Kim Arnold · Enterprise Operations Executive

Organizations don't usually need more strategy. They need an operating model built to move with change, not just survive it.

I help executive teams close the execution gap — building the governance and operating discipline that let companies scale without losing control. I don't analyze and leave — I step inside, build it, and operate it. Lightstone Consulting is where I do that work now.

The light brings clarity to what is complex. The stone builds the foundation strong enough to hold.

Meet Kim →

Tenured Enterprise PMO, Customer Success, Services, Consulting & MSP Leader · scaled 2 → 400+ professionals across 27 global locations · $1B revenue portfolio · 3,000-person global Customer Success org supported

When leaders call

When execution can't keep up with what's changing.

The execution gap change exposes

The strategy is fine. What's missing is the ability to execute it at the pace the business now moves — decisions slow, meetings multiply, and the people closest to the work end up figuring it out as they go, in real time.

AI got adopted before it got governed

Every team picked its own tool. Nobody owns the workflow, the risk, or the return — so the investment shows activity, not ROI.

A merger or acquisition scrambled everything

Systems, culture, and customer commitments all have to move together, and someone has to actually run that, not just plan it.

Capacity is walking out the door

Customer outcomes depend on a few people's memory and goodwill instead of a repeatable system — so when they burn out or leave, the capacity leaves with them.

The PMO tracks work instead of driving it

Reporting exists. Decisions still don't get faster or clearer because of it.

So what

Why me, specifically.

Not an agency

An agency staffs your problem with whoever's on the bench that month, bills by the hour, and hands you a deck. I stay in the work until it's actually running — no handoff, no invoice for a binder nobody opens again.

Not just another experienced executive

Most executives with this many years have one deep specialty and bring in help for the rest. I've run operations, people, customer success, and PMO in the same seat, at the same company, at the same time — so you're not coordinating between four specialists. I am the coordination.

How Lightstone helps

Capabilities are the mechanism. Clarity is the product.

Executive operations: Cadence, governance, and decision frameworks leadership actually runs on.
Transformation & PMO: A PMO that drives decisions, not just tracks them.
Customer success & growth: Revenue-base growth and retention, owned as one system.
People & organizational scale: Role clarity, workforce planning, and change that actually lands.
AI-enabled operations: AI governance and workflow design — adoption that survives contact with the business.
Fractional & interim leadership: I step into the seat and start operating on day one.

Representative career experience

Recognizable organizations. Complex operating environments.

No quota. Just an expectation to grow the account.

Owned revenue-base growth across a $100M+ portfolio with no formal sales quota — just a standing expectation to grow every account a minimum 5% year over year. Sustained 98-99% customer retention and 13-15% annual growth across Fortune 500, Federal, Healthcare, and Financial Services accounts.

An $80M "PMO" that everyone called broken — it wasn't a PMO

Nearly 300 people carried a Project Manager title, but most were doing delivery and logistics work wearing a PM label — which is why everything sold off that portfolio was compromised from the start, and why people called the PMO itself broken. It wasn't. Diagnosed it by reading every SOW against real timesheets and time-to-task studies, then rebuilt the roles with honest titles and real KPIs for the Services and Operations work actually being done — the fix that would have moved CSAT, margin, and pricing, not more PM process.

What was sold didn't match what could be delivered

SOWs and amendments were sold in ways delivery couldn't fulfill profitably. Rewrote and re-solutioned them end-to-end so the commitments became deliverable and margin-positive.

2 people to 400+, across 27 global locations

Scaled a global data center services field delivery program from a two-person team to more than 400 professionals — a blend of FTEs and contingent/contract staffing partners — supporting roughly $1B in annual program revenue without breaking service quality.

