Chicago · Strategy, delivery & useful AI

Strategy into
something
useful.

I connect business problems, people and technology—then help turn the plan into something people can actually use.

Explore selected work ↓
The space I work in
Business.
People.
Technology.
From the first questionto the working thing ↗
Enterprise transformationAI implementationCommercial strategyProduct building
Experience across business & technology
Capgemini InventNews CorpEYSoftServeKiwi Data
01 / Selected work

Ideas with something
to show for them.

A selection of personal builds and product concepts. Each explores a practical coordination, commercial or delivery problem.

Interactive public demoFictional examples

Career Kit

A modular career-workflow prototype connecting self-reflection, experience evidence, opportunity tracking and interview preparation. Use the pieces that help; skip the rest.

Try the toolkit ↗
What this project explores

Job Seeker in a Box: a Career Kit beta connecting real experience, interview preparation and follow-through, with free access while job searching and optional pay-it-forward support.

The public preview shows one fictional call brief. The complete intake, document library and research workflow are reserved for tailored projects.

See a small preview →
Internal working prototype

Ozzy

A program and operating desk that brings projects, next actions and commercial planning into one view.

Explore the case study

From scattered work to a working desk.

The challenge

Important work lives across conversations, tools and competing priorities. The design challenge is to make the next decision and next action visible together.

My contribution

I shape the operating model, break work into manageable pieces, and develop the review flows and prototype experience.

Workflow sketch
  1. CaptureBring a project or request into a shared working view.
  2. StructureConnect the objective to work, dependencies and next actions.
  3. ReviewUse a human review point to decide what moves forward.
What takes shape

A program portfolio, work breakdown and review flows that connect personal and commercial planning.

Current stage

A working internal prototype. Integration and automation readiness vary by workflow.

Next validation step

Validate which recurring workflows save time consistently before extending automation.

Link to this case study
Working trip hub

A better way to get away.

A destination-weekend hub connecting availability, itinerary, budget scenarios and the details that make a group trip work.

Inside the project ↗

The problem: group travel planning is a coordination job hiding inside a group chat.

My work: experience design, date polling, cost modeling, meal planning and booking dependencies.

Current stage: a working planning experience. Travel arrangements and final prices remain separate from the prototype.

Sales-motion prototype

Dimebag

A structured place to make a consulting sales motion concrete—from discovery through a co-created roadmap and proposal.

Inside the project ↗

The problem: a promising AI conversation needs a clear business hypothesis, decision path and scoped next step.

My work: commercial process design and the prototype used to communicate it.

Current stage: a working sales-motion prototype; no customer outcomes or revenue results are claimed here.

Product concept

Startup in a Box

Exploring a repeatable operating foundation for early-stage businesses: practical workflows, clear ownership and documentation that makes the work easier to run.

Explore the case study

A working foundation for the first stage.

The challenge

Early-stage teams must establish ownership, documentation and repeatable workflows while building their business. The concept explores how much of that foundation can be configured once and reused.

My contribution

I define repeatable needs, compare configuration of existing tools with custom work, and shape onboarding, handover and support boundaries.

Workflow sketch
  1. UnderstandIdentify the team’s recurring work and existing tools.
  2. ConfigureShape a foundation around ownership and practical workflows.
  3. Hand overMake the setup understandable and define ongoing support.
What takes shape

An emerging offer structure covering discovery, configuration, documentation and handover. The final feature bundle is still being defined.

Current stage

Product concept and packaging hypothesis. Buyer demand and pricing remain unvalidated.

Next validation step

Test a narrow buyer problem and delivery scope before committing to a broader package.

Link to this case study
Commercialization concept

Bachelor Party in a Box

Exploring how a custom trip hub can become a repeatable planning offer for best men and group organizers.

Explore the case study

Turn group-chat logistics into a plan.

The challenge

A best man is coordinating dates, preferences, costs and booking dependencies for a whole group. The opportunity is to reduce that organizing work without losing the character of the trip.

My contribution

I am extracting repeatable elements from a custom trip hub and exploring offer packaging, pricing and delivery economics.

Workflow sketch
  1. AlignCollect availability and make group decisions easier.
  2. PlanConnect itinerary choices with estimated costs and dependencies.
  3. PrepareBring the agreed details into one place before the trip.
What takes shape

A working Bozeman planning hub provides the starting point: availability, itinerary, budget scenarios and meal planning. The commercial offer is still a concept.

Current stage

Commercialization concept. Demand, pricing and a paid pilot are not yet established.

Next validation step

Validate willingness to pay and measure delivery effort with a tightly scoped pilot.

Link to this case study
02 / Career & project experience

Different environments.
A connected body of work.

Roles and projects across consulting, finance, enterprise delivery and AI. Client identities are omitted; descriptions focus on my contribution.

2026–present · Independent consulting

Cognitum partner network

Independent consultant · AI pre-sales advisory

Independent consultant in the Cognitum One partner network, connecting business discovery with enterprise AI implementation planning.

