I bring AI to companies — and help run them.

I'm not an outside advisor who explains AI and leaves. I join the leadership team and help run the company — setting the strategy, building the team, and making the calls — while keeping the technical legible so every decision is one the whole table can own. Most AI leaders can build it; fewer can operate where the business decisions actually get made.

"While we can't seem to look beyond the next 6 months, you're developing a 3-year transformative strategy." — a Fortune 50 CTO

I've done this as a Founder, CEO, CTO, and Chief AI Officer. I built and led Silicon Valley Bank's AI Lab from zero to sixteen, ran thirteen major data-science initiatives across US government agencies and Fortune 500 companies at SAP, led special projects alongside Andrew Ng at DeepLearning.AI, and today serve as CTO of the deep-tech company TAP. Over years of teaching I've placed more than a hundred data scientists into industry — many onto teams I was running myself. What leaders consistently tell me sets me apart: I make complicated ideas simple and the technical transparent — so decisions get made on understanding, not hope.

John Santerre presenting to a lecture hall at Harvard

How I lead

AI strategy & roadmap

The 3-year view, not the 6-month scramble: where AI actually creates value for your business, what to build vs. buy, and the sequence to get there without betting the company on hype.

Fractional CTO / Chief AI Officer

Own the technical direction and the org that delivers it — architecture, hiring, priorities, and honest calls on what the technology can and cannot do.

Build teams for the work

Assemble, structure, and grow the right team around a specific project — I built SVB's AI Lab from zero to sixteen and have placed 100+ data scientists into industry, many onto teams I led.

Align the board on opportunity

I've aligned boards on where the real AI opportunities are and made the deeply technical trade-offs legible to the people accountable for them — so leadership commits with conviction, not FOMO.

Stand up internal education

I build internal educational programs so your leaders and teams can reason about AI themselves — because the best strategy is one the whole organization understands and can carry.

Diligence & independent review

Clear-eyed evaluation of AI systems, claims, and teams — for investors, boards, counsel, and acquirers. Expert-witness experience.

I do my best work with teams in a forward-leaning posture — where there's real appetite for innovation and the energy to act on it. If that's the room you're building, let's talk.

Start a conversation →

A few sentences on what you're working on is plenty. Or reach me on LinkedIn.