JOEL CATALYST CREATIVE CONNECTOR BUILDER LEADER
Available Now · Columbia, MO

JoelShettlesworth

I find the better path forward, bring the right people together, and then we make the magic happen. AI forward. Creatively minded. Deeply business-smart.

MAGIC LISTEN AI CREATIVE TRUST IMPACT
Who I Am
01

I don't just spot the problem. I find the path no one else saw.

14 years of pattern recognition across mortgage ops, national media, and retail leadership.

02

People follow me because I actually listen first.

Cross-functional teams move fast when everyone feels heard. That is the environment I build.

03

AI is not my buzzword. It is my toolbox.

I built and shipped custom GPT tools into production mortgage workflows. Not a pilot. Live.

04

Creative thinking is how I solve business problems.

A decade in broadcast journalism trained my eye for story, clarity, and ideas that actually stick.

What I Bring

Not a list of skills.
A set of superpowers.

Hover to pause
Experience

14 years.
Always the one people call.

Different industries. Different problems. Same result: things worked better when I was involved.

2024 – 2026
Veterans United /
Neighbors Bank
Columbia, MO
VUX Specialist
Quality assurance in mortgage operations. Then I kept asking "why does this take so long?" Built and shipped custom AI tools that actually cut manual processing time. Not a side project. In production.
AI ToolsQAProcess ImprovementEncompassCompliance
2022
University of Missouri System
Columbia, MO
Senior Media Producer
75+ commercial projects managed from first call to final cut. Clients came back because the work was good and working with me was easy.
Project ManagementClient RelationsCreative Direction
2018 – 2021
E.W. Scripps
National / Remote
Producer & Editor
1,500+ national news segments. Rebuilt the post-production workflow from nothing into something that made a distributed team faster and more consistent. That is process design without the title.
Workflow DesignRemote TeamsEditorial Leadership
2016 – 2018
Sinclair
Jefferson City, MO
Creative Services Producer
1,000+ campaigns. Managed budgets, vendors, creative teams, and clients simultaneously. Advertisers renewed because the work earned it.
Budget ManagementVendor RelationsClient Retention
2010 – 2016
AT&T · Socket Telecom
Columbia, MO
Store Manager + Sales Lead
Led a 10-person team, built the onboarding program, raised satisfaction scores, and consistently exceeded quota. The titles were manager and sales rep. The work was leadership and culture-building.
Team LeadershipTraining ProgramsSalesOperations
Selected Work

Problems I solved.
Results that stuck.

01
AI Implementation · Mortgage Operations
Custom GPT for Loan Origination Support
Mapped the knowledge domain, built the tool, tested it against real edge cases, and deployed it to a live operations team. No engineering department. Just curiosity and follow-through.
Live
in production
02
Process Automation · Mortgage Operations
Automated Property Tax Lookup Integration
Saw a repetitive manual step, figured out how to eliminate it, and built an integration that made the data appear automatically during loan processing. Zero clicks added to anyone's day.
0
manual steps
03
Workflow Design · National Media
Post-Production Workflow Redesign at E.W. Scripps
A distributed team was moving too slowly and inconsistently. Rebuilt the entire post-production flow over 3.5 years. 1,500+ segments later, the team was faster and the output was sharper.
1,500+
segments improved
Let's connect

Let's make
something great.

Looking for roles in business analysis, project management, AI implementation, or operations leadership. If you need someone who thinks creatively, moves quickly, and brings people with them, that is me.

Reach out
Email
Send a message
LinkedIn
View Profile
Resume
Download PDF