stalled program shipped in twelve months. Half the cost, faster delivery.
- 49% cut to enterprise IT spend, $36M → $18.5M
- $100M three‑year modernization, >1,500 → <300 applications
- >$80M in subsidiary OX reductions while supporting 20%+ growth
- Salesforce program rescued and delivered in 12 months
- Promoted to CTO in 2017 after rebuilding the platform team
Notable products
The Oscars database. An NHL scouting system. A tournament platform that has run Chicagoland youth basketball for a decade. Six things I built or led that are still doing their job.
The Oscars
The Academy Awards Database
The searchable public record of every Oscars nomination, winner, and ceremony in the Academy’s history. Built for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences—deep institutional content made usable by anyone who cares to look.
Open the database
NHL
Chicago Blackhawks Scouting System
The internal scouting and decision‑support platform for one of the NHL’s flagship franchises—structured player data, reporting workflows, and the operational guts behind how a scouting organization sees the league.
Still the lineage behind Court Logic today
Applied AI · Live now
Bahler AI & Quote Engine
Replacing a twenty‑year‑old Excel sales tool with AI‑backed process knowledge, quote validation, and sales training—+20% quote accuracy delivered, another 50% cut to quote time on track.
See the full AI strategy above ↑
Sports Intelligence
Court Logic
A sports‑intelligence application combining structured data, scouting workflows, and decision support for coaching staffs—built in the same lineage as the Blackhawks system. Created at Prairie Mill Consulting Services, with CYBN as the key reference client.
See it live
Youth Basketball
CYBN
A premier youth basketball tournament network serving Chicagoland since 2014 on a custom Laravel and Vue platform. Handles 10,000+ team registrations a year and saves youth organizations more than $250,000 annually versus the broker‑driven alternatives.
See it live
M&A Playbook
University-in-a-Box
A repeatable playbook for post‑acquisition integration across Apollo Education Group’s portfolio of nine global universities—collapsing integration to twelve months and becoming the operational pattern for how the group absorbed new institutions.
Nine universities, one patternEleven teams, built or rebuilt
This is the specialty. Not one turnaround that happened to work—eleven of them, across for‑profit enterprises and non‑profit organizations, with people spread across time zones and continents.
0
teams built
or rebuilt
or rebuilt
350
professionals in the largest organization I’ve led, grown from 53. Over $110M in budget.
Global
Teams dispersed internationally—onshore, offshore, and nearshore, working across time zones as one organization.
Both sides
For‑profit and non‑profit. Nine global universities, seven operating companies, and a church elder board. The principles travel.
Anyone can reorganize a chart. The test is whether the team is still performing—and still together—a year after you stop being in the room.
How I actually work
“It’s on‑time delivery, on budget, quality software, and how we treat people.”
Across 30+ years the craft has been the same: take an IT function that has lost the trust of the business and turn it into a credible, predictable engine of growth. It is one part architecture, one part operating model, and three parts people—and the ratio is not negotiable.
I run on a blend of entrepreneurial grit and servant leadership. The grit gets you through the unglamorous middle of a transformation, the part nobody puts in the case study. The servant leadership is why the team still standing at the end is the kind of team that wants to do it again.
The proof shows up outside the office too. I’ve rebuilt 11 teams across corporate enterprises and non‑profits, and I serve as Elder Board Chairman at my church. The principles travel: empower the people closest to the work, align leaders to a clear strategy, and build the operating muscle that holds after the consultants leave.
My best work happens in purpose‑driven organizations with forward‑thinking business models—places where technology is treated as a strategic enabler, not a line item to be managed downward.
-
01
Create a vision that supports the business
Start with how the business actually runs and where it makes money. A technology vision that isn’t anchored there is a wish list.
-
02
Build a roadmap
Turn the vision into sequenced work with owners, dates, and dependencies—something the business can read, argue with, and hold me to.
-
03
Get the team assembled
The right people in the right structure, onshore, offshore, and nearshore. I have done this eleven times, and it is what decides whether the rest holds.
-
04
Budget control
Own the number. Apollo went from $36M to $18.5M while growth accelerated—cost discipline is what earns the right to invest.
- Strategic
- Dedicated
- Fair
- Insightful
- Engaging
- A problem solver
How I got here
Over 30 years, from hands‑on builder to the C‑suite. Open any chapter.
