Operations & Transformation Leader

I help organizations turn ambiguity into working structure.

25+ years leading operations, enterprise implementations, and organizational change across broadcast media, digital media, publishing, and enterprise systems. I come in when a role, process, or system is new or evolving, learn how the business actually works, find where things break down between teams, and build something practical that holds up.

Read the case study

25 years, one recurring theme

I'm an operations and transformation leader with a background spanning broadcast media, digital media, publishing, enterprise systems, and revenue operations. Most recently, I was Head of Implementation at TapClicks, where I helped shape implementation strategy for a next-generation order management platform and designed AI-powered tools to turn customer discovery into requirements, estimates, and migration plans.

Before that, I spent six years at The Minnesota Star Tribune building and evolving the digital advertising operations function through several rounds of change.

Going back further, the path runs through revenue operations at a multi-market TV organization and, before that, broadcast operations.

The through-line across all of it: I work well in the space between teams, translating between executives, Product, Engineering, Finance, Sales, and Operations, and finding the practical fix when responsibilities or systems don't quite line up.

Based in
Minneapolis, MN (open to remote work)
Focus areas
Enterprise implementation, organizational design, AI-enabled workflows, advertising operations, digital media monetization.
Open to
Full-time operations and transformation leadership, as well as select advisory and project-based work
Contact
karen.godin@live.com
LinkedIn
linkedin.com/in/karensgodin

Where I can help

This is where I create the most value — often a mix of two or three of these at once.

01

Business & Operational Transformation

Leading the broader operation, not just one piece of it — understanding how a business runs end-to-end and building the structure it needs as it grows or changes.

02

Enterprise Implementation

Shaping implementation strategy for new systems or platforms — structured discovery, requirements, timelines, and migration planning that account for real workflow complexity.

03

Organizational Design

Reorganizing teams and responsibilities so ownership, workflows, and career paths keep up as the business changes — not just an org-chart redraw.

04

Process, Systems & AI-Enabled Operations

Finding where work breaks down between people, systems, and teams, and building practical, repeatable structure — including AI-powered tools — to fix it.

Reorganizing a team and its systems at the same time

When I stepped into the digital advertising strategy role at the Star Tribune in 2019, I inherited a generalist analyst group supporting more than $40 million in annual digital client spend. Everyone did a bit of everything, and as the volume and complexity of the work kept growing, it got harder to say clearly who owned what.

Over the next several years, I reorganized that group into specialized functions — media buying, campaign management, and advertising coordination — so people could go deep in one area instead of splitting attention across all of them. In parallel, I led the implementation of a new order management system the operation would run on, then took ongoing operational ownership of it once it was live.

Making both changes work meant staying in the room with the people who depended on the system and the team functioning correctly, and adjusting the structure as new friction showed up.

Neither piece was a single event. Team size and composition shifted more than once over six years as the business and the technology changed — at its largest, the team I managed directly was 13 people. Getting the reorg and the system implementation to actually hold meant working across Product, Technology, Finance, Sales, and editorial stakeholders who all depended on the outcome, not just handing off a plan and moving on. I also served on the Board of the Local Media Consortium during this period, 2022–2025, elected and reelected by industry peers.

By the time I left in 2025, the function looked structurally different than it had six years earlier: specialized roles instead of generalists, and an operational system the team owned rather than just used.

Full career timeline

25+ years, moving from broadcast operations into digital media, revenue operations, and enterprise implementation.

June 2025 – June 2026

TapClicks

Head of Implementation

Worked on implementation strategy for a next-generation enterprise order management platform across customers, Product, Engineering, and Operations. Designed AI-powered tools that turned structured customer discovery into implementation estimates, requirements documentation, timelines, and migration plans, and built tools to analyze existing configurations to support migration onto the new platform.

January 2019 – June 2025

The Minnesota Star Tribune

Director, Digital Advertising Strategy

Built and evolved the digital advertising operations function through six years of organizational change. Reorganized a generalist analyst group into specialized functions and led the implementation and ongoing operational ownership of a new order management system, supporting more than $40M in annual digital client spend. Managed multidisciplinary teams that shifted in size over time — as large as 13 people at once. Full write-up in the case study above.

January 2012 – January 2019

Cordillera Digital

Director, Revenue Operations

Led digital monetization and operations across a multi-market television organization, including ad operations, paid search, and creative services teams at different points. Increased revenue from unsold inventory by more than 100%, built executive reporting on revenue, impressions, effective CPM, and business performance, and held discussions with YouTube and other technology partners on monetization strategy.

February 2008 – January 2012

Inergize Digital

Advertising Manager

First Advertising Manager at the organization, transitioning from broadcast operations into digital media and monetization. Managed remnant and unsold inventory monetization generating more than $1M per month.

August 2006 – June 2007

Fox Television Stations

Broadcast Systems Administrator

First in this role. Supported a nationwide traffic-system conversion, working between operational and technical teams.

Earlier in career

Fox Sports Net North

Traffic & Sales Coordinator → Manager, On-Air Presentation

Progressed from Traffic & Sales Coordinator to Manager, On-Air Presentation — the first person to hold the On-Air Presentation Manager role in the Minneapolis market.

Early career

WDAZ-TV

Creative Services Writer

Wrote and produced local television commercials, earning a Teddy Award for commercial production.

Let's talk about your team

If you're building or transforming an operation, navigating a major implementation or reorganization, or dealing with processes that have outgrown the business, I'd like to hear about it.