Tina Parish

Chief Operating Officer | Chief of Staff

The operator behind the founder. I turn a founder's vision into an operating system — the audit that tells you what's actually true, the SOPs and systems that hold under pressure, the org design and hiring that fit the stage you're in, and the reporting that makes performance visible before it becomes a problem. Ten-plus years inside founder-led, fast-moving businesses, most of it as the right hand who owns the outcome, not just the plan.

How I Operate
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How I Operate

In a founder-led company the two titles blur, and I've worked both sides of the line. As Chief of Staff, the job is to make the founder more effective. As COO, I carry the ownership and the execution authority. In practice I bring both — the instinct to read what a founder needs before they ask, and the mandate to go build it.

Diagnose Before I Change Anything

Understand the business and the founder

You can't fix an operation you haven't looked at honestly. Every engagement starts with a full audit, not a reorganization.

  • Complete audit of operations, departments, systems, and processes — what exists, what's documented, and what people actually do instead
  • Deep time with the founder on the vision, how the company got to where it is, and what they're protecting
  • Identify the real constraint blocking the next milestone, which is rarely the one everyone is talking about
  • Map dependencies, bottlenecks, and single points of failure before they turn into a crisis
  • Deliver findings straight, including the parts that are uncomfortable to hear

Build What's Missing, Fix What's Broken

Process, systems, and infrastructure

Whatever process is missing, I create. Whatever process isn't working, I rebuild. Same for the systems underneath them.

  • SOP development from the ground up across operations, client delivery, sales, marketing, HR, and administration
  • Workflow design and process documentation that survives the person who wrote it
  • System selection, implementation, and migration — with adoption owned, not assumed
  • Automation of the manual work that quietly consumes a team's week
  • Vendor and tool consolidation to cut cost, overlap, and complexity
  • Infrastructure built to hold at the next size of the business, not the current one

Own the Outcome

Execution and accountability

A COO doesn't advise on the plan. A COO is accountable for whether it happens.

  • Translate the founder's vision into an operating plan with owners, milestones, and dates
  • Org design and reporting structure matched to the stage the business is in
  • End-to-end hiring for senior roles: role definition, screening, interviews, offer, and onboarding
  • KPI frameworks and executive dashboards that surface problems early instead of confirming them late
  • Board-ready reporting, kept current rather than assembled the week before
  • Crisis management and strategic pivots without losing continuity
  • Hold the line on accountability across teams, including when it's unpopular

Read the Founder

The Chief of Staff instinct

The half of the job that never makes it into a job description — and the part that makes the rest of it work.

  • Protect the founder's time, attention, and priorities; treat the calendar as a strategic instrument
  • Own the cross-functional work that doesn't belong to any one team and would otherwise stall
  • Serve as the liaison between the founder and clients, partners, investors, and staff
  • Write and carry executive communications, internal and external
  • Absorb the detail so decisions get made on what matters, not on everything
  • Anticipate what's needed before it's asked for — and handle it quietly
  • Discretion by default

What I Own

The functional territory I take responsibility for. Some of it is standard for the role. Some of it isn't — like building the dashboards, internal apps, and AI-driven automations myself instead of waiting on a development queue.

Operations & Systems

SOP Development Process Architecture Workflow Design Systems Implementation Vendor Management Cost Reduction Quality & Consistency

People & Org Design

Org Structure Senior Hiring Onboarding Performance Management Capacity Planning Change Management Culture & Accountability

Strategy & Execution

Operating Plans KPI Frameworks Executive Dashboards Board Reporting Resource Allocation Risk & Crisis Management Strategic Pivots

AI, Automation & Internal Tooling

Custom Internal Apps Operational Dashboards AI Workflow Design Process Automation AI-Enabled Operating Systems Automated Reporting Tool Evaluation & Rollout

Communications & Stakeholders

Executive Communications Internal Comms Investor & Partner Liaison Client Lifecycle & Retention Cross-Functional Alignment External Representation

Credentials

Six Sigma Black Belt — PMI Lean Six Sigma Operational Excellence Business Analytics Business Law for Managers Finance Essentials B.S. Business — University of Phoenix

Eight-Time Bestselling Author

Eight bestselling titles across business and fiction. It's worth mentioning because it explains something about how I operate: clear writing is what makes executive communications land, SOPs actually get followed, and a founder's vision survive contact with everyone who has to execute it. The operating documents I build get used, not filed.

What to Expect

Two questions every founder asks before bringing on an operator: what happens when she starts, and what has she actually delivered.

The First 90 Days

Diagnose, stabilize, build
  • Days 1–30 — Diagnose: Operations, systems, processes, team, and client delivery mapped end to end. Extended time with the founder on vision, history, and the real constraint. Findings delivered straight.
  • Days 31–60 — Stabilize: Fix the processes actively costing money or credibility. Document what currently only lives in one person's head. Land the early wins that buy room for the structural work.
  • Days 61–90 — Build: Org and reporting structure, KPI framework and dashboards, SOP library underway, and a 6–12 month operating plan with named owners and dates.
  • Throughout: A steady founder rhythm and a standing readout, so the state of the business is never a surprise to either of us.

Track Record

Results across founder-led businesses
  • Revenue Growth: Supported 63% revenue growth through operational execution and expansion into new markets and services
  • Operational Foundation: Built and maintained a 60-SOP library spanning internal operations, client delivery, marketing, sales, HR, and administration
  • Cost Reduction: Cut operating costs 8% within the first year through process optimization and vendor management
  • Go-to-Market: Increased client acquisition 45% through go-to-market strategy and execution
  • Restructuring: Led organizational restructuring that improved operational efficiency 30%
  • Scale: Built operational infrastructure supporting 300% business growth
  • Hiring: Led hiring and onboarding for 25+ senior professionals across multiple industries
  • Interim Leadership: Served as interim COO for 5+ growth-stage companies through critical scaling phases
  • Continuity: Designed crisis protocols that maintained 100% business continuity through market disruption