Meet our team of operations experts and nerds

Christina Salerno is a serial entrepreneur and systems builder with nearly two decades of experience founding and scaling businesses. Known for her ability to quickly diagnose operational gaps, she designs high-impact solutions that teams can sustain long-term. She brings a sharp eye for structure, efficiency, and execution, with a strong focus on aligning people, process, and outcomes. Christina is also deeply committed to identifying and developing high-potential talent within growing organizations.

Alex Canedo is a senior operations strategist with nearly two decades of experience in high-growth environments. She's scaled customer experience and global teams across SaaS, tech, and service-focused companies. She’s known for being a strategic integrator for mission-driven founders, turning messy ideas into systems that focus on sustainable profit.

Mercedes Ballard is a people operations strategist focused on building high-performing, values-aligned teams. With experience spanning startups and her own co-founded venture, she brings a strong bias for action and a collaborative leadership style. Mercedes specializes in aligning people, process, and culture to support sustainable growth. Her work centers on empowering teams while optimizing the systems that support them.

Cara Katz is a growth and revenue executive who has helped scale over 40 companies across multiple industries as an operator, founder, and early-stage investor. A five-time founder, she has led global go-to-market and revenue strategy from early traction through scale, including category creation and monetization design. Cara is known for her data-driven approach and her ability to identify, sequence, and execute the highest-leverage growth opportunities for scaling businesses.

Ludmilla Wallendorf is a Chartered Accountant and fractional CFO with deep experience helping founders gain clarity and control over their finances. After starting her consulting practice, she has supported dozens of entrepreneurs in building sustainable, profitable businesses. As a certified Director of Operations, Ludmilla bridges strategic finance with day-to-day execution, bringing structure, insight, and confidence to complex
financial decisions.

Olivia Wirick brings organization, order, and optimization to daily operations. A generalist who can't stay in one place for too long, she treats new challenges as the job, drawing on experience across real estate, hospitality, health and wellness, and customer service to help small, purpose-driven businesses thrive from the inside out. Her passion for people and processes is what led her to operations in the first place.

Ryan Nawal is a finance professional with over seven years of experience in bookkeeping and accounting. He is a CPA in the Philippines and holds multiple internationally recognized accounting certifications. Ryan specializes in turning raw financial data into clear insights, accurate reporting, and reliable financial foundations for growing businesses.

Maitê Mota is a tech and operations coordinator specializing in translating complex technical goals into clear, human-centered operational plans. She supports teams at the intersection of AI, systems, and execution, ensuring workflows are both effective and sustainable. Maitê is known for connecting big-picture strategy with hands-on operational clarity.

Adam Vega is a builder and problem-solver who's drawn to the scrappy, high-stakes world of startups and small businesses. He believes there's always a way forward (and usually several), ranging from workable to genuinely great. His work is driven by a deep curiosity about people: the ideas they carry, the dreams they're chasing, and what it takes to actually make those things real. Tell him something can't be done, and he'll get to work.

Jessica Fontana is a fractional COO and operations strategist who helps founders turn ambitious plans into organizations that actually function; with clear priorities, strong accountability, and the systems to back them up. She specializes in building the operational foundations that growing teams need but rarely have time to create: decision-making frameworks, process infrastructure, and the kind of clarity that lets people execute without constant course-correction. The result is teams that move faster, waste less, and build toward something that lasts.

Tori Hennis is an operations strategist with experience across communications, operations, talent, and nonprofit leadership. She helps connect the dots between people, processes, and projects so teams can stay aligned and work with clarity. Tori brings a people-centered, systems-driven approach to operational strategy.

Nadia Harris is a third-culture kid and lifelong non-conformist whose approach has taken her to innovative companies around the world, literally. She holds a legal degree specializing in employment law and an MBA in Intercultural Managerial Communication, speaks five languages, and travels extensively. Nadia designs unique, people-centric working environments across startups and corporations, with a particular focus on intercultural communication.

Ton is a passionate team player with a knack for driving success. He brings a unique blend of quality analysis and team management expertise to operations and executive support. Ton is known for the kind of collaborative energy that moves projects across the finish line.

