Data & AI executive · Strategy, agentic AI, governance · Atlanta

I build Data & AI capabilities that pay for themselves.

Enterprise Data & AI strategy, agentic process redesign, and governed data foundations, taken from business case to production for insurers, payments and financial-services companies, manufacturers, and healthcare and life-sciences organizations that expect AI to show up in the P&L.

Rick Young, Data & AI executive, smiling in an orange shirt.

I have built both

$3M

Sikich Data & AI practice revenue in its second full year, built from a standing start in September 2023 and on track for $5M+ in its third

9yrs

as founder and CEO of 3sage Consulting: 24 consultants, $8–10M in revenue, and eight enterprise clients at its acquisition by ThreeBridge Solutions

$40M+

personally originated since 2018 across more than 60 pursuits at ThreeBridge, North Highland, and Sikich

3

Data & AI practices built or led at national and global firms, one of them the firm I founded and sold

$15M

AI modernization program at a large U.S. insurer, funded over three years on a business case I built: $5M approved in year one

$25M

in realized value from the analytics center of excellence and single source of truth I designed for a Fortune 500 company

3

Data & AI operating models stood up: a Fortune 500 CDAO organization, a biotech AI innovation model, a global payments governance model

9yrs

owning a company P&L as founder and CEO of 3sage Consulting, grown to $8–10M in revenue and acquired

Where I add value

Three things I have built more than once.

Practices

Data & AI practices, from zero to scale

Founded 3sage Consulting and sold it at 24 consultants and $8–10M in revenue; led the practices at ThreeBridge (25 people) and North Highland (70+ consultants across the US and UK); founded Sikich's Data & AI practice from a standing start: eight named offerings, platform-agnostic delivery inside a top-1% Microsoft Inner Circle partner, a team built from two, $3M in its second full year.

Functions

Data & AI functions, from zero to scale

Designed the Chief Data & Analytics Officer organization for a Fortune 500 company, which hired its first CDAO and realized $25M in value; stood up an AI innovation operating model and governance council at a clinical-stage biotech; built the AI talent pipeline at a large credit bureau.

Value

Business cases funded, benefits tracked

Strategies executives sign and fund, with the benefits measured afterward: a $15M AI modernization program at a large U.S. insurer, with change failure rate and recovery time down 30% in year one; $25M of realized value from a Fortune 500 analytics center of excellence.

Durability

Operating models, governance, and talent that last

Governance councils, AI innovation operating models, single-source-of-truth platforms, and talent pipelines, with adoption and change management planned in from the start, so the client's own people keep them running after the engagement ends.

Impact

Impact · Client names withheld under confidentiality

Agentic AI · Legacy modernization · Business case · Outcome-based

Funding AI modernization at a large U.S. insurer

Core legacy applications were slowing the business and AI ambitions had no funded path to production. A $150k assessment, strategy, and roadmap engagement laid out the benefits; I tied every initiative to a business outcome, defined a modernization approach built on AI-driven code refactoring and agentic process redesign, and built the business case executives approved: $5M in year one, $15M over three years.

$15M program funded, $5M in year onein year one: change failure rate and mean time to recovery down 30%, time to value against the feature backlog cut in half

Data & AI governance · Data marketplace · AI-ready data

Governance that accelerates AI at the world's largest payments technology company

Enterprise data was abundant but hard to find, trust, and reuse. I led the enterprise Data & AI governance strategy and roadmap and the development of an enterprise data marketplace, positioning governance as the enabler of faster, safer AI experimentation: three business units adopted it, 300 certified data assets, and time to value for new analytics products cut from weeks to days.

Governance adopted, marketplace livethree business units (authorization, fraud, and analytics), 300 certified data assets, time to value for new analytics products cut from weeks to days

Agentic AI · Operating model · Context layer · Governance council

From strategy to a working agent at a clinical-stage biotech

Leadership wanted AI to move faster than a science-driven organization's data foundations allowed. I stood up an AI innovation operating model and a Data & AI governance council, architected a single-source-of-truth platform with a data catalog as the context layer for agents, and shipped an authoring agent that now removes 42 hours a week of manual reporting work across three project teams.

Operating model, council, platform, and a production agentthe authoring agent removes 42 hours a week of manual data collection, preparation, and visualization across three project teams; data-quality agents in pilot

All impact stories

Client names are withheld under confidentiality agreements. Descriptors and results are stated as agreed with each client; where a figure cannot be shared, I describe the decision or asset the work produced.

