Minneapolis / brand, UX, marketing, applied AI
I help businesses figure out what to do next, then help them do it.
Brand, websites, UX, marketing, and putting AI to work in ways your people will actually use. Co-ops and nonprofits up to Fortune 500. Twenty-five years of it, and the work has won awards since 2000.
Taking new clients Based in Minneapolis. I come to you anywhere in the Twin Cities. Remote works for everyone else.
Clients over the years: U.S. Bank, Target, BMW, Principal Financial, Medtronic, GE, and a lot of companies you have never heard of that are doing just fine.
Selected clients and engagements
Start here
What are you trying to do?
Pick the one that sounds like you. Each one goes to a plain page with what it costs and what you get.
Who I work with
Same guy, three sizes of problem.
Local business, co-op, or nonprofit
Starts at $1,500
One day in a room with your team finding where the hours go. A logo, a website, a plan you can afford. No sales deck, no jargon.
Growing company
Starts at $3,500 a month
A fractional CMO, CTO, or AI lead a couple days a month. I set the plan, then find and manage the people who build it.
Big company or agency
Scoped per project
Service design workshops, team training, or a contract leading a team through an initiative. I built digital at Olson, led UX at U.S. Bank, and ran service design for BMW.
What I do
Pick the one that sounds like your week.
Every one of these has a page with the price on it. All of them on one page →
Applied AI workshop
A day with your team, on paper, finding where the hours go and which of those a tool could take off their plate. You leave with a ranked list and one thing decided.
See the day →Brand, website, and the printed stuff
Logo, website, business cards, trade show banner, the shirt. Done by the same person so it all matches. Award-winning since 2000.
See the work →Getting your people to actually use it
You bought the tool. Nobody uses it. I figure out why, fix the workflow, and train the team on their real work, not a demo.
How that goes →Fractional CMO, CTO, or AI lead
A couple days a month of someone who has done it before. I set the plan, pick the vendors, and stay on the hook for the result.
How the seat works →Service design
Map how your customer actually moves through your business, find the steps that leak money or patience, and decide what a person does and what a machine does. Cooper-trained. Ran it for BMW.
Map it →Lead a team for a while
Your agency lost its digital lead. Your company has a new initiative and nobody to run it. I cover the seat, or run one study, then hand it back.
Cover the seat →Build the AI thing
You have a pilot that never made it out of the demo. I get it into real use, with the guardrails and the cost under control. Forty-nine of these run every day for one client.
Get it built →Proof
Things that are running today, not slides.
The seats I hold right now and what is working inside them.
2026 to present · Fractional
Fractional CAIO · Appraisal Dream
Built their AI software from nothing. Every number in a report traces back to its evidence, which is what a court wants and what a bank wants. Fifty-plus appraisers waiting to use it.
2024 to present · Fractional
Fractional CTO · Quartz Importers MN
A small sales team with 49 automated workflows finding and researching leads for them every day. I picked every vendor and built every piece.
2025 to present · Fractional
Fractional CTO · U.S. Asset Appraisals
Running the marketing technology and AI rollout for an appraisal firm working in 35+ states. The plan, the vendors, and the training.
Quartz Importers MN
A knowledge graph the sales team can walk
Appraisal Dream
Every value traces back to its evidence
U.S. Bank
The mortgage funnel on one wall
BMW eMobility
Range as an experience problem
Twenty-five years of clients before these, from U.S. Bank and Principal Financial to Medtronic, Target, and BMW. See the work itself →
How a job goes
Prices up front, so neither of us wastes a week.
Step 1
A 30-minute call
You tell me what is stuck. I tell you straight whether I can move it, what it would cost, and if I am the wrong guy, who the right one is.
Step 2
A fixed price or a monthly number
Workshops and projects are a fixed price. Seats are a monthly number. Hourly only when you ask for it, $150 an hour.
Step 3
We do the work, and I stay through the landing
If we find something grimy along the way, I lock arms with you and we dig out. Nonprofits and co-ops: ask about the rate.
About
A normal Minnesota guy who has been doing this a long time.
I started building websites in 2000 at Olson, one of the big Minneapolis ad agencies, and won a One Show award there in 2002. Since then I have led UX at U.S. Bank, run service design for BMW, built companies and sold three of them, and taught design at seven schools. Today I hold fractional AI and technology seats at three companies and still do the hands-on work myself.
I do not BS you or sugarcoat it. If something is a bad idea I will say so, and if it is a good idea I will help you get it done with the people and budget you actually have.
What people say
Quoted verbatim from people who have worked with me.
At BMW, Jared was the design lead on the e-mobility project and brought in a fresh perspective, new service design tools and had a quick impact on, not only the design, but also on the ways of working of the entire organization, including the stakeholders. One of Jared's key super powers is that he can identify the problem at hand very quickly when it might not be that obvious to others. He is always ready to help out anyone else in the organization. Great leader and an asset to any company.Pawel BakAssociate Director UX, AI Experience Strategy
Jared is not a traditional director who pulls the strings to make things dance. Instead, he is an enabler and coach who pushes the team to achieve a common goal. Jared augments his management style with the unique ability to detect problems, then uncover tools and talent to solve them often long before anyone else on the team realizes the problem exists. I've yet to meet another person who can assess talent the way Jared can.Bryce HowitsonProduct / UX Design leader
Here's the thing about Jared, he's brilliant. People claim to be either left brained or right brained. Jared is a hybrid of both. He is a creative thinker and technical wizard. He combines his creative and technical skills for the purpose of solving his client's business problems. His goal is to help his clients, and he succeeds.Mike MuggliSitecore Consultant
Jared is a strategic thinker who is excellent at using technology to provide creative solutions to business issues. He works to obtain in-depth knowledge of the client's business needs and pushes solutions beyond what the client asks for.Beth MurphySr. Director, Target Creative
His ability to see not only the "big picture," but future implications of plans and decisions really make him unique. His technical expertise is stellar, but he also understands it's crucial how users interact with technology.Kristen FindleyOperating Architect / Chief of Staff
Jared and I worked on several large client engagements together. He was an exceptional thought leader and added an extraordinary amount of value to the team. His knowledge and grasp of UX is second to none.Michael KraabelVP, Head of Digital Experience
Jared is great at building a strategy from the ground up and then staying close to the details throughout the process to ensure quality and consistency from conceptual design, to production, to deployment. He is a fast study and an endless generator of cool ideas.John MillerFractional CFO
Deeply interested in solving a problem not just filling an order. Jared is honest, smart and creative. His work in two words: Over Deliver.Gary KoellingDigital Product Development & Marketing
Jared is a strong, strategic partner from start to finish. He seeks excellence at every step, pushes for innovation, and is an excellent communicator.Peggy MunnagleStrategic Consultancy Leader
Let us talk
Tell me what is stuck. I will tell you straight if I can move it.
A 30-minute call, no deck, no pitch. Pick whichever channel is easiest.
Based in Minneapolis. I come to you anywhere in the Twin Cities. Remote for everyone else, and I have been working that way since 2014.