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Ethan Charles Stuart

Operational and strategy leader who builds clarity from ambiguity. I stand up teams, operating models, and platforms — then deliver value through them.

ethan.c.stuart@gmail.comlinkedin.com/in/ethan-stuart

PROFESSIONAL SUMMARY

Operational and strategy leader who builds clarity from ambiguity. I stand up teams, operating models, and platforms — then deliver value through them. Currently leading Disney Studios' data & AI platform strategy across 13 direct reports, driving AI transformation and enterprise platform adoption while partnering with the CTO on platform investment strategy. Track record of walking into complexity and creating order: built orgs from scratch at Disney and Sprout Mortgage, transformed a service team into a product organization at Taco Bell, and launched a 0→1 platform at Capital Group. I build my own products (dashpulse.app) and write about AI strategy on Substack (The Data Product Agent).

CORE COMPETENCIES

Operational & Strategy Leadership: Organizational Design & Team Building | Operating Model Development | Strategic Planning & Roadmap Execution | Change Management & Platform Adoption | Executive Stakeholder Management | Cross-Functional Task Force Leadership | Matrixed Organization Management
Data & AI Platform Expertise: Enterprise Data Platform Modernization | AI/ML Productization | Multi-Agent Systems (MAS) | Multi-Modal AI | Semantic Search | Customer Data Platforms (CDP) | Predictive Analytics | Data Governance & Lineage | Self-Service Analytics
Technical Proficiency: Snowflake | Neo4j | TwelveLabs | Snowflake Cortex | Databricks | Microsoft Fabric | AWS | Power BI | Tableau | SQL | Python | TypeScript
Product Leadership: 0→1 Product Development | Platform Management at Scale | Build vs. Buy Evaluation | Go-to-Market Execution | OKRs & Metrics-Driven Decision Making | AI Enablement Programs

EXPERIENCE

Built product organization from the ground up — 13 direct reports (6 PMs, 3 BI Engineers, 2 Technical Writers, 2 Program Managers), establishing organizational strategy, operating model, and talent development for a new, growing team.
Led enterprise platform adoption through stakeholder-by-stakeholder change management — grew from 1 to 5 studio groups (15→120 stakeholders, 500+ downstream users) by building trust and demonstrating value at every level of the organization.
Set AI strategy and platform standards for Disney Studios' multi-agent system — guided team through architecture decisions (orchestration, cypher, RAG agents) and multi-modal AI integration (TwelveLabs) while ensuring alignment with enterprise platform direction.
Partner with CTO and President of Studio Technology on enterprise platform investment strategy — present monthly to executive leadership, deliver bi-annual studio demos, lead cross-functional task forces and initiatives.
Shield team from reactive business pressure while maintaining strategic alignment — operate as the translation layer between executive priorities and team capacity.
Driving AI enablement across the organization — building programs to make non-engineering roles (BAs, PMs) AI-native, mentoring aspiring product managers on and off the team.

The Walt Disney Company | Studio Technology

Senior Manager, Data & AI Products and BI Engineering

June 2025 - PRESENT
  • Launched AI chatbot saving 6.5 hours per person per week, with 3 additional chatbots in development; defining multi-agentic capabilities roadmap via Snowflake Cortex and Neo4j integration.
  • Delivered 2 ML forecasting models for studio finance team (cash flow forecasting, quarterly budget planning), with 8 more in development over the next 18 months; leading cross-company finance transformation initiative to bring data, AI, and workflow automation to studio finance operations.
  • Established data governance frameworks, metadata management, security policies, and quality standards enabling scalable AI adoption across studios.
Reduced platform incidents 85% (12→1-2 P1/P2 monthly) and increased satisfaction 50% in 60 days — transformed service team into product organization through prioritization frameworks and transparent stakeholder communication.
Led 30+ matrixed team driving enterprise platform strategy — shipped reporting structure, governance frameworks, and Microsoft Fabric + Gen AI capabilities while partnering on AI drive-thru, digital menu boards, and Cantina launches.
Delivered ML models for labor prediction and CRM alongside data platform support for digital marketing and e-commerce — established foundation enabling downstream AI capabilities across Yum brands.
Expanded from CDP to full platform portfolio after demonstrating rapid impact — led product vision and roadmap for all enterprise data products serving 7,000+ operators and executives.

