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R

Rik Nelson

Chief Product Officer

About Rik

Work Experience

10/2025 – Present
HEAD OF ENGINEERING (CONSULTANT)
InfoIMAGE

Engaged as a senior transformation advisor to the CTO to modernize enterprise platforms and product delivery for a financial communications and document composition organization serving regulated banking and enterprise clients. Brought deep FinTech, platform, and AI modernization experience to evolve operating models, technology foundations, and product execution at scale.

·       Advise executive leadership on product, platform, and engineering strategy across a 60-person global engineering organization

·       Evaluate team structures and delivery models; perform capability and gap analysis across engineering, data, and product functions

·       Lead modernization of legacy document composition and financial communication platforms toward cloud-native architectures

·       Define and establish product roadmap governance, portfolio management, and execution frameworks across the SDLC

·       Enable AI adoption across platforms and development workflows, embedding AI throughout the SDLC to improve velocity, quality, and insight

·       Establish data management and analytics strategy to support product intelligence, operational visibility, and AI readiness

·       Develop multi-phase roadmap for infrastructure migration to cloud (AWS/Azure), balancing risk, compliance, and scalability

·       Partner cross-functionally with product, operations, and business stakeholders to align technology investment with enterprise growth objectives

12/2024 - Present
FOUNDER & HEAD OF PRODUCT INNOVATION
Heath ServiceConnect

Founded and lead an AI-enabled digital platform designed to simplify complex, fragmented health and benefits ecosystems for Veterans. Own end-to-end product vision, strategy, and lifecycle while validating scalable, data-driven solutions in a highly regulated environment.

·       Defined enterprise product vision and long-term roadmap for an AI-enabled health and benefits platform serving Veterans

·       Led product discovery, customer research, and validation to align platform capabilities with real-world user needs and market opportunity

·       Established product operating model spanning MVP delivery, roadmap governance, prioritization, and lifecycle management

·       Designed AI-assisted workflows for claims preparation, evidence structuring, and Veteran education, embedding automation and intelligence into core product experiences

·       Architected initial SaaS platform, data model, and AI integration strategy with a focus on scalability, privacy, and compliance

·       Oversaw product design, UX, and customer journey mapping to ensure a consistent, Veteran-centric experience

·       Partnered with engineering and data teams to translate product strategy into execution while maintaining strategic oversight

01/2022 - 11/2024
VP OF ENGINEERING & PRODUCT STRATEGY
CYPHER Learning

Executive leader for product and platform strategy at a global B2B SaaS, VC-backed EdTech company delivering AI-powered LMS platforms. Revenue: ~$30M | Headcount: 160 | Customers: 20K+ institutions globally.

·       Led enterprise product and platform strategy for an AI-enabled learning platform serving millions of users globally

·       Defined and executed AI-driven roadmap integrating LLM technologies (GPT, Claude, ElevenLabs) to power personalization, content automation, and analytics

·       Scaled and led global engineering teams delivering adaptive learning, real-time insights, and platform reliability at scale

·       Partnered with executive leadership to align product vision, customer experience, and go-to-market strategy, including Salesforce CRM and Marketing Cloud integration

11/2015 - 01/2022
VP OF PRODUCT & TECHNOLOGY
Computershare

Senior product and technology leader at a global FinTech organization supporting over 125 million customer accounts across 21 countries, delivering secure, enterprise-scale platforms for capital markets and financial services.

·       Led product delivery for regulated FinTech platforms including white-labeled mobile banking, automated account onboarding, and digital insurance solutions

·       Defined and delivered OCR-enabled KYC and identity verification platforms integrating fraud detection and public-record validation

·       Directed multi-region data integration and platform reliability initiatives supporting over 1 million users with high availability and compliance requirements

03/2014 - 10/2015
SENIOR DIRECTOR OF IT
Drexel University

Senior leader responsible for enterprise product, data, and technology strategy at a private R1 research university focused on academic innovation and student success.

·       Defined predictive analytics and CRM strategy, implementing Salesforce to improve student onboarding, engagement, and retention

·       Led product and technology architecture, organizational design, staffing, and financial forecasting across enterprise systems

·       Negotiated and rationalized vendor contracts to reduce costs while improving platform efficiency and service quality

·       Established enterprise support and service delivery models for internal stakeholders and external partners

Education & Training

2006 - 2008
Master's in Information Technology
American Intercontinental University
Master's Degree with a concentration on Information Security
Location
San Francisco, CA