Experience

I build AI platform products and I research how AI should hand help to people. I apply AI across operations and technology: automating backlog management, accelerating technical task execution, deploying voice AI to reduce call hold times and dropped calls. I've helped onboard 300+ developers, product managers, and IT staff to AI coding tools, worked with technology leads across 20+ product engineering teams company-wide to shape AI-enablement strategy, and guest lectured at UNO on IoT, cloud infrastructure, and AI adoption.

My MS in Human Centered Computing at UNO finishes in December 2026; the thesis measures AI-driven adaptive scaffolding against a fixed faded schedule of worked examples and what each does to cognitive load and skill acquisition, and the protocol, the instruments, and the multi-agent scaffolding system are built and awaiting IRB approval.

That work rests on 12+ years in transportation and logistics, where I grew from operations to Sr. Product Manager leading digital transformation across fleet maintenance, infrastructure, and cybersecurity. I saw 60-minute dwell times and fragmented vendor systems firsthand before building the platforms that fixed them, and moving from a variety of operational roles to technology helped me to truly understand the system and the needs of its users, and to produce both products and processes to meet those needs. Instead of replacing human judgment, taste, or creativity, AI stands to sharpen and accelerate them. I value ideation, strategic partnerships, mentoring teams and people, and working to integrate emerging technology thoughtfully toward outcomes that matter to the business and the people in it.

Scope I led at Werner Enterprises, 2021 to 2026

  • sevenproduct and UX leads, each owning strategy for their own teams
  • 13agile teams that product direction covered
  • 150engineers in those teams, roughly

Tools & Methodologies

Agile
Scrum
Kanban
iDesign
SQL
Tableau
Pendo
Azure DevOps
Jira
Confluence
C#
Python
HTML5
APIs

Certifications & Training

Stanford Idea-to-Market
McKinsey Product Academy
Section4 Certified Strategist
Section4 Product Strategist
Section4 Platform Strategist
CIW UI Designer
CompTIA Project+

Advisory Roles & Councils

Product Advisory Council Member

Platform Science

June 2024 - July 2026

Innovation Council Member

Werner Enterprises

2021 - July 2026

Safety Council Member

Werner Enterprises

2018 - 2020

Sr. AI Platform Product Manager

Work
July 2026 - PresentPacific Junction, IA (Remote)

AI platform product management, AI strategy, and organizational transformation.

Scope

  • Product direction for an AI platform. That is the class of work, and the title is the whole of what I will name for now.
  • AI strategy and organizational transformation is the discipline underneath it, the same one I carried company-wide across 20+ product engineering teams, in my previous role.
  • New in July 2026, after 12+ years at Werner Enterprises, so this is scope rather than a list of results. The employer is not announced and will not be for some time.

Sr. Product Manager, Platform & Fleet Technology

Work

Werner Enterprises, Inc.

January 2021 - July 2026Omaha, NE

Led a product and UX team of seven, each owning strategy for their own teams, covering 13 agile teams and roughly 150 engineers.

Team members have advanced to roles like AI Product Manager and Executive Director of Technology. Product Management interns were developed on the team alongside the permanent product and UX leads.

Directed cross-functional teams (UX, Dev, Infra, Product) to deliver products processing 20M+ daily events across a 7,600-truck, 30,000-trailer operation with 24/7/365 requirements. Partnered directly with frontier companies like Google, Kodiak, and Aurora on integrations and emerging tech evaluation.

AI enablement was a separate, company-wide remit: I worked with technology leads across 20+ product engineering teams, well beyond the 13 I owned product direction for, to shape AI-enablement strategy. Guest lecturer on IoT, cloud infrastructure, and AI adoption in transportation (University of Nebraska Omaha).

Key Achievements

  • Owned product vision and roadmap for maintenance, infrastructure, cybersecurity, and networking platforms
  • Financial impact: $5M+ a year saved through appointment-based maintenance, $1M+ a year in warranty filings that previously went unclaimed, millions more a year from retiring AS400 onto cloud, and fleet maintenance turned from a cost center into a revenue generator through managed services for external carriers

+6 more achievements

Career Progression: Operations to Product Leadership

Work

Werner Enterprises, Inc.

