AI Strategy & Enablement: Driving Literacy and Governance for a $535M Industry Leader
Role
AI Strategy Lead / Senior Content Designer
Google AI Certified Professional
AI literacy training, strategic roadmapping, prompt engineering
Collaboration
Project manager
VP, technology
Design researcher
VP, data
Client
$535M Restaurant Supply Company
President, Head of IT, Head of Operations, EVP of HR, EVP of Sales, CFO
Timeline
November 2025-February 2026
Tools
Teams
Perplexity Enterprise
Miro
PowerPoint
The problem: navigating the gap between hype and value
A $535 million leader in the restaurant supply industry sought to modernize operations but faced significant AI literacy gaps and a lack of clear governance. The primary goal was to identify high-impact AI opportunities that could measurably reduce labor costs as a percentage of sales without disrupting traditional business workflows.
We identified 50+ operational challenges, but the real hurdle was moving from curiosity to a governed, scalable pilot that leadership could trust.
The discovery: from 50 challenges to one pilot
Our team conducted a cross-functional discovery phase, conducting stakeholder interviews and a focused opportunity workshop. By synthesizing feedback from executive leadership down to subject matter experts, we narrowed down 50+ potential use cases to a single, high-impact pilot: Margin Leakage Mitigation.
The strategy: the 24-month enablement roadmap
Once we’d chosen the pilot, I architected a comprehensive AI Team Enablement Guide designed to build company-wide literacy over two years. The guide follows a Crawl, Walk, Run framework to ensure sustainable adoption.
The deliverables: standardizing human-AI interaction
To facilitate the roadmap, I developed a suite of internal tools and training materials:
Departmental Prompt Library: A standardized library of prompt templates divided by department (Finance, Procurement, Operations, etc.) to ensure consistent, high-quality LLM outputs across the company.
AI Training Deck: A comprehensive curriculum covering AI fundamentals and "Prompting Essentials," teaching teams how to steer models with precision and confidence.
Maintenance & Support Guide: A clear framework for how the CoE provides ongoing training updates and facilitates cross-functional communication.
The results: executive alignment and readiness
By providing a structured roadmap rather than a one-time training, I secured buy-in from the President and the C-suite.
Strategic Alignment: Successfully moved a $535M organization from theoretical interest to a concrete, governed pilot.
Scalable Literacy: Created a self-sustaining training infrastructure that ensures AI literacy is maintained as a core competency.
Future-Proof Governance: Established the foundation for agentic experiences, ensuring the company is ready to integrate advanced LLM workflows into their 24-month growth plan.