Financial command
Turn financial activity into clear decisions, controls, and forward visibility.
- GAAP reporting
- Budgeting & cash flow
- Tax & reconciliations
- Management insight
John HermannFinance + Operations
Director of Finance & Operations · Executive Leadership
Finance discipline.
Operational range.
Executive judgment.
I turn financial information into decisions, build practical systems, and move organizations from complexity toward clarity, control, and growth.
Open to high-fit Director of Finance & Operations, COO/CEO-track, and adjacent executive roles nationwide or remote.
John HermannFinance · Operations · StrategyBloomington, Illinois
10+Years across finance and operations
35+Year enterprise modernized
5Working applied-AI systems
6 · 63 · 65Series qualifications
Enterprise value
Build the fundamentals. Value follows.
Financial clarity → operating discipline → durable growth
Executive value
See the whole business.
My advantage is range with a financial center of gravity: I understand the numbers, the operation behind them, and the people responsible for the outcome.
Operational leadership
Build practical systems that improve execution without losing sight of the customer.
- Process improvement
- Vendor coordination
- Contracts & leases
- Digital modernization
Executive judgment
Balance risk, growth, people, and long-term trust across complex decisions.
- Business turnaround
- Client strategy
- Cross-functional leadership
- Governance
AI-enabled operations
Make intelligence operational.
I design practical local-AI systems that make work faster and more consistent without surrendering control.
Technical foundation
I began teaching myself web development at age eight, progressing through HTML, CSS, JavaScript, PHP, and MySQL, with additional study in Objective-C. I later taught technology at Heartland Community College and earned the technology department's “Tech Guru” nickname for troubleshooting and collaborative problem-solving.
Automate the repeatable. Escalate the ambiguous. Keep people accountable.
Python first
Route predictable work through fast, repeatable rules instead of spending AI resources on every task.
AI where context matters
Use focused model review for ambiguity, exceptions, and judgment—not as a substitute for the entire process.
Governed by design
Keep consequential actions behind human approval, audit trails, privacy boundaries, resource controls, and safe stops.
Working systems
AI Mail Sorter · AI File Organizer · AI Resource Manager · AI Exam Mastery · AI Career Manager
Selected impact
Strategy is useful only when it changes the operation.
Stabilized and modernized a family enterprise
Used accounting visibility, budgeting, digital payments, stronger marketing, and scalable operating practices to help move a struggling real-estate business toward durable performance.
Connected financial expertise to operating reality
Combined accounting, tax, banking, investment, and client experience to evaluate decisions from more than one functional viewpoint.
Built across business, nonprofit, and applied AI
Founded ventures, helped form governance systems, and translated operating friction into working local-AI tools for mail, files, resources, learning, and career workflows.
Original artMade commercially tangible
Creative commerce
Original vision. Commercial discipline.
Polished in presentation. Principled in judgment. Entrepreneurial in outlook.
ArtDogs begins with my own fine art and continues through product design, pricing, supplier economics, e-commerce systems, automation, and customer experience. It is creativity translated into an operation.
Explore ArtDogs ↗Career progression
One path. Expanding range.
The progression is consistent: learn the system, read the evidence, improve the operation, then lead the outcome.
Applied AI systems portfolio
Making AI operational
Build local, Python-first systems for mail, files, resources, learning, and career workflows with human approval and auditability built in.
Automation with executive control →Leadership record
Experience built across functions.
Banking taught me to understand people, risk, and opportunity. Advisory work strengthened my financial planning and investment judgment. Leading accounting and business operations taught me how to turn decisions into measurable results.
JPMorgan Chase
Relationship Banker
Manage client relationships in a regulated environment, uncover financial needs, coordinate solutions, and deliver disciplined service across personal banking and financial planning conversations.
Hermann Homes Rentals LLC
Finance & Business Operations Leadership
Lead accounting, budgeting, reconciliations, cash-flow oversight, tax support, vendor coordination, lease administration, and operating decisions for a 35+ year family real-estate enterprise.
ArtDogs LLC
Founder & Owner
Transform my original fine art into commercial products while directing pricing, supplier economics, e-commerce, technology, brand development, and operating decisions.
Visit ArtDogs ↗Prudential
Financial Advisor
Built long-term client relationships, developed financial plans, advised on investments and retirement, monitored portfolios, and collaborated with legal and financial professionals.
H&R Block
Tax Specialist
Prepared and reviewed individual, business, and business-owner tax filings with close attention to documentation, compliance, accuracy, and deadlines.
UpperStory Inc. NFP
Founder & Governance Contributor
Authored bylaws and organizational materials, supported governance, fundraising, community partnerships, and practical assistance for the neurodivergent community.
Heartland Community College · Project RISE
Technology Lab Assistant & Adjunct Instructor
Taught web development and technology workshops, supported learners facing disability, economic, or first-generation barriers, maintained lab technology, and became a trusted troubleshooting and brainstorming resource for the college technology team.
Essays & project stories
The work behind the résumé.
These ten essays explain the projects behind my experience: rebuilding a business, applying financial analysis, founding a nonprofit, learning and teaching technology, developing products from original art, and turning ideas into working systems.
Finance · 01
Accounting, Finance, & Investments
My dad was into investing with Options when I was in junior high school, and we had so much fun with it. He took me to Chicago to a sem…
Read article →
Business · 02
Flipping a Failing Business
A family business went from a failing firm to a successful long-term business and investment under my direction. Good accounting can op…
Read article →Entrepreneurship · 03
Fine Art e-Commerce
In response to COVID, ArtDogs LLC went from being a strict Fine Art & greeting card line sold across seven states exclusively in galler…
Read article →
Community · 04
Founding a Not-For-Profit
When initially going into founding a Not-For-Profit Jan. 2015, I thought it was as simple as opening a sole proprietorship on Legal Zoo…
Read article →
Technology · 05
Web & Computer Programming Languages
At age eight, I began teaching myself web development. Over time, I progressed through HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript, MySQL, and PHP. I also…
Read article →
Design · 06
Product Design
ArtDogs LLC's e-commerce is blossoming! However, our product line is only beginning. We have from only three of my solo art shows more…
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Technology · 07
3D Animation
My interest in 3D Animation came about through multiple incidents. The first with the simple observation that the motion picture indust…
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Arts · 08
Music Performance
Music and art are a big part of my family's heritage. Therefore, it is fair to say that my interest in music started in utero when my m…
Read article →
Arts · 09
Videography and Editing
As a young child, fascinated by filmmaking of motion pictures and all the procedures, filming was my childhood dream. Of course, God m…
Read article →
Personal · 10
Fitness in the Technological Milieu
Throughout my life, computer or phone screen time has been dominant since technological society demands such. Therefore, my dad sought…
Read article →Credentials
Prepared for the financial and operating mandate.
Liberty University
Interdisciplinary studies in Finance, Accounting, and Music Performance · Cum Laude
Post-graduate Accounting Certificate · 2023
Financial services
SIE · Series 6 · Series 63 · Series 65
Life & Health Insurance · Long-Term Care
CFP® certification path in progress · anticipated June 2027
Technology that improves the operation
Python-first automation · Ollama/local AI · SQLite · workflow and rule design
HTML · CSS · JavaScript · PHP · MySQL · Objective-C foundations
Human approval gates · audit trails · privacy, workload, and thermal controls
Leadership and achievement
State Farm Entrepreneur Essentials · Prudential Career Development and service recognition · collegiate honor societies
The next mandate
Need a leader who can read the financials, improve the operation, and own the outcome?
Bloomington, Illinois · Nationwide & remote opportunities