2024
Advised the founder of a defense technology company through its sale to a PE-backed acquirer. Ran due diligence and the virtual data room, managed buyer requests and Q&A, and kept the owner, advisors, and buyer moving to close.
Portland, Maine
Scott Eshom
Helping business owners and executives spend their time where it matters most.
I leverage AI and build operating systems that run the work that eats their weeks — with a person approving every decision that counts. For two decades I’ve run high-stakes, complex, multi-stakeholder operations, turning messy problems into finished work. Now I use AI to do even more.
AI Operating Partner and Project Manager for small and mid-sized businesses and portfolio companies.
What I do
From the operating problem to the finished work.
01
AI operations audits
Find where a business loses time and where AI can safely take work off people’s plates.
02
AI implementation
Agents and connectors set up inside the tools a company already uses, with clear human approval gates.
03
Value creation
100-day operating plans, process redesign, and reporting for owners and portfolio companies.
04
Project and program management
Scoping, budgeting, risk, and partner management from kickoff to closeout.
05
Transaction support
Sell-side due diligence and data room management.
Selected work
Two decades of consequential operations.
2018—24
Co-founded and led business development and program management at a government services firm. Won and ran multi-year, U.S. Government-funded training programs across the Middle East and North Africa. Initiated an SBA 8(a) Mentor-Protégé joint venture; the firm was named a Rising Star Business of the Year in 2022.
2020—21
Advised an investment risk and compliance firm on fundraising, corporate development, and go-to-market.
2016—18
Private banker at Goldman Sachs, advising high-net-worth clients and business owners on business sale strategy, tax, and estate planning.
2006—16
Army Engineer Officer and Special Forces Officer, with deployments to Iraq, Afghanistan, and multiple locations across the Middle East. Ended as commander of a regional crisis response force, leading multinational planning and training.
Now
Building the operating model I want to use.
Building Pineland Ops, an AI operations practice where the agents do the work and I’m the human gate.
Finishing an MS in Project Management at Northeastern University’s Roux Institute in Portland, Maine.
Visit Pineland OpsEducation
Formal training across business, project management, and international affairs.
AI Builder Program
Leland
MS, Project Management
Northeastern University · Roux Institute
Global MBA
University of Virginia Darden School of Business
Tradecraft
San Francisco
BA, International Studies
American University · Minor in French
For fun
A life measured in relationships, miles, and places.
Proudly raised in Seattle. Based in Maine with my family.
Three marathons—Paris, Afghanistan, and Istanbul—along with an ultramarathon and a Half Ironman.
Studies and life abroad across France, Belgium, Cameroon, and Germany.