How I lead

Seven things I believe about data, AI, and the leaders who have to make them pay.

Outcome first. Then the AI.

I start every program with the business result it has to produce and the number that will prove it. Technology choices come after. It is the only reliable way I know to turn AI spend into ROI a CFO will recognize.

Pilots are cheap. Production is where value lives.

Most organizations have no shortage of AI experiments; they have a shortage of AI in production. I design for production from the first sprint, so the pilot is a rehearsal, not a destination.

Governance is the accelerator, not the brake.

Governance built around business outcomes, with clear ownership, trusted data, and guardrails for agents, is what lets an enterprise scale AI without scaling risk. It is the accelerator when business owners run it and the brake when compliance does.

Redesign the work, not just the tools.

An agent dropped into an old process automates the old process. Real value comes from redesigning how the work flows: what humans decide, what agents do, and where the hand-offs and controls sit.

Data is a product with a P&L.

Data pays for itself when it is managed like a product: a clear customer, a use, a cost, and a return, inside the company or as a new revenue stream. Monetization is a discipline, not a slogan.

Build the people, not just the platform.

Every capability I've built has kept running after I handed it over, because the team was built with it. Talent pipelines, communities of practice, and leaders developed on the job are the durable part of any Data & AI program.

AI risk is a board conversation, not a compliance checkbox.

An inventory of models and agents, named owners, permissions, audit trails, and a report the audit committee can read. I have built governance operating models on NIST AI RMF and ISO 42001 for clients in regulated industries; the framework matters less than the habit of reporting.

How I run a practice

Offerings before headcount.

A named, priced offering earns every hire. Eight of them at Sikich, from Data & AI Strategy to Agentic Process Redesign, most fixed-fee and one priced on the outcome.

Price the outcome when we can measure it.

Time and materials is the exception, not the default. The insurer's AI modernization is priced on results, and consulting after AI has to be.

Experts who grow the next experts.

Proven frameworks, run by senior practitioners who develop the next leaders: six promotions in two years at Sikich, a future-leader program at a large credit bureau.

Perspective

Perspective · Published

All writing

Career · Founder, partner, practice leader

Founder. Partner. Practice leader. Founder again.

— Present

Managing Senior Director, Data & AI

Sikich

Founded and lead the Data & AI practice: P&L, team, offerings, go-to-market, delivery frameworks. From a standing start in September 2023 to $3M in the second full year, on track for $5M+ in the third, with a team of nearly twenty and eight named offerings, while leading AI transformation programs for Fortune 1000 clients.

—

Managing AVP, Data & AI

North Highland

Led the global Data & Analytics practice of more than 70 consultants across the US and UK as generative AI arrived: data strategy, master data management, governance, analytics, including enterprise Data & AI governance for the world's largest payments technology company. Then Sikich recruited me to found a practice from a standing start.

—

Partner, Data & Analytics

ThreeBridge Solutions

Led the Data & Analytics practice, the 3sage team grown inside ThreeBridge to 25 people and $10M+ in revenue: sold and delivered data strategy, governance, MDM, analytics, and machine learning across industries, including the enterprise data transformation and Snowflake platform for the nation's largest home title insurer.

—

Founder & CEO

3sage Consulting · acquired by ThreeBridge Solutions

Built an Atlanta enterprise data management and analytics consultancy from one person to 24 consultants, $8–10M in revenue, and eight enterprise clients, and sold it to ThreeBridge Solutions; designed the Chief Data & Analytics Officer organization for a Fortune 500 company along the way.

Earlier

Principal Consultant · Senior Consultant

Systems Evolution · PricewaterhouseCoopers

Business intelligence and data practice building for Atlanta clients. B.S., Decision Information Science, University of Florida.

About Rick Young

A bit about me

I have spent my career standing up Data & AI capabilities: a consultancy I founded and sold, three practices inside national and global firms, and, for clients, the functions themselves: a Fortune 500 CDAO organization, a global payments governance model, an AI operating model at a biotech. I'm based in Atlanta, and the question I care about hasn't changed: what is your data actually worth, and what will it take to get it?

More about me

Contact

Let's talk.

About what your data and AI should be delivering. I'm always glad to compare notes with CEOs, boards, and firm leaders who are building Data & AI capabilities at scale.

rick@rickyoung.me
LinkedIn
linkedin.com/in/rickyoungdataleader
Résumé
Rick-Young-Resume.pdf
Based in
Atlanta, GA · Eastern time