-
2023 — Present Chief Information Officer Bahler Management, Inc. Current
Brought on as the company’s first formal CIO of this commercial construction enterprise. Reestablished trust in IT, led a digital transformation and platform modernization, and made AI a working capability inside the sales and operations organization.
- Cut customer quote time ~97%, from 72 hours to two.
- Increased end‑user productivity 50% by modernizing custom‑built applications.
- Stood up hybrid cloud on Azure Stack Hub and Azure Arc; consolidated software spend 18% across seven operating companies.
- Led the first‑ever penetration testing; lowered cyber insurance premiums 20% after meeting or exceeding NIST benchmarks.
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2023 — Present Managing Partner Prairie Mill Consulting Services Current
A services firm spanning investments, software development, AI, and product development, offering fractional CIO and CTO services—where I get to be an operator and an owner at the same time.
- Investor in youth sports.
- Created the Court Logic product, with CYBN as the key reference client.
- Client work across investments, custom development, applied AI, and product development.
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2020 — 2023 Chief Information Officer Colibri Group
Stabilized IT inside a continuing‑education business growing through aggressive M&A. Built the integration playbook, doubled the function, and made data and security first‑class concerns of the business.
- Led IT due diligence on 25+ targets; integrated 18 acquisitions supporting $100M in M&A‑fueled revenue.
- Generated >$1M of first‑year savings by piloting the company’s first IT budget and rationalizing vendor spend.
- Implemented NIST CSF; slashed insurance premiums 9% and used security as a B2B retention lever.
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2010 — 2019 Chief Technology Officer Apollo Education Group / Vanta Education
Led global application development for nine universities, including the University of Phoenix. Promoted to CTO in 2017 after building and scaling the team that rebuilt the platform.
- Cut enterprise IT spend 49%, from $36M to $18.5M, while accelerating M&A integration.
- Delivered >$80M in subsidiary OX reductions while supporting 20%+ growth targets.
- Led a $100M, three‑year modernization that reduced the application footprint from >1,500 to <300 via COTS and SaaS.
- Rescued a Salesforce program three years behind schedule and delivered it in twelve months.
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Earlier Cofounder & Managing Principal · IT Consultant Solus Development · Ponvia · Greenbrier & Russel
Early career as a builder and consultant delivering infrastructure, internet, and application work across supply chain, entertainment, finance, tax, SaaS, and nonprofit.
- Chicago Blackhawks
- United Center
- Chicago Bulls
- Chicago White Sox
- HAVI Global Solutions
- Board of Trade Clearing Corp
- Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences
What I’m brought in for
Transformation
- Business Transformation & IT Strategy
- Digital Transformation
- Technology Roadmapping
- Enterprise Architecture (TOGAF)
Operating Model
- Business Startup & Scaling
- ITSM & Database Management
- M&A Assessment & Integration
- Product Development & Management
Risk & Cost
- Cost Containment & Profit Building
- DR, BC & Cybersecurity Management
- Domestic & Global Compliance
- GDPR & EU Data Protection
Platforms & Teams
- ERP Selection & Implementation
- Hybrid, Multicloud & FinOps
- Business Partnering & Collaboration
- Team Building (On‑, Off‑, Nearshore)
Speaking Engagements, Boards, Memberships
“How CIOs Build Teams That Scale”
Guest on The You’ve Been Heard Podcast—on hiring, structuring, and growing technology organizations that hold up as the business grows.
Listen to the episode
Elder Board
Chairman
Applying the same servant‑leadership discipline and strategic clarity that has carried across corporate and non‑profit team rebuilds.
SmartBuild
Roadmap Advisor
Advising on the product roadmap for design and construction management software serving the commercial construction industry.
Thought Industries
Product Advisory Council
Advised on the direction of a leading customer education and training platform.
EMC · ECD
Customer Advisory Board & Speaker
Board member and Board Strategy Meeting speaker (2016) for the Enterprise Content Division’s customer council.
Forte Group
Featured Panelist
The Balance Between Business Expectations and CTO’s Sustainability Needs—on what the business wants next quarter versus what the engineering organization can carry.
See the panelConference & Panel
Featured Speaker
- Liferay Symposium · 2017
- Microsoft Dynamics Conference · 2015
Foundations
- Illinois Institute of Technology BA, Computer Science · Minor, Business
- Thayer Leadership at West Point Executive Leadership Program
- Sun Microsystems Sun Java 1.1 Certification
For a private conversation
Thinking through technology, transformation, or what comes next?
For boards, founders, and senior leaders—I’m always glad to make time.