Calum Kershaw

Operations, Sales & AI Systems

Truro, NS (open to Halifax and remote) | calum@nineroads.com | 727-900-4878 | linkedin.com/in/calum-kershaw

Operator who builds systems. I run a retail sales floor as an Operations Supervisor, where I rank 30th in Canada on associate net sales, and I build production software for real businesses on the side: a live home cost configurator, an AI email automation, and a staff knowledge assistant. I combine operations leadership, measurable sales performance, and hands-on data and AI work to make teams faster and decisions clearer.

Key Impact

  • Ranked 30th in Canada on Staples associate net sales within seven months of hire, and first of 13 at my store in every reporting window
  • Shipped a live home cost configurator for a modular home retailer, with Canadian mortgage math and checksum-validated share links
  • Delivered AI email automation processing 500+ emails/month for a hospitality client, in three weeks
  • Built a RAG knowledge base consolidating 20+ SOPs, with ~70% faster procedure lookup
  • Promoted to Retail Operations Supervisor within three weeks of hire
  • End-to-end delivery: requirements gathering through deployment and handoff

Experience

Retail Operations Supervisor, Staples Canada, Store 141 (Truro, NS)

Feb 2026 – Present

Promoted from Retail Sales Associate within three weeks of hire. Own technology as a sales category on a 13-person floor while supervising daily operations.

  • Ranked 30th in Canada on the Staples Canada associate net sales ranking within seven months, on $555,348 in net sales; one of only three associates from Atlantic Canada on the list
  • First of 13 associates at Store 141 in every reporting window since hire, at 22.8% of store volume and 3.6x the average associate
  • Third on the national list for technology sales ($5,628 against a $120 list median) and for service attachment (36 units against a median of 1)
  • 38.6% protection plan attach rate against a 16.7% store floor average, and the highest business membership conversion on the floor
  • Prepare store-level quotes end to end, track service accounts and subscriptions daily, and run opening, closing, and inventory accuracy

AI Solutions Developer, Independent Projects

2025 – Present

Building production software and automation for real businesses. Translating operational problems into working systems.

  • Gold River Homes: built and shipped a live 20-screen home cost configurator for a Supreme Homes retailer, covering land, foundation, well, septic, and servicing, with correct Canadian mortgage math (semi-annual compounding, minimum down, CMHC)
  • Blackbird Brewing: end-to-end AI email automation with a 17-category classifier, escalation rules, and brand-voice drafts, processing 500+ emails/month
  • JollyTails Resort: RAG-powered Q&A system consolidating 20+ fragmented SOPs, with an admin analytics dashboard
  • Fraser Pharmacy (in progress): replacement website integrated with the pharmacy's app, programs, and email system
  • Built an MCP server for cross-tool project memory bridging Claude Code, Claude Desktop, GPT, and Codex

Operations Supervisor, Jolly Tails Pet Resort

2022, 2025 – Jan 2026

Data profiling and process analysis for high-capacity pet care operations.

  • Improved operational KPIs by ~10% through data profiling and process optimization
  • Authored and maintained 20+ operational procedures adopted across a team of 15+
  • Built cross-system validation workflows catching data quality issues before impact
  • Technology liaison between staff and management, translating operational needs into system requirements

Data Analyst, St. Francis Xavier University, Advancement Office

2024 – 2025

Designed dashboards and data quality checks for donor and alumni data systems.

  • Built Power BI dashboards with rule-based data quality checks
  • Wrote SQL queries for complex data extraction, transformation, and reporting
  • Conducted root cause analysis on data inconsistencies across legacy systems
  • Delivered actionable insights to leadership for fundraising strategy

Student Manager, Kevin's Corner Food Bank, StFX

2023 – 2024

Scaled operations and designed workflows for a campus food bank during rapid growth.

  • Scaled operations to support 140+ additional users during rapid growth
  • Designed workflows enabling a 300% increase in operational hours
  • Managed team scheduling, resource allocation, and process documentation

Projects

  • Gold River Homes, Cost Configurator: Live guided configurator that prices a modular home end to end for first-time buyers: every choice shows its price, monthly payment impact, and a plain-language reason. 81 licensed photos with a provenance manifest, checksum-validated share links, printable spec sheet.
  • Blackbird Brewing, Email Automation: AI email classifier (17 categories) with brand-voice responses, escalation rules, and Make.com integration processing 500+ emails/month.
  • JollyTails Staff Assistant (DogBot): RAG-powered Q&A system consolidating 20+ SOPs with admin analytics dashboard, training compliance tracking, and knowledge gap identification.
  • Coastal Ledger (Maritime Home Map): Nova Scotia mortgage affordability tool covering 37 municipalities, with B-20 stress testing, first-time buyer program math, and choropleth mapping.

Skills

Sales & Operations: Consultative Selling, Account Management, Quoting & Negotiation, Attach & Upsell, Team Leadership, Floor Operations, Inventory Accuracy, CRM

Data & Analytics: Power BI, SQL, Excel, ETL Pipelines, Data Profiling, Root Cause Analysis, Dashboard Design, KPI Reporting

AI & Automation: Anthropic Claude, OpenAI API, RAG Systems, pgvector, Embeddings, Agent Orchestration, MCP Servers, Make.com

Development: TypeScript, Python, React, Next.js, Node.js, Express, PostgreSQL, Supabase, REST APIs, Netlify

Process & Delivery: Systems Thinking, Process Automation, Workflow Design, SOP Authoring, Stakeholder Management, Requirements Translation

Education

  • Post-Baccalaureate Diploma, Enterprise IT Management, St. Francis Xavier University
  • BSc, Biology & Psychology, Dalhousie University

Certifications

  • AI & Agentic Workflows, Maven (2025)
  • Generative AI Leader, Google Cloud (2025)
  • AI Mastery Program, Marketing AI Institute (2024–Present)