Winona, MN · Available August 2026
James McCormick
Growth Operations Leader
I streamline how an organization operates — starting with how the work actually gets done, then building the team, systems, and tools to make it stick. Most recently: scaled revenue 5x ($1M→$5M).
Experience
Each role shaped how I think about growth.
ArborScape Inc.
Business Manager
Woodstock, VT
Scaled revenue 5x and grew team from 8 to 30 in 3.5 years
- Full P&L ownership across 9 service divisions, partnering daily with ownership
- 5x revenue ($1M→$5M) and 8→30 team in 3.5 years
- Rebuilt the entire back-office stack — HR, accounting, payroll, field ops
- Shipped 3 production apps; 10+ AI workflows across 6 functions
United Church Camps
Business Development Consultant
Remote
Led second-largest capital raise in org history — $850K
- $850K capital raise — 2nd largest in org history
- Salesforce-driven donor segmentation and A/B-tested outreach
- Stepped in as acting Marketing Director mid-engagement
The Horton Group
Risk Advisor & Sales Executive
Waukesha, WI
Built B2B operating fluency across 30+ companies — closed ~$90K and held 100% account retention during the pandemic year
- Sold risk programs to CFOs and owners at a top-50 U.S. broker
- ~$90K closed and 100% retention in the pandemic year
- Studied the risk management playbooks of 30+ companies from the inside
American Income Life
Regional Sales Manager
Minneapolis, MN & Milwaukee, WI
Built agency from 8 to 20 agents, $1M+ first-year sales — 100% commission-based
- 1 of 4 regional agents: built the new agency from 8 to 20 in the first year
- $1M+ net new sales in year one — 100% commission
- Ranked #12 of 1,200 agents nationally
Three Ways I Add Value
Building the machine, applying the leverage, growing the team.
Build the machine, then optimize it.
I design the systems and processes that turn operational chaos into repeatable, scalable operations.
- Stayed profitable through 5x growth — mid-40s gross margin, double-digit net
- 3 business-unit launches built from scratch
- Enterprise rollouts: DynaScape, QuickBooks, M365
Software is leverage. I know where to apply it.
I close the gap between what a team needs and what off-the-shelf software offers.
- 3 production apps shipped (React / TypeScript / Supabase)
- 10+ AI workflows across 6 business functions
- ~25–30 hours/week recovered through automation
Scaling teams through ownership, not just process.
I recruit, develop, and retain people who take ownership — then build the structure that lets them run.
- Sales agency grown 8→20 agents; ops team 8→30
- Compensation bands and performance-based bonus systems
- First handbook, org structure, and leadership layer
What I Build
Software that ships.
Not side projects — three apps on one shared database, running a landscaping company's sales-to-operations flow. A customer conversation, spoken into a voice note in the driveway, becomes a scheduled job — first on the operations team's planning board, then the office's M365 calendars, then every crew's phone. Nothing retyped in between.
Client Compass
- Problem
- Sales ran through the owner — client details captured as voice notes in the truck died before they reached the office or the pipeline.
- Built
- Two apps in one. In the field: a voice-first intake PWA — ElevenLabs speech-to-text tuned with a custom landscaping dictionary — that turns a driveway voice note into a structured client record. In the office: a CRM holding every recording, upload, estimate, and pipeline stage. When a job hits "Won," it hands off to the dispatch board.
- Outcome
- Spoken note in the field to a verified, schedulable job at HQ — no paperwork in between.
Chaos Coordinator
- Problem
- Crew scheduling for 9 divisions lived on a whiteboard — conflicts, no capacity visibility, hours of weekly planning.
- Built
- A drag-and-drop dispatch engine — every crew, truck, and machine on a week-by-week timeline — with real-time conflict detection, capacity forecasting, and weather-aware field conditions, synced live to the conference-room TV. Won jobs arrive from the sales pipeline; approved schedules publish to the company's M365 calendar.
- Outcome
- Replaced the whiteboard, eliminated scheduling conflicts, cut planning from hours to minutes.
Crew Companion
- Problem
- Institutional knowledge — procedures, plant ID, job-site protocols — lived in veterans' heads and left with them.
- Built
- A bilingual (English/Spanish) offline-first PWA on every crew phone, built for gloved hands. Twice-daily syncs pull each crew's dispatch from the M365 schedule and the CRM — job, trucks, equipment, work description, due dates — alongside job sheets, safety protocols, and the handbook. Crews see the operational picture; the office layer adds budgets and full client detail.
- Outcome
- Searchable institutional knowledge from day one — and the morning dispatch in every pocket.
Education
DePaul University
Chicago, IL · 2008 – 2011
Economics (Major), Philosophy (Minor)
Illinois Institute of Technology — AFROTC Detachment 195
Chicago, IL · 2008 – 2011
Aerospace Studies & Military Science (Minor) — ROTC Leadership Laboratories
Combat Rescue Officer Training — USAF Special Operations Command
What I'm Looking For
I thrive where the playbook is still being written. Targeting Business Operations or Business Development leadership roles — greater La Crosse, WI, or remote.
Building mode — a scaling company, a new division, or a team that's outgrown what got them to where they are now
Business Operations or Business Development leadership seat — close to ownership, with a mandate to build
High trust, high ownership — teams that move fast and love winning
Thanks for making it this far.
Let's Build Something Together
Targeting Business Operations or Business Development leadership roles in the greater La Crosse, WI area (or remote)
Winona, MN