Edward Chenard - Fractional Chief AI Officer

Edward Chenard

Fractional Chief Product & AI Officer

Minneapolis, Minnesota

Edward@echenard.com

Edward Chenard is a Fractional Chief Product and AI Officer who has generated over $2.5 billion in revenue through 100+ product launches.

He is a pioneer in enterprise GenAI, having launched the industry's first logistics LLM in 2022—18 months before ChatGPT. He combines rare dual expertise in Product Leadership (PLG, GTM, Agile) and AI/Data Strategy (RAG architecture, LLM orchestration, data monetization).

His clients include Series B+ startups, PE-backed growth companies, and mid-market firms seeking enterprise-grade capabilities without full-time executive costs. He led product strategy for Olo's successful $3.6B IPO (NYSE: OLO).

Edward is based in Minneapolis, Minnesota and works 100% remotely with clients across North America, Europe, and Asia.

$2.5B+
Revenue Generated
300+
Team Members Led
100+
Products Launched

Professional Experience

Head of Emerging Technologies & Data Products

Best Buy

Fortune 100

Built the personalization platform that generated $1 billion+ in revenue.

  • • Generated $120M revenue in year one, growing to $1B+ over 3 years
  • • Delivered platform for $3.2M vs vendor quotes of $20-30M (85% cost savings)
  • • Improved conversion rates from 1% to 17%
  • • Achieved profitability in under 4 months
  • • Led cross-functional team of 50+ engineers, data scientists, and product managers

Data Advisor to CIO/COO

CH Robinson

$15B Revenue

Built AI-powered logistics capabilities from zero infrastructure, generating $150M in new business.

  • • Generated $150M in new business before platform completion
  • • Won Microsoft and John Deere as enterprise customers
  • • Built 45+ person data organization from zero
  • • Launched 16 new data products in first year
  • • Established data governance framework for regulatory compliance

Head of Data and Analytics

Shipwell

Series B Startup

Transformed analytics from cost center to revenue driver, achieving 20% revenue increase.

  • • Achieved 20% revenue increase by monetizing analytics capabilities
  • • Launched logistics LLM product before ChatGPT wave
  • • Reduced operations costs to $2,500/month vs competitor $100K
  • • Improved reporting time from 12 hours to 6 minutes
  • • Built and mentored high-performing data team

Areas of Expertise

AI Strategy & Governance

  • • AI roadmap development
  • • AI governance frameworks
  • • Ethics and bias mitigation
  • • Regulatory compliance (EU AI Act)

Data Team Building

  • • Org design and hiring
  • • Role definition and leveling
  • • Team mentorship
  • • Culture development

LLM & AI Implementation

  • • LLM selection and deployment
  • • Cost optimization (40-85% savings)
  • • RAG architecture
  • • Prompt engineering

Data Products & MLOps

  • • Data product strategy
  • • ML pipeline architecture
  • • Production deployment
  • • Monitoring and observability

Work With Edward

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