Physicist → Operator → Trusted advisor

Matthew Lai

Your next Chief of Staff.

I translate enterprise strategy into executable plans. I diagnose problems that cut across lines of business and disciplines, align corporate priorities with funding, capacity and delivery commitments, and give executives the analysis and recommendations they need to decide. Then I deliver it, from programs to products.

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7
root causes found
+36%
ROIC, cases funded
~$500M
professional services portfolio, per year
$3M
ARR, scaled a startup from $150K
PhysicistOperatorTrusted advisor
2014 – 2017 · Nuclear physicist

Started inside the reactor.

That's where I learned to explain complex systems in plain language.

  • Ran fleet telemetry and radiation detection across two nuclear stations
  • Co-authored an EPRI industry report on remote monitoring
  • First-line manager of 30+ unionized staff
30+unionized staff led
Matthew in a protective suit beside an inspection robot inside a nuclear stationMatthew and his station team with the Darlington Outage Cup
2017 – now · Program delivery and operations

Then I built and ran the machinery.

  • Ran progressive and performance-based contracting on large-scale infrastructure
  • Rebuilt cost control and vendor performance monitoring for a ~$500M-a-year portfolio of professional services contracts, turning three monthly reviews into one
  • Transformed a cost assurance program around clear allowable-cost rules and risk-based audits
  • Built data products and prototypes, including a vendor cost-data standard, now in ingestion
  • Stood up fleet-wide predictive maintenance from day zero
~$500Ma year in professional services contracts. Rebuilt their cost control and vendor performance monitoring
Matthew holding a team trophy at the office
2024 – now · Chief of Staff (acting)

Now I'm the trusted advisor in the room.

  • Traced a failure across three financial systems to seven root causes, then took the roadmap to the CFO, CIO and EVP
  • Ran an in-house consulting engagement: all four recommendations approved by three VPs and now rolling out
  • Won CCO and CFO approval for a benchmarking team studying two peer agencies' digital transformation
  • Prepared Board materials for $100M+ decisions; sit on the enterprise AI and BI committee
$6.8BP3 infrastructure portfolio. I lead commercial management, cost assurance, internal audit, governance reform, relationship management and process improvement
Matthew leading a fireside chat with senior executives, slide on screen and executives in the roomMatthew introducing the executive panel to a room of colleagues

Selected outcomes

Strategist × operator.

Strategy Design the move

  • +36%ROIC on capital cases that had been turned down, now funded
  • 8 unitsoperating model and performance governance
  • $100M+payment decisions taken to Boards
  • AIenterprise AI and data platform selection

Operations Make it real

  • $140Mcost savings captured in FY2026
  • $43Mopex cut with IoT predictive maintenance
  • $3MARR: scaled a startup from $150K. Sourced and closed paid sponsors, including Toronto Life, and ran events on the ground as they grew from 30 people to 300+
  • 500K+followers: built and sold a city media brand
  • 2 boardsdirector at Toronto Ultimate Club and Big Brothers Big Sisters of Toronto

Emerging technology

Tied to value.

I am technology curious and business minded, and I focus on value capture. My job is to find where an emerging technology saves real money or earns real revenue, then make the case and get it built.

Use cases Taken from idea to business case

  • 01Legged robots for field maintenance rounds
  • 02Drones to replace manual building inspections and power line surveys
  • 03Predictive analytics and big data for condition-based maintenance, which delivered $43M in operating savings at Ontario Power Generation
  • 04Retrieval-augmented search (RAG) over a semantic layer, so users can search thousands of construction contracts across divisions
  • 05Project management and contract administration agents

Underneath all of it is the unglamorous work that decides whether any of this pays off: a vendor data standard with 16 automated validation checks, a phased roadmap that puts governed data and human review first, and a seat on the enterprise AI and BI committee.

Value captureEmerging technologyEnterprise AIPredictive maintenanceGoverned AI roadmap

Contact

Let's build
something hard.

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