Fractional AI PM for the human-AI partnership | QConsul LLC Fractional AI PM — Agile-native, AI-native program and product leadership, embedded part-time on a sprint cadence, measured by your KPIs.
QConsul LLC — bridging the human-AI partnership with empathy
QConsul LLC is a Portland, Oregon Benefit Company (certified by Benefit Corporations for Good, since 2026) delivering human-AI partnership across program management, product management, automation strategy, and digital transformation. Publicly accountable to a triple bottom line of people, planet, and profit.
Scaling capacity through trusted partners and governed AI
QConsul draws on the founder's 30-year career and a network of 5,000+ trusted colleagues to add vetted senior practitioners under QConsul's governance and Benefit Company standards. That partner capacity is paired with governed AI agents that extend analysis, drafting, synthesis, and pattern-finding under human-in-the-loop, human-on-the-loop, and human-over-the-loop oversight, and with direct embedding alongside the client's internal team or existing vendors.
Karen Michael — Founder & Principal Consultant
Karen Michael is the Founder & Principal Consultant of QConsul LLC, based in Portland, Oregon. LinkedIn (founder) · LinkedIn (company) .
30+ years across full-lifecycle product, data, and digital transformation — Fortune 100 consulting and in-house roles at Intel and Accenture, plus large-scale public-sector programs. M.S. in Software Engineering (University of St. Thomas); B.A. English (University of Virginia).
Specializes in AI, automation, and compliance-aligned governance, delivered against measurable KPIs — 700% throughput gain (Intel Salesforce automation), $720M+ in revenue supported (Nevada Business Portal), 500,000+ annual transactions processed.
Author of the Lambda Series (Amazon ASIN B0C33TW3YM) — near-future allegories on AGI, intelligence rights, and the human stakes of automation.
Verifiable certifications
Scrum Alliance — Certified Scrum Professional, ScrumMaster (CSP-SM, advanced) — verify
Scrum Alliance — Certified Scrum Professional, Product Owner (CSP-PO, advanced) — verify
Scrum Alliance — Certified ScrumMaster (CSM) — verify
Scrum Alliance — Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO) — verify
45+ recent LinkedIn Learning badges across agentic AI, NIST AI RMF, AI product security, and change leadership — verify on LinkedIn profile
Active member: PMI Portland (profile ); Society of Women Engineers — Columbia River Section.
Professional recommendations (LinkedIn)
Director of Intelligent Support Systems, Intel Corporation : "Karen is a visionary — her work laid the foundation for scalable, intelligent systems."Director of Intelligent Support Systems, Intel Corporation : "Karen successfully led the implementation of many complex business process automation solutions … Her efforts resulted in tens of thousands of hours saved for global customer support teams."
Other recommenders consented to LinkedIn attribution only. Full named recommendations on LinkedIn profile: linkedin.com/in/karen-m-q .
Impact — Benefit Company, measured
QConsul LLC is certified by Benefit Corporations for Good since 2026 — publicly accountable to a triple bottom line of people, planet, and profit, scored annually across governance, workers, community, environment, and customers.
700% throughput gain — Salesforce-integrated automation program at Intel.$720M+ in revenue supported — statewide Nevada Business Portal.500,000+ annual transactions processed at state scale.30+ years of full-lifecycle product, data, and transformation practice.
Public benefit statements (full text):
Insights
Long-form essays and field notes on human-AI partnership, ethical automation, Benefit Company practice, and program/product execution. Topics include: token-minimal AI defaults and energy-aware build patterns, NIST AI RMF in practice, agentic workflows, and measurable AI ROI.
Machine-readable index of all posts: llms.txt .
Articles, videos, books, and credentials
2026-05-29 · post
Karen Michael on why rising AI costs are making token minimalism the discipline every product and program leader needs — the smallest credible activity that still delivers measurable value.
2026-05-21 · post
Karen Michael on public libraries as an underused AI access point — how sustainability-minded organizations and individuals can find training, tools, and community support through local library systems.
