AI Consultant | Creative Director

Start with the outcome, not the tool. Most AI initiatives fail because someone picked software before defining success. I begin with the business result you need and identify which specific parts of your process stand between you and it.

Find the leverage, not the low-hanging fruit. Automating a task nobody cared about produces a demo, not a return. I look for the work that consumes the most senior time for the least creative value, because that’s where the recovered hours are worth something.

Design for the team you actually have. A strategy your people can’t run is a document. I build workflows around existing skills and existing tools, then train the team to own them without me.

Make the case in numbers. Every recommendation comes with a cost model: what it takes to implement, what it returns, and how long before it pays for itself.

• AI Opportunity Assessment & Roadmapping
• Creative Operations & Workflow Design
• AI Adoption & Change Management
• Business Case & ROI Modeling
• Brand Standards for AI-Generated Work
• AI Policy, Ethics & Governance
• Team Training & Enablement
• Enterprise Client Advisory

Strategic Development Manager

Adobe (contract engagement) | Remote | May 2026 to Present

Support nine enterprise accounts across financial services, manufacturing, retail, and consumer goods through account transitions and expansion planning.

• Lead discovery and transition sessions with enterprise customers, working alongside Customer Success Managers and Account Executives on account strategy.
• Translate customer business objectives into specific Creative Cloud and Firefly workflows, then track adoption against quarterly targets.
• Identify quick-win use cases that prove value early and shorten the path to commitment.
• Serve as the practical generative AI subject matter expert across accounts, converting capability into workflows customers can staff and run themselves.

Founder & AI Strategy Consultant

Michael Kristof Consulting / Smarter With AI | Nashville, TN | Aug 2022 to Present

Advise enterprise, startup, and SMB clients on where AI belongs in their creative and marketing operations, then build and hand off the systems.

• Run opportunity assessments that map a team’s production process, identify the highest-cost bottlenecks, and produce a prioritized roadmap with cost modeling
• Developed the “AI Stacking” method, combining multiple models into repeatable production workflows, and delivered automated creative systems that cut project launch time by 70%.
• Build and release the tools when a workflow gap needs software rather than process. Every one targets a specific productivity bottleneck I kept finding in client engagements:
  • Creative Brief Builder (creativebriefbuilder.ai): AI-guided conversational briefing that produces a complete, spec-ready creative brief in 15 to 20 minutes, with technical specifications added automatically so creative teams can start without a round of follow-up questions. Available as a white-label deployment with custom knowledge base and PM tool integration.
  • Stringer (smarterwithai.tools): WordPress plugin that turns a headline, or a month of them, into SEO-ready drafts written in the site’s own voice, with real internal links, complete meta fields, and optional featured images. Everything arrives as a draft, so the editor still decides what publishes.
  • PageForge Pro (smarterwithai.tools): WordPress plugin that generates production-ready pages from a plain-English description, using an existing design system or one extracted from a reference site.
  • SWAI Analyzers (smarterwithai.tools): Image, video, and campaign analysis tools built for creative teams.
  • Brief to Launch: SaaS platform in development.
• Deliver workshops and one-to-one training so client teams run the workflows without ongoing dependence on me.
• Advise on responsible AI practice, internal usage policy, and emerging compliance expectations.

Sr. AI Creative Designer

Continuum (formerly Kodi Collective) | Nashville, TN | Jul 2024 to Apr 2025

Owned AI strategy for a national marketing services company, covering internal adoption and client-facing service development.

• Designed the company’s AI adoption strategy and drove it across creative, operations, and sales inside six months.
• Built AI workflows producing $50,000 to $75,000 in annual operating savings.
• Packaged AI service offerings for clients and built the sales toolkit the team used to position and sell them.
• Founded and led the cross-functional AI working group, giving the company one forum for evaluating tools and setting practice.
• Wrote the company’s AI onboarding guides and ethical use guidelines, then presented at town halls and leadership sessions.
• Cut client reshoot spend roughly 65% through AI-generated concept and mockup work.

AI Consultant & Prompt Engineer

SketchDeck | San Jose, CA (Remote) | Aug 2023 to June 2025

• Advise creative leadership on evaluating and adopting generative AI tools for a scaling B2B design services business.
• Built brand-conformance frameworks that keep AI-generated work inside client brand standards at volume.
• Delivered prototypes that cut reliance on stock photography and outsourced design by 67%.

Creative Director

Futureshirts | Nashville, TN | Jun 2022 to Jun 2023

Directed creative and AI adoption for a major entertainment merchandise company.

