01
Enter
Start with an open event. Attend a session, meet a few people, see if the model is for you.
Teaching leaders to use finance, AI, and judgement to navigate and shape an uncertain future.
Grounded in finance, real-world experience, and executive mentorship—so leaders act decisively, even in complex environments.
Built in Tahoe. Activated in San Francisco and New York. Expanding from there.
In collaboration with the University of Nevada, Reno (Lake Tahoe Campus).
Charter
Developing more effective professionals.
The Ops & Finance Foundation is dedicated to developing more effective professionals—grounded in the language of finance, equipped with real-world experience, and capable of making strategic decisions in an increasingly complex environment.
- Life and job skills rooted in finance and decision-making
- Internship pathways and applied, real-world experience
- Mentorship to accelerate professional effectiveness
- Training across modern tools—including AI—within real-world context
AI is not the foundation. Judgment is.
Better professionals → better decisions → better outcomes.
Why This Matters
The pace of change has accelerated; the support for the decisions now required hasn't caught up.
The language of finance has always supported—and justified—strategic decisions, whether inside enterprise systems or ad hoc in the hands of individual operators.
In 1999, I was teaching advanced Excel to investment bankers in the original World Trade Center—an early experience that set the stage for the Foundation I've been building toward ever since.
Today, while the environment is changing, the underlying need has not: leaders still have to think strategically, communicate effectively, and execute with precision.
The Path
Follow the yellow brick road.
Six steps, from first contact to network access. Each node links to where that stage actually happens.
02
Learn
Work through the core modules — Excel, financial statements, enterprise systems, AI, problem solving.
03
Apply
Go deeper with advanced modules and begin your capstone — analysis, communication, execution.
04
Earn Access
Complete the capstone to unlock deeper involvement in the Foundation community.
05
Opportunities
Shadowing, internships, and applied project work developed through the Foundation.
06
Network
Join a community of students, operators, executives, and partners committed to better judgment.
In Practice
AI in Society — Executive Roundtable.
Hosted in collaboration with the University of Nevada, Reno — Lake Tahoe, bringing together leaders from Oracle and The Hackett Group.
Panelists: Terry Jones, Kevin Lyons, Gunnar Newquist, Marc Seewald, Jay Surface, Matt Ressmeyer
Select discussions and signals will be amplified through journalism, extending ideas beyond the room.
We started the day with AI inside finance systems—and ended with AI reshaping society itself.
AI will fundamentally reshape almost everything we experience in business, society, and daily life.
The real shift isn't just software—it's what happens when AI interacts with the physical world.
At scale, the challenge isn't access to AI—it's knowing where it actually creates value.
Join the Network
Bring your curiosity, expertise, or opportunity.
Whether you are a student, operator, or executive, there is a way to take part. Attend events, mentor, offer internships, partner, or help build the Foundation.