Stefanie Di Russo

Portfolio Strategy Partner, Founders4Impact

I build strategy and experience functions, then stay to run them until they deliver measurable results- rather than just a plan on a slide. This has meant standing up a customer experience function from zero at 7-Eleven, running a 20+ experience design function as a Head of at NAB, running a strategy team and managing P&L for a consultancy in Tokyo, and advising a local AI startup on applied AI strategy and partnerships. Most recently, I've moved to the capital side of the table, partnering with GPs on raising funds and advising on portfolio strategy for an early-stage impact investment fund.

The common thread across these roles is differentiation, adaptability, and turning ambiguity into competitive value that gets executed: getting sceptical executives and Boards on side, then shipping the operating model, product, or agile customer transformation program that follows. Along the way, that's translated into executive-endorsed innovation programs, commercial revenue growth delivered inside 6 months, and hands-on build of digital and service design products from the ground up.

What sets my approach apart is my technical expertise in a first-principles, design-thinking method: I dig for the human and behavioural root-cause whilst analysing the systemic second-order effects that most strategy work skips past- then stay in the room to execute the fix rather than handing it off.

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