• Introduced generative AI into production workflows, producing a 125% increase in premium design output and corresponding sales growth.
• Directed a digital asset management implementation delivering a 27% productivity gain and more than $51,000 in annual savings.
• Negotiated software vendor agreements saving a further $18,353 annually.
• Won new accounts, including Carrie Underwood and Live on the Green, through pitch development.
• Directed merchandise design for Carrie Underwood, Jason Aldean, Sam Hunt, Dustin Lynch, Riley Green, and Loretta Lynn, plus the Faster Horses and Tortuga festivals

Senior Art Director

Intouch Solutions, New York, NY — Freelance (Remote) | 12/2021 to 01/2022

Championed the fusion of creative design with emerging technologies. My focus on innovative digital marketing strategies laid the groundwork for my expertise in AI-enhanced content creation, bridging artistic vision with technological advancement.

• Led and defined the creative vision for print and digital campaigns for developing Pharmaceutical medications ensuring deliverables met and exceeded client high standards of quality, creativity, and production.
• Leveraged UI/UX expertise to craft engaging user-friendly website and mobile interfaces within the Pharmaceutical industry. Adhered to high industry standards to enhance user experience and customer engagement while ensuring alignment with clients’ brand guidelines and expectations.
• Fostered clear communication and collaboration across diverse teams through the effective use of Microsoft Teams, ensuring seamless project execution and on-time delivery.
• Reviewed and provided feedback on design deliverables, ensuring adherence to the highest standards of quality, creativity, and user experience.
• Played a pivotal role in steering print campaigns and digital design projects within the Pharmaceutical industry.
• Stayed abreast of industry trends and best practices, incorporating these insights into the design strategies to continuously evolve and refine the brand identity.

Two decades of brand and advertising leadership, where the job was always the same: understand the business problem, find the idea that moves it, and prove the result.

Creative Director / Graphic Design Program Director

Nossi College of Art and Design | Nashville, TN | Sep 2016 to Dec 2021

• Built and launched two bachelor’s degree programs, including market positioning, curriculum design, and recruitment marketing.
• Ran a gap analysis of the existing curriculum against industry hiring requirements, then rewrote 10 courses and created three new ones to close it.
• Launched a new brand strategy and integrated campaign producing a 6.4% increase in student applications.
• Recruited and mentored 18 adjunct instructors.
• Found and corrected a financial discrepancy saving $27,000 annually in marketing spend.

Founder & Creative Director

Kristof Creative | Nashville, TN | Nov 2003 to Sep 2016

• Led a CPG beverage label and packaging redesign that produced a 281% sales increase.
• Managed production budgets to $500,000, delivering on budget with 5% cost savings.
• Directed the March of Dimes Global Report on Birth Defects, handling more than 10,000 assets.
• Clients included American Diabetes Association, Country Music Association, March of Dimes, and Vanderbilt Medical Center.

Associate Creative Director

Arnold Worldwide | McLean, VA | Apr 2001 to Nov 2003

• Led an Effie Award-winning bank acquisition and name change campaign that increased deposits and held customer attrition far below the 10% industry norm for bank mergers.
• Directed campaigns for Citizens Bank, McDonald’s, Mobil Oil, PNC Bank, and STIHL.
• Managed a team of art directors and copywriters, and contributed to new business pitches that grew the agency’s portfolio.

AdMine.com, Herndon, VA. Associate Creative Director (1999 to 2001). Built an advertising sales program that increased online revenue 17%, and produced 52 campaigns in 8 months.

The Ramey Agency, Jackson, MS. Sr. Art Director (1995 to 1998). Economic development campaign producing a 23% increase in jobs created by new businesses during a national 7% decline. Financial print campaign generating $1.5M and 172 new accounts.

Young & Rubicam, New York, NY. Junior Art Director (1992 to 1994). AT&T, Johnson & Johnson, Chef Boyardee, U.S. Army, U.S. Mint.

• $50,000 to $75,000 in annual operating savings from AI workflow design
• 70% faster project launches through automated creative systems
• 65% reduction in client reshoot spend
• 67% reduction in stock photography and outsourced design dependence
• 125% increase in premium design production and sales
• 281% sales increase from a CPG packaging redesign
• $78,000 in combined annual vendor and marketing spend savings
• Effie Award for a bank acquisition campaign that beat industry retention norms

• Strategy & Automation: n8n, Make.com, Airtable, Supabase, MCP, GPT Assistants
• Language Models: Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, DeepSeek
• Image & Video: Firefly, Midjourney, Stable Diffusion, Flux, Ideogram, Runway, Veo, Kling, Magnific, Topaz
• Voice & Music: ElevenLabs, HeyGen, Synthesia, Suno, Udio
• Build: Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, Replit, Lovable, Bolt
• Creative: Adobe Creative Cloud, Figma, Affinity, DaVinci Resolve
• Operations: Notion, ClickUp, Slack, Microsoft Teams, Google Workspace

Art Center College of Design, Pasadena, CA. BFA, Advertising.