Representative organizations

Flagship enterprise

Microsoft (Azure, Bing, Xbox) · Dell Technologies · Google · Meta · PayPal · eBay · The Walt Disney Company

Consumer & retail

Procter & Gamble · The Iams Company · Walmart · Spanx · Genuine Parts Company · Valvoline

Financial services & insurance

Citigroup · Fifth Third Bank · Truist Insurance · JLL · The Reynolds and Reynolds Company

Hospitality, restaurant & sports

Yum! Brands · Arby's · GoTo Foods · Churchill Downs Incorporated · Atlanta Falcons

Healthcare & higher education

St. Jude Children's Research Hospital · Ochsner Health · Dayton Children's Hospital · The Ohio State University · Vanderbilt · Tulane · LSU · University of Georgia · University of Tennessee

Government & defense

U.S. Army · U.S. Navy · U.S. Air Force · United States Military Academy at West Point · State of Michigan · State of Ohio · State of Tennessee · State of Louisiana

These names represent Kim Arnold's career experience and portfolio exposure, not necessarily direct Lightstone Consulting clients.

Founder

The executive behind the practice.

Kim Arnold

Enterprise Transformation & Business Operations Executive · Former Dell Technologies leader in the SVP office for a 3,000+ person global Customer Success organization · Former Global PMO Director, Zones

For over two decades, I've been the executive called in when things are breaking — growth outpacing the org, a business in the thick of a crisis, or a client one bad week from walking. Those are the moments that touch every angle at once — legal, risk, dependencies, forecasting — and often come down to giving leaders the tools and the structure to hold their teams accountable in a way that actually improves the employee and client experience, not just the numbers.

Seventeen years at Dell Technologies gave me range most operators never get in one company — Customer Success, service delivery, data center operations, and the People and Culture function for a 3,000-person org. At Stratascale and Zones I ran PMO and transformation through acquisition integration, and I bring that same discipline to how organizations adopt AI — governance first, tools second.

I named this practice Lightstone on purpose. When organizations are mid-storm, the instinct is to send out more ships — more strategy, more tools, more "do more with less." For over two decades, I've acted as the beacon people could see through the fog, and the foundation solid enough to build on once they reached it. Not add motion. Be the light and the stone.

Every execution problem is a communication problem wearing a different name.

Connect on LinkedIn →

Career arc

Six chapters. One consistent mission.

Origin

Iams — business translation

Customer service, IT recruiting, new hire orientation, intern programs, contingent staffing, intranet, ATS, and translating technical complexity.

Early career

P&G, HPE, CSC

First exposure to M&A and enterprise transformation, infrastructure and site technology operations, and technical program management for enterprise clients.

17 yrs

Dell — enterprise scale

Across Customer Success, service delivery, data center services, executive operations, culture, and global leadership support.

Stratascale

Integration

Client operations, executive alignment, operating cadence, and customer confidence through post-acquisition change.

Zones

Modern operations

Global PMO leadership, governance, reporting, AI-enabled operations, and capability-based workforce modeling.

2024

Lightstone — executive advisory

I close the execution gap — through clearer communication, real accountability, and decisions people can trust.

What colleagues say

In their own words.

"Kim is a Pro that can balance many complex things at once. I have personally seen her in some very challenging situations and handled them with professionalism and dedication."

Jeff Strickland · hired and managed by Kim at Dell Technologies

"Kim's individual credibility raised the credibility of our team and our company in the eyes of our customers. I would highly recommend Kim whenever there is a need to put top talent in front of a customer to win them over."

Brad Steadman · worked with Kim at Dell Technologies

"Kim was my hiring manager at Dell Technologies where she led multiple teams across multiple regions with ease. Her ability to juggle both needs of her employees and customers while meeting deadlines with little to no delay was impressive."

Tony Jaquez · hired and managed by Kim at Dell Technologies

"Kim embodied leadership qualities and served as a mentor and coach, significantly influencing the operational success of our services teams and driving key performance indicators for customer engagement."

Dr. David Van Goethem · worked with Kim at Dell Technologies

Three ways to engage

Advisory, embedded, or project-based.

Advisory

You bring the decision. I bring hard-won pattern recognition on what actually breaks organizations at scale — and a straight answer, not a framework deck.

Fractional / interim

I take the seat and start operating immediately — Chief of Staff, PMO, or Customer Success — so nothing stalls while you hire the permanent leader right.

Project-based

A defined build with a defined end: governance design, a PMO stood up, an AI workflow actually governed, an operating model that outlasts the engagement.