I set strategy, and 
I build what makes it real

My work has spanned the full path from vision to outcomes: setting direction, making the hard choices, and building what makes it real. Across Merchandising, Enterprise Products, and Product Operations, that's been the thread: strategy that actually lands, not just strategy that sounds right in a room.

I've learned the gap can open anywhere: at vision, at strategy, in the decisions and operating models that follow, or in execution itself.

Who I am

I’ve built my career across three different vantage points: running a business with direct P&L and customer accountability, leading enterprise products used by thousands of people, and, most recently, building the operating model that let a product organization scale.

Portrait of Kelly EllisProduct Strategy, Management & Operations ExecutiveAcross those chapters, I’ve led through people as much as through strategy: building teams, developing leaders, creating opportunities for people to grow, and bringing different strengths together around shared outcomes.

  1. PHASE 01

    Business Operator

    Direct P&L and customer accountability

  2. PHASE 02

    Product Leader

    Enterprise products used by thousands

  3. PHASE 03

    Operating Model Architect

    The model that let an organization scale

What each chapter taught me

Business Operator

Commercial & Financial Acumen

Customer & Market Judgment

Strategic Tradeoff & Prioritization

Cross-Functional Execution

Assortment strategy, pricing, inventory investment, and vendor negotiation across a $325M business.
Product Leader

Product Strategy & Value Creation

Customer-Centered Problem Solving

Cross-Product Systems Thinking

Influence & Organizational Change

Enterprise planning and optimization products that connected customer needs, business decisions, data, and technology.
Operating Model Architect

Operating Model & Organizational Design

Portfolio & Decision Architecture

Organizational Effectiveness & Capability Building

Enterprise Influence & Alignment

Operating rhythms, portfolio intelligence, talent systems, and decision frameworks designed to improve alignment and execution at scale.

What I offer

Gaps don't only show up between strategy and execution. They can open anywhere along the path from vision to outcomes. That's where I work.

What I help organizations do

•Set a direction worth committing to, clear enough to make hard trade-offs against.

•Turn that direction into decisions, investments, and operating models that make it real.

•Keep it alive once execution starts, when most strategies quietly lose momentum.

Proof it holds up at scale

Tested under real complexity, not just in theory

I’ve done this at a Fortune 50 retailer, leading enterprise planning products built on machine learning and optimization (one of them patented), and building a global Product Operations organization from a handful of people into a team of seventeen supporting more than 70 product managers. The scale isn’t the point. It’s evidence that the underlying judgment holds up.

What drives me

I played doubles tennis at the All-State level, and I was always more energized by partnership than by solo competition: reading the match together, adjusting strategy in real time, using complementary strengths to be stronger as a pair than either player alone. Winning together was always more gratifying than winning alone.

How I lead

I’ve led individual contributors, managers, and leaders of teams, and the lesson I keep coming back to is that my job isn't to be the person with every answer. It’s to create the conditions where the best answer can emerge: clarity, shared objectives, visible tradeoffs, and room for complementary strengths to do their best work.

A few things I hold to as non-negotiable

Clarity
Clarity is a leadership responsibility.
When people are confused about the objective or who owns what, that’s a system to fix, not an execution failure to blame.
Empowerment
Empowerment requires context, not just permission.
People make better decisions when they understand the customer, the strategy, and the real constraints, not just that they’ve been told to “own it.”
Impact
Activity isn’t impact.
I judge teams by outcomes and decision quality, not by volume of output or ceremonies completed.

What people I’ve worked with say

I can confidently say she was one of the key people to enable a high performing product organization. What impressed me most was her ability to balance operational rigor with a people-first leadership style.
Craig Tattersall · VP Product Management
Over the three years we worked together, Kelly elevated our globally distributed Product team into one of the top-performing groups within a Fortune 100 company.
Todor Tzolov · Product Leader
Kelly has consistently shown the ability to activate against big, complex problems while building strong, healthy partnerships along the way.
Jill Bernhagen · Product Operations Leader
Kelly hired me, and together we built this function from the ground up. She is an exceptional leader who brings clarity, structure, and momentum to every initiative she touches.
Swapnil Chunekar · Product Analytics Manager
Kelly's superpower is her ability to balance empowering her teams with navigating the complexity of large organizations. She advocates for her people, builds bridges across silos, and makes real change happen.
Daniel Bliss · Senior Product Operations Manager
Kelly is a driven and collaborative leader who truly knows how to connect people and make progress happen. She creates an environment of trust and psychological safety, and she's great at getting buy-in from others.
Steve Styrbicki · Senior Product Operations Manager
As both a seasoned leader and an incredibly thoughtful mentor, she guided me through critical career decisions and inspired me to think more strategically about how I lead.
Cheree Carter · Omni-Channel Leader

This is the idea underneath everything above: strategy only becomes real when the people making decisions have good judgment, and the organization has an operating model that can carry those decisions through to results.

I’ve spent time writing about both: how judgment shows up in individuals, teams, and organizations, and the eight places where the operating model connecting strategy to outcomes tends to break down.