Scott Swanson
Managing Partner

Oversees Large Scale Program Management & PMO Design Practice

Scott Swanson has over 25 years of business management, business operations, large scale program/project management and Fortune 500 industry experience in the financial services, healthcare, manufacturing and information technology areas.  Scott’s ability to design/refine large scale business models has effectively reduced several of our client’s division level operational budgets by 30-40%, while improving customer management and aligning appropriate technology investments.  

Scott’s consulting focus includes: 

  • Large scale program design and recommendations

  • Translating the identified business change into a VP and C-Level consumable business case

  • Investment portfolio and stakeholder communications

Tactical areas of experience include

  • Large Scale IT Operations

  • Data Centers and WAN Outsource Analysis

  • Managed Services Alignment/Integration

  • Contract Negotiation and On/Off-Shore Analysis.

Clients turn to Scott to help reduce the risk and complexity of their large E-Commerce application development efforts where he shepherds Agile Life-Cycle Development & Portfolio Management Methodologies. Scott has a seasoned understanding of Financial Services, Banking, Manufacturing and HealthCare organizations and taps his engineering background for problem solving while leveraging his c-level experience for collaboration, and communications.

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Robert C. Chamberlain
Principal Partner

Oversees Technology Design Practice

Robert is a Sr. Technologist with matching business acumen. He specializes in application architecture, design, and development. His strengths lay in design and process efficiency to the goal of maximizing technical resources, which, by design, result in synergistic business value. He has been consulting for over 19 years.  He actively participates in supporting his client’s business model and is often times a trusted mentor for internal resources.

Full life cycle development is rarely successful without a formal and effective methodology to guide it. He is able to adapt the appropriate methods to fit the unique needs of the organization and situation. From Agile or Rational Unified Process to classic waterfall, Robert will make sure the architecture, design and development process is a good fit with measurable results. He is a trusted leader  from initial business design through implementation and launch.

When appropriate he prefers applying an iterative process to the entire lifecycle, managing requirements using use cases, user interface design, iterative development, and object oriented analysis and design using the Unified Modeling Language (UML).

Robert’s most recent opportunities have been in the world of large-scale systems. These systems involve large volumes of data, stringent security requirements, and zero tolerance for business interruption. 

Specialties include

  • SaaS Business design

  • Systems Architecture

  • Legacy Adaptation

Vertical expertise includes

  • Banking

  • Insurance

  • Transportation

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Chris Ohlsen
Principal Partner

Oversees Business Design & Innovation Practice

Chris has over 20 years of experience in the areas of business design, leading cross-functional teams and driving innovation initiatives for clients such as Honeywell, Wells Fargo, Exxon Mobil and Showtime Networks. Grounded in the conviction that great products need to delight the consumer as well as fit into a business model that makes sense, he helps companies navigate the art & science of bringing new ideas (in the form of products, services and experiences), to reality while making sure the underlying business model is delivering results. His diverse background ranges from strategic planning and product alignment in large-scale retail and the aerospace industry, to operational innovations within Fortune 500 organizations as well as producing/directing documentaries for U.S. television.

His current focus with Sharp Sky Partners is to help large organizations apply the nimbleness of startups for developing new offerings while making sure these new successes dovetail back into the larger organization when ready to scale.

Specialties include

  • Business Design

  • Innovation/Internal Startup Incubators

  • Business Model/Product Strategy

Vertical expertise includes

  • Banking

  • Retail Marketing

  • Entertainment

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Craig Kalscheur
Principal Partner

With over 20 years of experience, Craig has helped organizations bring clarity to their problems and goals, designed solutions that create momentum throughout the organization, and provided leadership and guidance to achieve the desired results.

Craig’s consulting engagements often begin with helping an organization define their strategic plan, growth initiatives and/or innovation goals. He brings a design mentality to business planning and assists clients in taking high-level strategy into business designs that maximize current assets while tactically creating a path for innovation to thrive. As a program leader, he then shepherds the strategy into tactical plans for teams to execute. Providing context across the organization throughout the process is a critical strength.

When needed, clients have tapped Craig to fill interim c-level roles, relying on his expertise to seamlessly keep the organization moving in the right direction, then passing the responsibilities back to the incoming executive when ready.

Having managed and worked within Sales, Product Management, Operations, and Information Technology, his broad background allows him to work effectively across teams. Combined with facilitation and project management skills, he quickly brings direction and flexible approaches to focus key resources and complete the tasks at hand.

Specialties include

  • Business Strategy

  • Sales and Operations Design

  • Program Management

  • Team Leadership

Vertical expertise includes

  • Banking

  • Healthcare

  • Service Industries