Resume

Chris Uthe

Product Leader | EdTech Innovator | AI Strategist

Sioux Falls, SD

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Summary

Product leadership professional with 20 years of experience transforming ideas into market-leading products. Specialized in EdTech and AI-powered solutions, with a track record of building high-performing teams and driving successful exits. Passionate about leveraging technology to create meaningful student outcomes.

Experience

President

BlackBeltHelp

Aug 2025 - Present

Leading strategic direction and evolution toward a successful SaaS platform with integrated human support options.

  • Setting company-wide vision for AI-powered educational support
  • Driving product-led growth strategy
  • Building strategic partnerships in higher education

Chief Product Officer

BlackBeltHelp

Jan 2024 - Aug 2025

Led transformation from services company to software + services hybrid model.

  • Built product development team in Gurugram, India from informal group to integrated unit
  • Transitioned AI strategy from Google DialogFlow to semantic search + LLM with RAG
  • Established product packaging and solution-based selling strategies
  • Defined growth metrics aligning product department with company-wide product-led strategy
  • Reduced implementation bottlenecks and improved customer satisfaction
  • Developed customer advisory boards for upsell/cross-sell pathways

Sr. Director of Product & Technology

Higher Ed Partners

Jun 2023 - Sep 2023

Evaluated expansion plans and optimized structural/software strategy.

  • Assessed technology stack for scalability
  • Developed strategic recommendations for product expansion

Director of Product Management

Ocelot

Apr 2021 - Mar 2023

Drove multiple MVPs to market-leading positions as second product hire.

  • Established product team from single employee to full department
  • Implemented AI technology shifts (IBM Watson, SBert, generative AI)
  • Built customer feedback loop with alpha/beta releases
  • Supported ARR growth preceding successful exit to K1 Investment Management

Senior Manager of Product Development

Jenzabar, Inc

2018 - 2021

Centralized leadership for Student Portal and LMS teams.

  • Managed 20+ person department across product, UX/CX, development, testing, and DevOps
  • Transitioned platform from on-premises to SaaS
  • Achieved WCAG 2.x AA compliance
  • Reorganized development procedures reducing delivery time

Manager - JICS & eLearning

Jenzabar, Inc

2013 - 2018

Directed product management for two product lines.

  • Led conferences and webinars for internal and external stakeholders
  • Redesigned UI with responsive design implementation over 24 months
  • Increased enhancement requests and defect reports by 50%

Contact

Skills

Product Leadership

Product Strategy Roadmap Development Go-to-Market Customer Research OKRs & Metrics

Technology

AI/ML Strategy SaaS Architecture API Design RAG Systems Cloud Platforms

Team & Process

Cross-functional Leadership Agile/Scrum Team Building Stakeholder Management Vendor Relations

Domain Expertise

EdTech Higher Education Student Information Systems Learning Management Chatbots & Conversational AI

Highlights

  • Founded first company at age 16
  • Supported successful exit to K1 Investment Management
  • 13+ years in education technology
  • Active open source contributor
  • Speaker at Futures Summit 2024