Resume

Crystal Nurazura Hall

Operations, Strategy & Innovation  ·  Pittsburgh, PA

Operations leader with 15+ years driving strategy and building infrastructure, programs, systems, and teams that scale organizations. Experience spans startups, AI, emerging tech, higher education, and nonprofits. Known for bringing structure to ambiguity, aligning diverse stakeholders around a shared goal, and translating strategic priorities into operational execution in fast-moving environments.

Areas of Expertise

Strategic Planning & Execution Cross-Functional Coordination Program & Project Management Business Operations Organizational Design Process Improvement Data-Driven Decision Making Budget Management Financial Planning & Analysis Fundraising Change Management Technology Adoption Product Strategy Go-to-Market Customer Discovery Business & People Operations Stakeholder Management Team Building & Development Business Development & Experimentation

Tools & Technology

AI & Automation: Claude · ChatGPT · Gemini · NotebookLM · Zapier
Project & Operations: ClickUp · Jira · Trello · Airtable · Slack · Google Workspace · Microsoft 365 · Notion · Proxima
Data & Analytics: Excel · Google Sheets · Power BI · Kibana/Elasticsearch
CRM & Finance: HubSpot · Salesforce · Zoho · Bloomerang · QuickBooks
Design, Web & Prototyping: Canva · Adobe Creative Suite · Squarespace · Shopify · HTML/CSS · Replit
LMS & Education Systems: TalentLMS · Absorb LMS · Blackboard · Jenzabar

Professional Experience

Founder and Operating Partner 2021–Present
Maven Consulting Co., Pittsburgh, PA
  • Partner with startups, corporations, and nonprofit clients to develop strategy, build operating frameworks, improve processes, and lead product development.
  • Embedded as Head of Strategy and Operations at FLX Solutions (inspection robotics, defense/industrial), owning business development, FP&A, people, and program management functions.
  • Structured an 18-month, $3M federal subcontract proposal ($2.25M direct + $750K cost share) with a headcount pipeline to expand 5 new positions.
  • Rebuilt financial model, investor data room, pitch deck materials, and fundraising narrative that supported a $1.5M bridge round and $3M seed raise in flight.
  • Owned the full hiring framework for three positions; refining job descriptions, developing technical interview questions, designing working assessments, overseeing recruitment and screening, and building custom landing pages.
  • Built and owned program management for two active programs, projected resource allocation and bill-down timelines, and managed relationships with external partners.
  • Embedded as EIR/CEO-for-hire to run a corporate partner's skunkworks healthcare and wellness project in a target market of 500,000 users; built the operations framework, brand identity, and team to take the service from concept to launch, across web and mobile, in under two weeks.
  • Broke internal records for business experiments, executing 1-3 tests per week and distilling learnings into decisions and pivots.
  • Designed and managed human evaluation operations for an IRB-approved AI-enabled community healthcare product, recruiting evaluators/users and synthesizing business learnings.
  • Conducted a usability review of a peer-to-peer logistics platform, evaluating functionality and delivery workflows and recommending product enhancements and feature priorities.
Strategy Lead, Founding Team 2025–2026 (Currently Advising)
Sensify Inc., Pittsburgh, PA
  • Led customer discovery through the NSF I-Corps program, validating market needs across liminal spaces, airports, universities, and municipal sectors while refining value propositions.
  • Translated user insights into an iterative product roadmap, guiding product direction and laying the foundation for a SaaS-based revenue model.
  • Directed multidisciplinary teams spanning engineering, design, and data science to develop and test MVP devices and supporting data architecture.
  • 2025 Northwestern University VentureCat finalist and Sustainability Track winner.
Chief Operating Officer 2018–2022
The Laundry Chute, a CSC ServiceWorks Company
  • Led operations for a tech-enabled peer-to-peer college laundry company through rapid growth, acquisition, and pandemic-related business pivots.
  • Scaled to 15 active locations across 8 campuses, with a pipeline of 20 additional locations representing 200,000+ prospective customers.
  • Directed pricing, staffing, logistics, partnerships, and service delivery decisions during periods of significant operational uncertainty.
  • Managed product roadmap from requirements to release, balancing business, customer, and usability priorities.
  • Built and scaled recruiting, onboarding, training, and people operations systems supporting a distributed workforce across multiple campuses during rapid growth.
Founder and CEO 2017–2020
Post 9 LLC, Pittsburgh, PA
  • Founded a postpartum concierge support and subscription box service for new mothers, building a tech stack and curated product line to close a gap in postpartum care.
  • Executed a 6-month GTM strategy; raised $35,000+ in non-dilutive funding and incubator sponsorship.
  • Designed proprietary products and sourced manufacturing on- and off-shore.
Associate Director 2015–2016
Made Right Here, Pittsburgh, PA
  • Directed STEM career-focused Maker Professional programs supporting 100+ at-risk youth and adults through apprenticeship and advanced manufacturing training.
  • Raised $175,000+ for three youth programs, expanding externship and trade-apprenticeship opportunities.
Maker in Residence 2014–2015
White House Maker Faire, White House OSTP & Carnegie Mellon University
  • Led the White House Maker Faire University Initiative, securing commitments from 150+ colleges and universities to support Maker education and innovation, exceeding the original goal of 100 institutions.

Additional Experience

Board & Volunteering

Education, Training & Certifications

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