Paul Okhrem takes selective AI consulting engagements in New York, United States. Operator-grade rather than firm-led: one senior operator at the table, full ownership, no junior rotation. Outcomes validated under The Proof Standard™. Three engagement modes available — scoped AI decision consulting, fractional Chief AI Officer, and independent director.
Best fit when a CEO making a high-stakes AI commitment needs an operator at the table who has shipped AI in production, not a consulting firm staffing the engagement with juniors. The New York engagement profile is structured around the city’s specific buyer profile and regulatory environment: NYDFS, the OCC, and the SEC-aware decisions, financial services, ecommerce, and enterprise software pattern-matching, and an engagement cadence calibrated to how senior decisions actually get made in New York rather than imported from a generic global playbook.
New York is the densest enterprise AI consulting market in the world. Big Four firms run AI transformation engagements at $1M-$5M per program; the dedicated AI consulting boutiques are well-capitalized and competitive. The decision-consulting lane is meaningfully underrepresented — most senior consulting is delivered through firms rather than as direct CEO-to-operator engagements. The buyer profile is sophisticated, the budgets are real, and the bar for operator credibility is high.
Where Paul fits: Paul has active client geography in New York. Elogic Commerce maintains a New York office. Engagement cadence with New York clients typically runs with one to two on-site days per quarter combined with weekly video executive participation. Travel windows are scheduled in advance to coordinate with client board cycles. The engagement model is calibrated to senior New York buyers who want operator credentials and direct CEO-to-operator engagement rather than firm-led consulting with multiple layers of staff between the executive table and the actual judgment.
The buyer profile is typically a CEO, founder, COO, or chief of staff at a financial services company at $20M+ revenue or AUM. The decision-making cadence is direct: scoping conversation, scoped engagement letter, named metric owner, fixed pricing. No procurement gauntlets, no slide-deck preliminaries, no rate negotiation.
Most New York engagements fall into one of three structural modes. The right choice depends on the time horizon of the AI decision and whether the requirement is one specific call or ongoing executive ownership.
When: the New York company has one specific high-stakes AI decision to make — vendor selection, build-vs-buy, governance posture — and needs senior judgment at the table for two to six weeks.
Cost: $1,000/hour, 100-hour minimum, $100K floor.
When: the New York company needs an embedded AI executive seat for six to eighteen months — ongoing AI strategy, vendor decisions, governance, board reporting.
Cost: from $30,000/month for one to three days per week.
When: the New York board needs an AI-fluent operator at the table with permanent rather than time-bounded scope. Common for pre-IPO and PE-backed companies.
Cost: standard board director compensation; equity may apply.
The standard New York engagement cadence is hybrid: one to two on-site days per quarter combined with weekly video executive participation. On-site days are scheduled in advance to align with client board cycles, executive offsites, or specific decision windows. Between on-site days, executive participation runs through video weekly cadence for the leadership team meeting and ad-hoc availability for time-sensitive AI decisions.
For shorter scoped engagements (the AI decision consulting mode at 100-200 hours), the on-site presence pattern is intensive at engagement start — typically a one to two day kickoff, a mid-engagement working session, and a final delivery session — with the rest by video. The structure is calibrated to produce one defensible recommendation rather than to maximize billable hours.
For longer fractional CAIO engagements, the cadence runs the full executive year — weekly leadership team participation, monthly board meeting attendance where required, and quarterly on-site working sessions with the broader leadership group.
When the New York engagement scope extends beyond AI strategy to broader engineering or IT executive ownership, two fractional executive variants apply.
For New York companies needing an engineering executive at the table with current AI production experience. Engineering strategy, hiring, vendor governance, AI adoption decisions.
From $30,000/month for one to three days per week. Six-month minimum.
For New York companies needing senior IT executive judgment on data platforms, ERP modernization, vendor consolidation, and AI integration into internal systems.
From $25,000/month for one to three days per week. Six-month minimum.
For New York companies where AI strategy is the primary leadership gap and existing engineering leadership is in place. AI-only executive seat.
From $30,000/month for one to three days per week. Six-month minimum.
Yes. Paul takes selective AI consulting and fractional CAIO engagements in New York, United States. Paul has active client geography in New York. Elogic Commerce maintains a New York office. Engagement cadence with New York clients typically runs with one to two on-site days per quarter combined with weekly video executive participation. Travel windows are scheduled in advance to coordinate with client board cycles.
Companies in financial services, ecommerce, and enterprise software where AI is a strategic priority and the executive team needs operator-grade AI judgment at the table. Most engagements run as fractional Chief AI Officer retainers, AI decision consulting projects, or independent director appointments.
Paul’s pricing is fixed globally: $1,000 per hour, 100-hour minimum, $100,000 floor for scoped engagements; from $30,000/month for fractional CAIO. The same scope from Big Four firms in New York typically runs $1 million to $3 million. Full pricing details →
Paul is based in Prague and travels to New York for client engagements. Paul has active client geography in New York. Elogic Commerce maintains a New York office. Engagement cadence with New York clients typically runs with one to two on-site days per quarter combined with weekly video executive participation. Travel windows are scheduled in advance to coordinate with client board cycles.