Paul Thompson, MBA

Founder & CEO

Patriot Elite Group · Kenton County, Kentucky, United States

Nov 2025 – Present(6 mos)

Patriot Elite Group is a disabled veteran-founded leadership consulting firm, business advisory, and holding company built from the ground up in Edgewood, KY. The same operational excellence and systems discipline that maintained 98% equipment readiness across 13 bases during deployment now drives how every business inside PEG is built and run. I established PEG on a single conviction: organizations struggle because their operating system was never intentionally designed. Every engagement starts with that diagnosis and ends with a scalable system that holds after we leave. PEG aligns strategy, operations, and leadership development into one integrated structure built on The Leadership Operating System, driving execution, accountability, and measurable results across manufacturing, technology, and defense. We close execution gaps, scale operations efficiently, and build leadership structures that hold under pressure. We design and implement KPIs, scorecards, execution frameworks, and governance systems that create real visibility and accelerate decisions at every level. Our capabilities span process improvement, risk management, performance management, organizational transformation, and production management from the production floor to the executive team. As a holding company, PEG owns and operates a diversified portfolio including early childhood education, community food service, digital media and videography, and a fractional COO consulting practice. Each business runs on the same disciplined approach to leadership, governance, and operational performance. We do not deliver theory without execution. We deliver systems that turn complexity into clarity and strategy into results. Leadership Development | Fractional COO | Operational Excellence | Scalable Growth | Manufacturing | Technology | Defense | Process Improvement | Risk Management | Organizational Transformation | Production Management

Fractional COO & Leadership Accelerator

The Proper Group · Cincinnati metropolitan area, Ohio, United States

Nov 2025 – Present(6 mos)

When their clients need someone to diagnose the operational breakdown, rebuild the execution infrastructure, develop the leaders running it, and install the systems that scale, I am the operator they deploy. The Proper Group is a Cincinnati-based collective of proven C-suite executives delivering Leadership-as-a-Service to organizations navigating growth, complexity, and operational transformation. I serve as an embedded Fractional COO and Leadership Accelerator, brought in when a client's execution system is the constraint holding growth back and the leadership bench beneath it needs to be built. This partnership is a deliberate channel for expanding my fractional COO and leadership development practice. The Proper Group's model mirrors my own conviction precisely: operators lead from within, not from the sidelines. Every engagement through The Proper Group runs on the same Leadership Operating System I bring to every client relationship. I do not just fix the execution system. I develop the people operating it so the organization does not become dependent on my presence to perform. Embedded. Accountable. Focused on building leaders and systems that outlast the engagement. Being part of a collective of world-class fractional executives across operations, finance, technology, marketing, and people functions means my clients gain more than a COO. They gain a coordinated leadership system designed to align every function of their business simultaneously, with the leadership depth to sustain it long after the engagement ends.

Board President, Volunteer

Operation Phoenix Rising LLC · Kentucky, United States

Oct 2025 – Present(7 mos)

• Provide strategic governance and organizational oversight for a veteran-support nonprofit operating in a space where execution gaps have real human consequences. Ensure the mission is not just stated but operationally resourced and measurably delivered. • Stepped into the Board President role at an organization whose mission sits close to the bone. Veterans transitioning out of service do not need sympathy. They need structure, resources, and someone who has walked the same ground. That is what Operation Phoenix Rising builds toward and what I show up to protect. • Lead as a participative board member, not a figurehead. Personally engaged in outreach, public speaking, and fundraising because organizations at this stage do not scale on strategy alone. They scale on the people willing to do the work. • Help veterans navigate the transition from military structure to civilian opportunity, providing access to benefits, stability resources, and professional development pathways. The system that shaped my leadership now serves as the foundation for helping others build theirs.

Director Project Management

Enlighted Inc · United States

Oct 2019 – Aug 2025(5 yrs 11 mos)

• Led delivery of $61M+ in smart building, SaaS, and IoT projects across global teams operating in multiple time zones with no shared playbook. Built the playbook. Accelerated delivery by 20%. • Identified a structural disconnect between budget commitments and executive strategy. Realigned the two and improved on-time delivery by 12% within the first full operating cycle. • Recognized that onboarding was the silent killer of delivery speed. Redesigned the entire onboarding process and cut ramp time by 40%, accelerating project velocity across a global team. • Inherited a global delivery operation with no standardized execution model. Built the PMO infrastructure from the ground up, establishing governance, reporting cadence, and accountability structures that gave leadership real visibility for the first time. • Saw that risk and compliance were being treated as checkboxes rather than decision drivers. Rebuilt the governance model so that risk intelligence shaped execution decisions, not just audit reports. • Identified that PM capability was the ceiling on team performance. Designed and led PMP certification training across the entire project management organization, raising the floor for everyone.

