Scholar-Practitioner. Executive. Change Agent.
Dr. Jelani Ellington has established himself as a serial entrepreneur, executive, and thought leader with a career spanning the globe—from the Americas to Europe, Africa, and Asia. He is not just a consultant; he is a proven operator who has held the helm at Fortune 50 giants.
Currently serving as Chief Operating Officer for the General Building Contractors Association, Jelani acts as a strategic partner to the CEO, architecting enterprise-wide operations to achieve Operational Excellence. His background includes serving as Managing Director at Prometheus Innovation Corporation, where he drove sustained operational excellence for senior leaders.
MY PHILOSOPHY
Organizational dynamics are not an afterthought—they are the strategy.
I work from a few core beliefs:
Winning strategies require clear accountabilities, decision rights, and performance mechanisms.
Processes and technology are critical, but behavior, trust, and leadership norms determine whether any of it sticks.
Lean, Six Sigma, and analytics are powerful, but only when embedded in how leaders run the business.
Design thinking, data science, and AI are tools. Their value comes from solving real problems and creating measurable outcomes.
PROFESSIONAL HISTORY
Over the last two decades, I’ve served in senior leadership roles that span strategy, transformation, and operations:
Strategic partner to the CEO, leading operations, HR, finance, IT, marketing, and member services; responsible for advancing organizational performance, governance, and talent systems to achieve operational excellence.
Built and led a consultancy focused on strategy, innovation, and analysis for senior executives across industries—delivering bespoke solutions that improved performance, efficiency, and growth.
Led enterprise-wide innovation strategy, business transformation, and internal consulting, including Agile transformations, M&A integration, design thinking, and organization design for Fortune 50 operations.
Managed an $11B OTC portfolio at Walmart using advanced analytics and machine learning to optimize pricing; led corporate strategy and CIO chief of staff work at Capital One; and held business planning and engineering roles at GM and Ford, including building international expansion models and shared services capabilities.
Alongside executive work, I’ve served as an associate professor of management, teaching organizational design, management systems, entrepreneurship, and strategic management at the graduate level.
EDUCATION
I am a lifelong learner and bring a research-informed perspective to practical leadership challenges. Degrees include:
Certifications and Affiliations