Brian Manning

Technology Investor & Business Advisor
// Advisory

Get return on your AI investments. I advise and consult for founders, investors and executives. I find where AI pays off, build the systems that do the work, and stay until your team runs them. Get in touch.

Background

I have been investing and building in technology throughout the modern digital era. I use frontier AI models and coding agents daily to scale my investment process, advise clients and operate businesses, and advance my personal interests such as guitar theory and technique. I’ve appeared on Fox Business, Fox News, Yahoo! Finance, Bloomberg to commentate on tech trends and co-authored a book on digital transformation published by Pearson FT Press.

Previously, I co-founded and grew a digital intelligence firm, Centric Digital, which served dozens of S&P 500 clients. By its 5th year, it surpassed $40M in annual revenue and 300+ people, ranked #34 on the Inc. 500 and #1 in New York City. Prior to entrepreneurial pursuits, I was a public company digital executive, including at Citigroup where I defined digital strategy for consumer and credit cards and managed online marketing. As VP of e-commerce at Scholastic, I led $400M+ in online sales platforms, launched their first digital subscription and spun off TeachersPayTeachers. At Barnes & Noble.com, I led product management and early e-commerce innovations including partner marketing, shopping apps for early wireless phones Palm devices and omnichannel gift cards. I started my career at Accenture and hold a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from Lafayette College.

Services

Where I help, from finding the opportunity to a team that owns the result.

01AI I find the two or three places AI clearly pays off, build the agents and systems that do the work, and stay until your team runs them. You own what we build. Strategy · Agents · Private data (RAG) · Adoption
02Digital Marketing Brand, content, SEO/SEM and social. Campaigns drafted and personalized in hours, not weeks, with every dollar tied back to what it returned. Brand · Content · SEO/SEM · Social
03Ecommerce Platforms, mobile apps, UX and conversion, from startup builds to large-scale online businesses. Platforms · Mobile · UX · Conversion
04Finance Forecasting, reconciliation and the monthly close with AI in the loop. Plus P&L management, capital raising, investor materials and diligence. FP&A · Capital · Investor collateral · Diligence
05Operations I start with the highest-cost workflows: back-office, order routing, supply chain. Redesigned and automated so each cycle costs less than the last. Process redesign · Automation · Org design
06Technology Model-agnostic, cloud-based systems wired into the tools you already use. Your data stays yours, with no vendor lock-in. Cloud · Integration · Data & analytics

Impact

AI rarely pays in one corner of a company; gains in one function carry into the next. Below is where it lands first, and what changes for the executive who runs each area.

CMOMarketing Campaigns drafted and personalized in hours rather than weeks, with every dollar of spend attributed to what it returned.
CFOFinance Forecasting, reconciliation, and the monthly close with AI in the loop, so finance answers questions as they arise instead of only keeping score.
COOOperations The highest-cost workflows first, including order routing, back-office processing, and supply chain, automated so each cycle costs less than the last.
CROSales Lead scoring and deal intelligence that tell your team whom to call, what to say, and which opportunities are genuine.
CXCustomer Service Routine tickets resolved end to end and complex ones handed to a person with full context, for faster answers at a lower cost per contact.
GCLegal & Compliance Contracts read, clauses and risks flagged, reviews kept moving: weeks of manual review reduced to hours.
CTOTechnology Developer-facing agents and internal tooling for code assistance, incident triage, and automated help-desk resolution.
CPOProduct Scattered feedback and usage data synthesized into a clear view of what to build next.

Experience

Examples of my direct, hands-on experience from engagements from large enterprises to growing startups.

Bank of AmericaBanking
CitigroupBanking
HumanaHealthcare
Kaiser PermanenteHealthcare
AIGInsurance
BBVABanking
Victoria's SecretRetail
J.D. PowerIntelligence
WileyPublishing
GuidehouseConsulting
West MonroeConsulting
American SecuritiesPrivate Equity
Larga VistaReal Estate
TempraMedMedical Devices
Various KeytagsEcommerce

Career

2023 – now Stratum SixManaging Partner AI strategy and implementation for investors, founders and executives.
2009 – 2022 Centric DigitalPresident & Co-Founder Scaled a digital transformation firm onto the Inc. 500 (debuted #1 New York, #34 USA; ranked four years), serving enterprises in the US, Europe, the Middle East and Asia Pacific.
2007 – 2009 ScholasticVice President, Ecommerce Led ecommerce and social platforms with $400M+ in online sales. Launched the first digital content subscription, profitable by year two.
2004 – 2007 CitigroupVice President, Innovation Group; Vice President, eBusiness Group FinTech and internet strategy across banking, cards, mortgage and loans. Digital marketing and strategy for citicards.com.
1999 – 2004 Barnes & Noble.comDirector, Digital Product Management; Manager, Digital and Mobile Strategy Ecommerce platform redesign, early mobile commerce apps and the first omnichannel gift card. Reported to the COO.
1996 – 1999 AccentureBusiness Process Consultant; Business Analyst Retail supply chain reengineering and direct marketing applications for a media publisher.
Education Lafayette CollegeBS, Mechanical Engineering KPMG QuantumShift Entrepreneur Leadership Program, Ross School of Business, University of Michigan (2017).