Nikia McCoon is an operations and executive associate with experience supporting administrative, operational, and marketing workflows across multiple industries. She is highly adaptable, detail-oriented, and known for stepping in quickly to support time-sensitive needs. Nikia brings a flexible, solutions-focused approach to
operational support.

Arbesa Gashi is an executive assistant and operations manager with over five years supporting six-figure companies, coaches, and creative teams. Her background spans operations, marketing, and psychology, which means she brings both structure and intuition to every role she takes on. Arbesa builds operational support systems that scale alongside the teams they serve.

Vesa is an operations builder who thrives in the middle of complexity - the kind of person founders call when things need to take shape. She brings structure and momentum to environments still finding their footing, working closely with teams to turn ideas into execution and ambiguity into clarity. What drives her is impact, and the people behind it. She believes strong operations should feel empowering, not like infrastructure for its own sake. Her curiosity about how people think and work runs through everything she does, on the job and off it.

Alexandria Turner is an IT wizard with a knack for turning tech challenges into triumphs. A former IT Business Analyst, she has navigated the realms of both enterprise giants and nimble small businesses, specializing in software builds, platform migrations, and data management. Alexandria is the go-to problem solver for identifying bottlenecks in processes and workflows.

Dorothy Kolb has combined a decades-long (and seriously fun) career leading finance, accounting, and operations for Fortune 500 companies like NBC, CBS, and FOX with a New York State CPA license and the belief that any business owner can be equipped to take ownership of their own success journey. She has founded two companies, all while raising four sons as a single mom (no, she isn't totally gray yet). Dorothy brings enterprise-level financial rigor to growing businesses.

Brian is a strategist and financial specialist who has spent 25 years helping organizations make sense of complexity, and move forward with confidence. His career spans global technology, financial services, energy infrastructure, and capital markets, giving him an unusually broad lens for connecting financial rigor with real business execution.What sets Brian apart is his ability to translate data into stories leaders can actually use. He's not just a numbers person,  he's someone who takes performance insights and turns them into clear decisions and practical next steps. Alongside his financial expertise, Brian is passionate about developing emerging leaders, helping them grow into strategic thinkers who can guide their teams through growth and change.

Ary Doakes calls herself the "Money Queen" for a reason. With over a decade of accounting experience in the back end of 7-, 8-, and 9-figure companies and eight years scaling online businesses, she pairs traditional accounting rigor with business management and entrepreneurship learned from top online professionals. Ary loves using creative problem solving to help businesses grow globally. Outside of work, she's a single mama of two, homeschooling, spending time in nature, and building on curiosities as they come.

Kayleen Sabino is a scientist turned operations strategist with over a decade of experience working with early-stage startups. She's inspired by companies with groundbreaking ideas on a mission to positively transform the world, and thrives on bringing visionary concepts to life. As a mom of three young kids, chaos, constant change, and Murphy's Law are simply part of her everyday reality, so she's well equipped to navigate those challenges inside any organization.

Kate Roy has spent the last decade building thoughtful, people-first systems inside creative, fast-moving companies. With a background in psychology and an HR career spanning agencies, retail, and hospitality, she brings a grounded, strategic lens to every phase of growth. Whether scaling a team from 5 to 50 or tightening the foundation of a brand in transition, Kate thrives in the in-between, where a little structure and a lot of empathy go a long way.

Calli Evans is a certified HR professional (CPHR) with experience supporting people operations across hospitality, retail, biotech, and media. She specializes in building and refining HR programs such as onboarding, performance management, and internal policies. Calli focuses on improving employee experience while increasing operational efficiency.

Trey Wheeler is a certified Project Management Professional and operations leader with experience managing $150M+ operations, leading large-scale implementations, and delivering a wide range of projects. He specializes in building strong teams, applying Lean Six Sigma, and driving change management to achieve business objectives. With a proven record of delivering projects on time, under budget, and aligned with strategic goals, Trey combines cross-functional leadership, data-driven insights, and process improvement to drive growth, reduce costs, and increase profitability.

Zadok Taylor loves figuring out how to make systems work for people, and has done it in some very disparate environments: training classroom facilitators, building community ESL programs, working with nonprofits, faith organizations, and immigrant communities, learning the intricacies of insurance as a dental admin, and serving as Chief of Staff for an innovative, fast-paced startup. Small, mission-led teams are where Zadok has built their career and where they do their best work.