Adjunct Professor

Thomas More University · Crestview Hills, Kentucky

Aug 2016 – Aug 2025(9 yrs 1 mo)

• Mentored 160+ emerging leaders across nine years, not as a side responsibility but as a deliberate investment in building the kind of operational talent the manufacturing and technology sectors are chronically short on. • Recognized that most operations curricula taught theory in a vacuum. Rebuilt course delivery around real corporate and military experience, giving students project level frameworks they could apply on day one of their careers, not year five. • Saw that the next generation of operations leaders was entering the workforce without exposure to the forces reshaping the field. Integrated Industry 4.0, IoT, and sustainability into coursework before most programs had added them to their syllabi. • Designed curriculum that bridged the gap between classroom strategy and production floor reality. Students left with a working understanding of Lean Six Sigma, supply chain dynamics, and digital transformation grounded in cases that actually happened.

Senior Program Manager (Strategic Projects)

Siemens · Norwood, Ohio

Mar 2019 – Oct 2019(8 mos)

• Brought in to lead strategic cost reduction and footprint consolidation at a moment when the organization needed to move fast without breaking things. Directed the effort with discipline, saving 10% in overhead cost without disrupting core production. • Saw that production planning and budget allocation were operating without a governance spine. Designed and implemented governance models for both, improving throughput by 25%.

Senior Project Manager

Siemens · Norwood, OH

Dec 2015 – Mar 2019(3 yrs 4 mos)

• Took over a manufacturing program portfolio with inconsistent delivery performance. Introduced Lean Six Sigma practices across the operation and drove operational efficiency up 20% while holding 95%+ on-time delivery across multi-million-dollar programs. • Partnered with finance to untangle a centralized budget structure that was creating friction between operations and vendor relationships. Rebuilt the compensation framework and introduced vendor managed inventory, producing 7% materials savings year over year.

Head of Aftersales Service, & Warranty / PV Project Execution Manager

Bonfiglioli USA · Hebron, KY

Mar 2012 – Dec 2015(3 yrs 10 mos)

• Inherited a warranty and field service operation that was absorbing cost without generating value. Diagnosed the root cause, restructured the contractual and compensation frameworks, and converted the function into a revenue driver, generating $1M+ in new service revenue. • Recognized that service cycle times were eroding client confidence and creating downstream delivery risk. Rebuilt the operational model and improved cycle times by 35%, turning a chronic friction point into a competitive differentiator. • Saw that quality compliance was being managed reactively rather than structurally. Led ISO 9001 implementation and embedded compliance into the operational rhythm so that standards became the floor, not the ceiling. • Served industrial and renewable energy clients through a period of significant market volatility. Built the service infrastructure to hold performance under pressure when most organizations were cutting corners to survive.

Chief Warrant Officer II (RET)

US Army

May 1992 – Dec 2012(20 yrs 8 mos)

• Accountable for $397M in equipment across logistics and maintenance operations. Built the readiness systems and maintenance disciplines that kept assets mission capable under conditions that do not forgive margin of error. • Deployed with responsibility for $512M in assets across 13 bases. Maintained 98% equipment readiness throughout the deployment. That number did not happen by accident. It happened because the system was built before the pressure arrived. • Authored SOPs and governance frameworks under combat and operational conditions. Those documents are still in use more than a decade later, which is the clearest measure of whether a system was built to last or built to check a box. • Awarded the Bronze Star Medal for leadership and operational excellence in Iraq. Led under conditions where the cost of a failed system is not a missed deadline but a lost life. That experience is the foundation of everything that came after. • Directed Battalion logistical operations as Movement Control Officer across two deployments, coordinating the movement of people, equipment, and resources at a scale and tempo that most supply chain leaders never encounter. • Led safety and environmental operations at the largest pre-deployment station in Kuwait, responsible for the readiness and compliance of thousands of personnel preparing to enter a combat theater. • Directed avionics, weapons, and electronics maintenance on eight Apache helicopters valued at $52M each. Zero margin for error. Zero tolerance for a system that was not fully understood before it was trusted. • Built and improved equipment readiness across 11 installations in Germany, establishing the operational standards and maintenance culture that allowed the organization to meet its mission commitments consistently.