Projects & contributions
  • Enterprise AI sales motion: shaping discovery, internal hypotheses, executive workshops, co-created roadmaps and commercial proposals.
  • Partner collaboration: developing co-sell conversations and building technical understanding through partner training and practical prototypes.
  • Operating-system experimentation: exploring agent-assisted planning and execution through personal product builds.

Independent partner-network participation; not employment at Cognitum.

2025–2026

Sales & Delivery Lead

Sales, partner enablement and customer-delivery work for an enterprise AI contract-intelligence startup.

Projects & contributions
  • Channel development: developed conversation guides, positioning materials, executive briefings and follow-up processes supporting a 37-partner network.
  • Fintech contract-analysis opportunity: advanced discovery, champion engagement, sample analysis and solution scoping into commercial review.
  • Private-equity diligence opportunity: researched industry needs and shaped a proposed advisory partnership and senior-stakeholder materials.
  • Customer engagement operations: coordinated demo preparation, account research, executive communication, opportunity follow-up and product feedback.
  • Industry-event activation: represented the company, developed partner relationships and connected event conversations to next steps.
2024–2025

Change Management Lead

Connected enterprise transformation, adoption planning and commercial solution development across global teams.

Projects & contributions
  • North American e-commerce transformation: coordinated 10+ global teams, mapped processes across 12+ systems and developed 20+ standard operating procedures.
  • Enterprise adoption and pre-sales: translated change challenges into phased scopes and executive materials contributing to $1.2M in pipeline across three opportunities.
  • Power Platform assessment: co-designed an adoption assessment targeting 50 champions across four departments.
  • Marketplace expansion: supported solution scoping and stakeholder alignment for a Canadian expansion and renewal.
  • Change methodology: co-developed a standardized framework piloted across five programs.
  • Team development: designed a seven-level competency model for hiring, upskilling and progression.
  • AI tooling evaluation: researched tools for change-impact assessments and stakeholder analysis to inform an internal pilot.
2021–2024

Transformation Design & Execution
Analyst → Senior Consultant

Program governance, engagement economics and cross-functional delivery across large enterprise transformations.

Projects & contributions
  • Utility IT/OT cybersecurity transformation: owned PMO workstreams, financial reporting, estimates at completion, invoicing and delivery dashboards for an approximately $18M program.
  • Program extension: supported staffing, pricing and economic analysis, executive materials and sponsor discussions.
  • Global audit transformation: managed financial-instruments and business-combinations workstreams, facilitated subject-matter expert sessions and coordinated offshore delivery.
  • Satellite communications program: supported program-management coordination and delivery governance.
  • Onboarding experience: orchestrated a three-day event for 60+ participants, coordinating content, speakers, agenda, budget and logistics.
  • Global all-hands: planned quarterly meetings for 600+ staff, coordinating speakers, narrative and technical delivery.
2020–2021 · Contract

Financial Planning & Analysis Associate

Financial modeling and executive reporting across a global business.

Projects & contributions
  • Finance-platform migration: optimized financial models during a Hyperion-to-OneStream transition.
  • Global management reporting: produced weekly, monthly and quarterly reporting packages across eight business units for executive and board-level audiences.
2018–2020

Application Consultant →
Organizational Change Management Senior Consultant

Built a foundation in software quality, enterprise training and technology adoption.

Projects & contributions
  • Mobile and kiosk quality engineering: designed and executed 800+ automated tests using OpenTest for a global restaurant business.
  • Regression delivery: improved workflows, reporting and onshore/offshore coordination, reducing regression implementation time by 33%.
  • Enterprise SAP training: developed training across 11 production-revenue-accounting modules for 200+ users at an energy business.
  • SAP Enable Now: supported an executive demonstration and phased training proposal contributing to approximately $250K in follow-on work.
  • Deployment reporting: communicated progress, risks and adoption metrics to project leadership.
03 / How I work

Start with the problem.
Build toward the outcome.

01 / Understand

Find the real friction.

Listen to the people doing the work. Connect the business goal to the workflow, constraints and decisions underneath it.

02 / Shape

Make the path concrete.

Develop a hypothesis, work through it with stakeholders, and translate it into a roadmap with clear ownership.

03 / Deliver

Make it usable.

Build the first useful version, support adoption and use what happens in practice to guide the next decision.

04 / A little context

A translator.
A builder.
A person who follows through.

I'm Jeff Nicholas, a Chicago-based consultant and Indiana University Kelley School of Business MSIS graduate, with a background spanning enterprise transformation, change management, financial analysis, testing, and go-to-market work.

My strength is connecting the executive conversation to the work that follows: discovery, workshops, roadmaps, delivery and adoption. More recently, I’ve been applying that same approach to practical AI systems and product prototypes.

Experience across business and technologyCapgemini · News Corp · EY · SoftServe

EducationIndiana University Bloomington · Kelley School of Business
Master of Science in Information Systems (MSIS), 2018
Concentration: Digital Enterprise

Bachelor of Science in Public Affairs, 2017
Major: Public Financial Management
Off the clock / On repeat

Traffic Jams.

My top 100 songs. A little more of the person behind the projects.

Open Traffic Jams on Spotify ↗

05 / Start a conversation

Have a problem
worth working on?

Let’s talk about what you’re trying to build or change.

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