About John Hawkins

Who you'd be working with.

I am a Fractional COO. I find the blind spots in your people, products, and processes, equip your leadership team to carry the vision, and get you out of the bottleneck. Alongside you, not in place of you.

Twenty-five years operating across 300+ companies, in the seats that leave scars, not slides: CIO, Chief Strategy Officer, VP Sales, SVP Client Success. Before that, the Navy, a fire department, and an ambulance.

John Hawkins, Fractional COO, Triwise Solutions
300+Companies
$2B+Revenue Generated
25yrsOperating
NavyVeteran
The Experience That Shapes the Work

Done the owner's job. Not just advised on it.

LINE-X Automotive Accessories

Grew operating income by $11M in 18 months by restructuring the commercial model, the sales organization, and distribution across a 500-plus franchise network.

CardWorks Servicing, SVP Client Success

Took NPS from -86 to +7 in 12 months, a 93-point swing, with no added budget. Rebuilt the client success organization while the pressure was on.

Dataline Systems, executive advisor

Guided a VP-to-COO-to-CEO transition and a father-to-son succession, then a clean sale with 100% employee retention.

Healthcare operations, founder to exit

Built and sold (2024 to 2026) a multi-state weight-loss clinic, in person and telehealth across 42 states, including provider credentialing and 503A/503B pharmacy compliance.

Stryker Global, QA division

Five years inside one of the most disciplined manufacturing operations there is: quality systems, compliance, and process discipline where a mistake has real consequences.

Enterprise data, 25 years

IBM, Cognos, Business Objects. Getting your numbers into one place leaders can trust, so decisions run on facts. Without that foundation, AI just speeds up the wrong answers.

Navy service, USS MidwayForged by the sea
Firefighter serviceRun toward the fire
The Operator Years

Navy veteran. Firefighter. EMT.

By 25 I had served on the USS Midway, run into burning buildings, and worked medical calls. When lives are on the line, leadership stops being a theory and becomes a habit. It is also why regulated, high-stakes businesses feel like home.

  • Execution beats theory. A plan you do not run is just talk.
  • Readiness is built early. In the quiet stretches, not the crisis.
  • Systems have to hold under pressure. Reliable is the standard.
How I Work

Alongside your team. Built to outlast me.

  • I work alongside your leadership team, not above it and not around it.
  • Operations first, then data you can trust, then AI where it earns its place. Force Multiplier runs inside the engagement.
  • Your team learns the discipline by doing the work on real decisions, week after week.
  • I work myself out of the job once the systems hold, and help hire a permanent replacement if the seat needs filling.

Want to talk it through? Book a 30-minute call

John Hawkins with leadership teams
John Hawkins away from work
CommunityFamilyJohn Hawkins portrait

The personal side

I grew up in a trailer park in Southern California. I ride a motorcycle, like hard workouts, hard problems, strong coffee, and the ocean. Most of all, I am a father to a daughter with autism who needs ongoing care. She taught me to build systems that do not depend on me being there, and to make myself less critical over time, not more. That is how I run every engagement.

"I help people do things that matter, with people that matter, for reasons that matter."

Ready?

Thirty minutes, straight talk about your business.

No pitch, no deck. If it is not a fit, I will tell you and point you to what would help.