Yum Brands | Taco Bell

Portfolio Manager, Product, Data & Analytics Platform

January 2025 - June 2025
  • Promoted to lead enterprise-wide platform transformation and expanded product portfolio.
Drove CDP adoption across all Yum brands (Taco Bell, KFC, Pizza Hut) — led implementation and GTM enabling 80% YoY loyalty growth through personalized insights and data-driven marketing.
Shipped ML models and pipelines for retention, lapse prediction, and CRM insights — delivered intelligence to 7,000+ operators through in-store reporting, regional dashboards, and franchisee tracking.
Transformed data team from order-takers to strategic product organization — led 14+ across product/engineering/analytics, increased satisfaction 40%, and positioned data as enterprise initiative enabler.
Partnered on enterprise launches — aligned platform with AI drive-thru, digital menu boards, Cantina openings, and menu innovations, establishing data foundation for strategic innovation.

Repaired stakeholder relationships and rebuilt the data team's brand with senior leadership — developed BI best practices org-wide, elevating standards for reporting and self-service analytics.

Staff Product Manager, Enterprise Customer Data Platform

June 2023 - January 2025
    Launched Phoenix Fire data platform (0→1) achieving 100% enterprise adoption — transformed sales and marketing operations for all Capital Group ETFs and Mutual Funds through consolidated tools, automated workflows, and modern UI/UX with defined data governance.
    Supported 3 ETF launches while managing unified product roadmap across Marketing, Sales, and Compliance — balanced competing priorities and delivered high-value features with consistent metrics tracking in regulated environment.
    Established data governance framework enabling proactive quality monitoring and stakeholder notifications — built foundation for reliable, compliant data products in highly regulated financial services context.

    Capital Group

    Product Manager, Data Platforms & Strategic Automation

    August 2022 - June 2023
      Built enterprise analytics function from scratch — standardized reporting and drove 15% loan origination increase across 85 sales professionals through product-ops strategy and cross-functional analytics adoption.
      Integrated Power BI with custom CRM — delivered self-service analytics and pipeline visibility for 4 VPs, 10 regional managers, and 85 loan officers, accelerating sales decision-making.

      Sprout Mortgage

      Manager, Analytics & Product Strategy

      October 2021 - August 2022
      • Previously held investment analysis and BI leadership roles at Pacific Urban Investors (2018–2021) and Civic Financial Services (2016–2018), building the financial analysis and data foundations that inform a career in enterprise data products.

      PORTFOLIO & OPEN SOURCE

      DashPulse (dashpulse.app) — Real-time intelligence dashboard built with Vite + Vanilla TypeScript. PWA with notes, alerts, and analytics.
      family-planner-app (github.com/ethancstuart/family-planner-app) — AI-powered family meal planner built with Next.js + Supabase + Claude API.
      public-brand-website (github.com/ethancstuart/public-brand-website) — Personal brand and portfolio hub built with Next.js 16 + React 19 + Tailwind v4.

      WRITING & THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

      The Data Product Agent (thedataproductagent.substack.com) — Substack newsletter on data products, AI strategy, multi-agent systems, AI enablement for non-engineers, and building with modern tools. Writing about the intersection of data platform leadership, AI transformation, and what it means to build products — not just manage them.

      EDUCATION

      CERTIFICATIONS

      AI Fundamentals for Non-Data Scientists University of Pennsylvania, Wharton | Credential ID: 9QM1CR10FD5F

      Loyola Marymount University

      B.B.A. in Finance and Economics

        Databricks Academy Accreditation - Databricks Generative AI Fundamentals Databricks | Credential ID: 112741113

        Databricks Academy Accreditation - Databricks Lakehouse Fundamentals

        Databricks | Credential ID: 112676552