Chief of Staff · excited for my next great partnership

I help leaders build organizations — and relationships — that truly thrive.

I'm a Chief of Staff, and the heart of my work is human. I read people, build trust fast, and create the kind of relationships that make teammates genuinely excited to do their best work. I spot problems before they surface and bring solutions even faster — so the leader I support gets to lead from clarity and calm. My whole aim for my next partnership? To help a leader 10x their organization — and have a great time doing it.

Strategy Exec Comms Stakeholders Metrics & KPIs Projects Culture & EQ Operations Cross-functional Decisions CH
Each node is a system I connect — CRM, Drive, email, finance — into one source of truth. Because good, connected data is what turns noise into fast, confident decisions.
CoS +4
On top of the Chief of Staff seat: ops, revenue, talent & finance
days → hours
AI-run NDA audit for the seed round
<30 days
Engineering role-open to signed offer
~$500K
Repeatable annual value per municipality
Selected work

Systems I've authored, not just run.

Here's the fun part — everything below is something I actually built and put to work: a product, a framework, or a story from the day-to-day. Click any tile to take a closer look.

Live product 01 ● Operating intelligence

CEO Operations Dashboard

The company's operating system in a single view — project health per person with the "why" behind every slip, sales pipeline and data hygiene, event ROI, hiring & culture, partnerships, and cross-functional alignment. Built to make the weekly CEO briefing 80% self-generating.
Open the live dashboard
Product concept 02 ● People & culture

Kamiwaza Pulse

A real-time employee sentiment system built to beat TinyPulse — AI-synthesized themes, manager nudges, and a kudos wall that feeds CEO shout-outs at All-Hands.
Explore the concept
03 ● Framework

Operating Cadence Playbook

The decision-making infrastructure: Top 1/5, Big Rocks tracking, and 5T5 email discipline — the rhythm that gives leadership a pulse on execution across every function.
Read the framework
04 ● Case study

AI-Leveraged Ops

Scaling the function with automation instead of headcount: an NDA audit collapsed from days to hours, a task tracker that actions what the CEO assigns, and an auto-generated briefing.
See how it works
05 ● Case study

Revenue → SLED Productization

Handed our flagship lighthouse client by the CEO to run on his behalf — I drove it forward internally, surfaced new concepts with the client, then packaged it into a repeatable ~$500K/city offering.
Read the story
06 ● Case study

The Talent Engine

Was the company's sole talent sourcer — built the recruiting practices and Linear tracking from scratch, then made the case for a dedicated recruiter as we scaled toward doubling the team.
Read the story
07 ● Behind the scenes

Here's How I Built This

This whole site and the CEO portal — built by me, conversationally, by directing AI agents: writing the prompts, making the product calls, and letting agents run in the background while I reviewed.
Go behind the scenes
Chelsea HallfordChief of Staff · partner, people-first operator, thought partner
About

The best systems are built on trust.

Beyond the operating systems, my real strength is people. I've managed and grown teams and stepped into the hard performance conversations most leaders avoid. I've elevated consulting firms and served as an independent advisor, and I've built and deepened the partner relationships that turn into real revenue.

My path here wasn't a straight line — and that's part of what I bring. I taught adaptive skiing to people of every ability, where I learned real patience and how to meet someone exactly where they are. I hustled through New York fashion — think The Devil Wears Prada: grace under pressure, impossible deadlines met anyway. And I've thrived in tech, where all of it converges — patient and driven in equal measure, calm and human even when the pace is relentless.

What I'm looking for next is a true partnership — a leader who embraces my strategic mind, treats me as a genuine thought partner in their success, and is excited to 10x their organization in a way that's collaborative, energizing, and (why not?) actually fun.

Emotionally intelligent People management Partner relationships Advisory & consulting Trusted thought partner Operating cadence & rhythm AI-leveraged operations Talent, revenue & finance
For your organization

Here's how we could work together.

Chief of Staff is a wonderfully shape-shifting role — I can be your full operating partner or jump into just one lane and make it shine. Here's what that could look like, depending on who I'd get to partner with.

With a Founder / CEO

Your operating system & force-multiplier

I run the company's nervous system so you stay on the highest-leverage work.

  • Own the operating cadence — Top 1/5, Big Rocks, a weekly execution pulse.
  • Surface risks a week or two early and force the decisions that stall.
  • Re-architect ops around AI so we scale without adding headcount.
  • Be your thought partner in the room and the follow-through after it.
With a President

Strategy into execution, across every function

I translate your priorities into a rhythm the whole org actually moves to.

  • Turn the plan into owned programs with clear DRIs and dates.
  • Keep functions aligned and cross-team dependencies unblocked.
  • Represent your priorities downward, and hold accountability upward.
  • Carry the special projects that don't fit neatly on one team.
With a COO

Extend your operational reach

I give you a live view of execution — and the systems to act on it.

  • Stand up dashboards for project health, pipeline, hiring, and slippage.
  • Run vendor, finance & HRIS stand-ups to keep the back office investor-ready.
  • Build repeatable playbooks from one-off wins (like our SLED motion).
  • Own the ops work you'd otherwise clone yourself to cover.
With a CHRO / Head of People

Culture, talent & the hard people work

I build the people systems — and bring the emotional intelligence to make them land.

  • Own sourcing and a structured, measurable hiring pipeline.
  • Stand up recognition & pulse (my Kamiwaza Pulse concept) to keep culture visible.
  • Design performance-management and comp/leveling frameworks.
  • Read the org and step into the hard conversations leaders avoid.
Not sure which shape fits your team? Perfect — that's exactly the kind of thing I love figuring out together. Let's talk.
Résumé

Want the one-page version?

The full story — scope, impact, and the numbers behind everything above — in a tidy format you can forward to whoever needs it.

Let's talk

Looking for a partner who makes leading feel lighter?

I'm on the hunt for my next chief — a leader who wants a true thought partner to help them 10x their organization, collaboratively and with a whole lot of heart. If that sounds like you, I'd be thrilled to talk.