Empathetic Utility Player

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Consultant & Advisor

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Operations Expert

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Empathetic Utility Player • Consultant & Advisor • Operations Expert •

Mary Ann Jentz

I help teams
remove roadblocks, focus,
and turn chaos into order to
reach their goals.

Helping public and PE-backed organizations realize value without sacrificing culture.

Who Benefits

The adage “what got you here won’t get you there” is true. I generally help teams who are:

  • Organizations cannot scale without norms, guidelines, and a good understanding of the capabilities needed to grow. I help teams build these without reducing velocity or adding roadblocks.

  • I help teams across multiple functions harmonize the best they each bring. Of course there will be storming, but we can make it less painful.

  • No organization (or person) grows perfectly. We all get into bad habits that slow us down or missing behaviors that could help us move faster. I help teams stop leaning on habits, norms, and rules that no longer serve them, while helping them to keep what works and add what will benefit them.

We Achieve Results Together

No secrets or black boxes here. You’re the expert in your industry. I support you by:

  • Asking questions, listening with curiosity to drive to root causes, and developing and implementing solutions to your challenges

  • Meeting you where you are today, from front-line staff to executive leaders

  • Advising and consulting based on my experience serving 20+ clients across multiple industries

  • Getting my hands dirty; no job is too small

  • Seeing around corners and planning for your success by identifying risks and mitigations and establishing a smooth glide path for transitioning our engagement

Results

My clients have realized value across multiple areas including:

  • Significant improvement to employee retention in < 8 months of retention program establishment

  • Establishment and development of Chief of Staff roles and transition of roles to full-time CoS employees for multiple organizations

  • Smooth transition and high retention % of employees in an “acquihire” transaction

  • Closed the gap between strategy and execution for multiple organizations through the creation and implementation of strategic playbooks

I am here to make good things happen.

My “north-star” starts with what is ethical, moral, and needed to comply with regulatory requirements. I will not implement solutions that break your business.

I strive to future-proof your organization by bringing solutions and tactics that are flexible, adaptable, and anti-fragile.

As an engineer, I am highly analytical. I create calm and clarity through honesty, a data and fact-based approach, and a high “say-do” ratio.

I believe we are all in the people business (including tech companies). I meet people where they are at today. I help create a roadmap to get to the desired destination to support the overall goals of the organization.

I am a partner with your best interest in mind. I do not subscribe to the “land and expand” model of consulting - I haven’t build my business on hamstringing clients into paying me forever. I have built my business on repeat clients with new goals to achieve and referrals to new clients from happy ones.

What our engagement can look like.

Each engagement is fully customized to meet your needs. Below are examples of past engagements to help you understand how we can operate together.

  • If you’re looking to hit a goal or change your strategy, you may benefit from a transformation program or PMO. I approach this by:

    • inquiring with curiosity and listening to the team

    • establishing a program that works for you and your team

    • launching, leading, and stabilizing the program

    • turning over the program leadership to an employee, if long-term

    • identifying risks, developing mitigations, and documenting a go-forward roadmap

  • This is where strategy meets operations. I take your idea of where you want your organization to head and work with your team on developing a playbook to help them get there. I have experience developing playbooks that supported successful outcomes across a wide variety of situations and industries including:

    • Product Playbooks to aid in training fairly novice healthcare technology product management teams with a wide variety of skills and experience, driving increased consistency within teams

    • Operations Playbooks to help food, beverage, and chemical companies improve utilization and yield from their manufacturing footprints

    • Sales Playbook for a nutritional supplements sales team, enabling them to use consumer marketing data as a differentiator in their B2B sales

  • I have filled in as an interim operations leader (COO, CoS, etc.) for multiple organizations in cases where:

    • the role was new, and I helped define and establish the role before turning it over to the new leader

    • the role existed and the organization wanted to make strategic changes to it or the organization prior to hiring for the role

    • the role existed and the organization did not have a suitable person to fill while searching for the full time leader

  • I support teams who need:

    • part-time or varied time support as a fractional COO, Chief of Staff, or other operational or program leader

    • advice and an outside perspective on strategic and operational ideas and challenges within their organizations

    • a facilitator or leader for workshops, group meetings, and other team gatherings

    • a second set of eyes on board and investor presentations, sales presentations, business cases, and other presentations

  • You have an idea of where you want your organization to go. This is “where the rubber meets the road” of actually getting there. I work with your team to:

    • understand exactly where they are today and document current capabilities

    • document and analyze what success looks like in the future state

    • define the capabilities needed to get there and identify gaps in talent, tools, succession plans, and potential risks and mitigations

    • create a roadmap to move forward that fits the culture while moving forward to the goal, even when that future state includes culture change

  • I help organizations establish and develop their own internal consulting teams. I also serve as a client-facing senior leader for smaller consulting companies who need delivery support on consulting engagements.

A sample of what it’s like to work with me:

Division Operations Leader, Healthcare Technology

“Rarely do you find someone that pushes you to get things done, that you have great collaboration with and that you really enjoy working alongside. I can honestly say that Mary Ann hit perfectly on all 3.”

Transformation Program Manager, Consulting

“Mary Ann is a consummate professional and always holds herself to the highest standards. She works equally well across the full spectrum of people from clients to non-management employees to executive levels and earns respect from all of them. Her happy and positive disposition made working with her a pleasure.”

COO, Renewable Energy

“I have had the pleasure of working with Mary Ann and find her to be a consummate professional and incredibly detail oriented. She is always fair and reasonable and is quick to take care of tasks and outstanding issues to keep projects on schedule.”

Let’s work together…

and grab a cocktail, if that’s your thing.