Fabian Schonholz, Ph.D.

CTO, Senior Vice President, AI Strategy & Transformation

Technology & Data Executive | AI & ML Strategist | Board Advisor

Salt Lake City, UT / Los Angeles, CA | 310.989.4152 | fabianschonholz@mac.com | LinkedIn

Executive Summary

Dynamic executive leader with deep expertise in AI-driven business transformation, predictive analytics, and enterprise data strategies. Proven track record building and scaling AI portfolios across global media, DTC/B2B, gaming, and SaaS/PaaS organizations. Led 3 exits, 2 acquisitions, and helped take a $200M+ ARR business private. Expert in defining customer-focused AI product vision, aligning stakeholders, and enabling global cross-functional AI execution. Deeply experienced in PE-backed growth and digital innovation at both startups and Fortune 500s, including NBC Universal, Disney, and NASA.

Performance Differentiators

• Led 3 exits, 2 acquisitions, and business success across media, DTC/B2B, SaaS/PaaS, retail, and gaming.
• Drove innovation for start-ups and Fortune 500s (i.e., NBC Universal, Disney, Ninja Metrics and NASA).
• Led PE-backed growth and exits.
• Helped take a $200M+ ARR company private.

Core Competencies

• Data Storytelling & Insights
• AI & Machine Learning Strategy
• Cloud Infrastructure (AWS, GCP, Azure)
• Digital & Data Transformation
• Enterprise AI Portfolio Enablement
• Product Development & GTM Strategy
• DevOps/AIOps & CICD
• AI Governance & Data Compliance (GDPR, CCPA)

Professional Experience

AI Strategy Consulting Firm | 2023–Present

Chief Technology Officer

• Served as SVP of AI Strategy at Perle, leading AI product vision, data annotation quality, and scaling AI-driven solutions.
• Define and implement corporate AI roadmap that aligns with long-term transformation goals.
• Led customer-facing AI initiatives that improved retention and increased revenue by 18% for Alchemee.
• Architected enterprise-grade Data Lake infrastructure (AWS, Spark, Python) enabling AI model deployment at scale.
• Provided CTO/COO-level guidance to AI/data startups to align tech investments with strategic growth objectives.

FESSEX Data Advisory | 2019–2023

Chief Technology Officer & Co-Founder

• Delivered enterprise-wide AI/data strategy and compliance programs across industries.
• Developed automated compliance workflows for Proactiv across US, Canada, and Japan.
• Reduced fraud and drove monetization through AI modeling for Prodege.com.
• Defined MVP and GTM strategy for AI-enabled photography product leading to Asia/EU market success and eventual acquisition.
• Deployed behavioral prediction models to support player retention and revenue growth for Microsoft’s Forza Street.

NBC Universal | 2016–2019

Senior Vice President, Operations & Technology

• Directed global tech and media operations across DreamWorks, Film, and Brand Development; led team of 300+.
• Championed AI-based analytics to support marketing optimization and business insight acceleration.
• Rolled out global executive dashboards and self-service BI platforms, reducing ad-hoc reporting by 40%.
• Ensured enterprise-wide compliance with GDPR, CCPA, and global data regulations.
• Managed vendor relationships across U.S. and EU, optimizing privacy and risk frameworks.

Additional Roles

• Co-Founder, StockMatic | 2016
• COO & Board Advisor, Ninja Metrics | 2013–2016
• Technical leadership at Gumiyo, Zumbox, Pictage, and Xylan

Board & Advisory Leadership

• Advisor, 37 Signals Investment Company – Ops, HR, and exit strategies
• Board Advisor, Nova Signals – Global med device compliance
• Advisor, Prodege.com – Scaled from startup to $1B valuation

Education

• Ph.D., Interdisciplinary Studies (Cognitive Neuroscience), UC Santa Barbara
• B.A., Mathematics, UC Santa Barbara

Patents and Publications

• Simplified Website Creation System – US Patent No. 9916388
• Digital Solution Creation Method – US Patent No. A1US2014019530
• Peer-Ranked Precision (Vision Models from DataSeeds) – Read on Hugging Face

Technical Skills

JSON, REST, Databricks, Looker, PowerBI, SQL/No-SQL, Spark, Snowflake, Snort, AWS, Azure, GCP, Kubernetes, Jenkins, Terraform, Docker, Ansible, Kafka, Redis, GitHub, Angular, React, PyTorch, TensorFlow, PostgreSQL, RedShift, DynamoDB, MongoDB, Oracle, Salesforce, NetSuite

Languages

English (fluent), Spanish (fluent)