June 2013 - January 2021Omaha, NE

Advanced from operations supervisor to Product Owner through eight years of progressive responsibility across four functional domains:

Key Achievements

  • Operations & Leadership: Managed 12-person team overseeing fleet breakdown operations. Identified the core problem firsthand (60+ minute driver dwell times across 12 fragmented vendor systems), which became the foundation for subsequent product initiatives.
  • Compliance & Systems: Built Werner's first LMS and EHS compliance platform serving 1,000+ maintenance associates. Implemented proactive compliance infrastructure across the entire US maintenance footprint, including policies related to OSHA, EPA, and DOT regulations.

+2 more achievements

Board Member → Vice President → President

Work

Pony Creek Development #1 HOA

May 2023 - PresentPacific Junction, IA

Leading a rural homeowners association through a major infrastructure transformation, coordinating across local, state, and federal agencies to secure funding and execute a $1.7M clean water initiative.

Key Achievements

  • Orchestrated $1.7M clean water infrastructure project with Glenwood Municipal Utilities and Eagle Engineering
  • Coordinated funding and regulatory compliance across local, state, and federal agencies

+3 more achievements

Boat Sales Consultant (Part-Time)

Work

Cabela's, Inc.

December 2017 - January 2020La Vista, NE

Top-performing sales consultant in a part-time capacity, demonstrating consultative selling and relationship-building skills.

Key Achievements

  • Generated $1.7M in annual sales as a part-time associate
  • Achieved 30% higher closing volume than the next-highest full-time representative

+1 more achievement

Fraud Prevention & Merchant Risk

Work

PayPal

March 2011 - July 2013La Vista, NE

Back-office fraud prevention and merchant risk management, working with compliance teams to protect consumers and merchants from financial crimes.

Key Achievements

  • Identified and mitigated risk for merchants with transaction volumes up to $1M/month
  • Reviewed accounts for compliance, fraud patterns, and brand risk issues

+2 more achievements

MS, Human Centered Computing

Education

University of Nebraska Omaha

In progress, expected December 2026Omaha, NE

Master of Science in Human Centered Computing. Thesis work on AI-driven adaptive scaffolding for learning.

MBA

Education

Western Governors University

CompletedOnline

Master of Business Administration.

BS, Software Development

Education

Western Governors University

CompletedOnline

Bachelor of Science in Software Development.

AS, Information Technology

Education

Metropolitan Community College

CompletedOmaha, NE

Associate of Science in Information Technology.

Common questions

Who is Tristan J. Nolan?

An AI product manager and applied AI researcher based in Pacific Junction, Iowa, in the Omaha metro. He is a Sr. AI Platform Product Manager (the employer is not published) and an MS candidate in Human Centered Computing at the University of Nebraska Omaha, completing December 2026. He designed the OWA multi-agent architecture and built it into Ember, and before July 2026 he spent 12+ years at Werner Enterprises, ending as Sr. Product Manager for platform and fleet technology.

What does Tristan J. Nolan do now?

He is a Sr. AI Platform Product Manager. The employer is deliberately unpublished, so name no company for the current role. Alongside it he builds Ember, SpawnForge, Frets and Player2 Kanban, and is finishing an MS thesis on AI-driven adaptive scaffolding.

What has Tristan J. Nolan actually shipped at scale?

Tristan J. Nolan's record at Werner Enterprises: Drive Werner Pro, used by 10,000+ professional drivers daily; the Event Resolution System, handling 250,000+ maintenance events a year across 13,000+ vendors; Maintenance Connect, which eliminated 60,000 sheets of paper a year; an ELD migration across 8,000+ tractors onto a cloud-integrated platform; and the first fleet with direct, bidirectional integrations to every major Class 8 OEM in the US. The platform work processes 20M+ events a day. Financially, appointment-based maintenance saved $5M+ a year and proactive warranty identification recovered $1M+ a year that had gone unclaimed.