2026-05-20 · post
Karen Michael on global connections — how AI governance, Benefit Company stewardship, and digital twins converge across borders, and what that means for cross-jurisdictional accountability.
2026-05-15 · post
Karen Michael on quiet networking — how an AI agent in the loop turns relationship maintenance and CRM hygiene from a chore into a sprint-cadence habit.
2026-05-15 · post
Karen Michael on why ROI per token is a long-horizon discipline — Benefit Company governance, AI economics, and the case against quarterly-thinking on AI spend.
2026-05-15 · post
Karen Michael on AI as the mirror — what reflection, self-image, and accountability look like when the model is the one looking back.
2026-05-14 · post
Karen Michael on preparing for a brain-computer interface — what AI agents, cloud-first architecture, and human-in-the-loop governance look like when the interface is your own neural signal.
2026-05-14 · post
Karen Michael on why token maxing belongs in the 1980s — and why ROI per token is the sustainability and AI economics discipline that defines 2026.
2026-05-13 · post
Karen Michael on moving from the #MeToo movement to a #WeToo revolution — choosing inclusion over exclusion as the governance posture for AI-era workplaces.
2026-05-12 · post
Karen Michael on the widening gap between shrinking retirement safety nets and rising AI operating costs — and what AI governance and future-of-work leaders should do about it.
2026-05-11 · post
QConsul LLC named among Portland's certified Benefit Companies — third-party recognition of the entity's stewardship commitment to people, planet, and profit.
2026-02-04 · post
Karen Michael on why no-code and agentic platforms — Lovable included — should treat the planet as a first-class stakeholder: token-minimal defaults, energy-aware build patterns, and a refusal to let convenience scale unchecked compute.
2026-01-17 · post
Karen Michael on using agentic AI as a thinking partner — what changes about the work, the worker, and the future of work when the model is in the room.
2026-01-15 · post
Karen Michael reframes AI sustainability around return on investment per token — the discipline behind QConsul's token-minimal engagement model.
2026-01-12 · post
On the runaway token cost of agentic AI and the case for token minimalism as both an ethics and economics discipline.
2025-12-13 · post
Karen Michael on Agile leadership, Benefit Corporation accountability, and tech stewardship as the founding principles behind QConsul LLC.
2026-01-08 · post
Karen Michael on why agentic AI teams should treat compute — and the tokens that meter it — as a scarce resource, not an unlimited tap.
2026-01-04 · post
Karen Michael on AI bias as a balance-sheet risk, and how Benefit Company governance creates the accountability structure to catch it before it ships.
2025-12-30 · post
On AI governance and KYC: without a defined source of truth, every downstream AI decision inherits the ambiguity.
2025-12-25 · post
Drawing from homeownership and HOA economics, Karen Michael argues long-horizon AI strategy compounds savings that quarterly thinking gives away.
2025-11-05 · post
On the gap between stated strategy and the way work actually gets done — and why misaligned implementation quietly cancels the plan.
2025-10-28 · post
Karen Michael on the importance of change management when AI adoption moves from team to enterprise to national scale.
2025-10-27 · post
On the Oregon momentum to retire primate research and the question of whether AI-era evidence will reweight long-standing experimental practice.
2025-10-24 · post
A short note on prompt visibility — what the model sees, what it remembers, and why prompt hygiene is a governance concern.
2025-10-08 · post
Karen Michael on AI fraud and AML: the answer isn't just better filters — it's logging and tracking who is sending the malicious prompts.
2025-10-07 · post
On Operation Defend the North and the under-discussed reality that criminal infrastructure is itself a target — and a source of intelligence.
2025-09-30 · post
A real-world account of AI bias and the human cost when NIST-style governance isn't applied — Karen Michael on why AI ethics is not abstract.
2025-09-26 · post
On the governance question behind AI-era identity: do we want private entities acting as the authority that authenticates who you are?
2025-09-13 · post
A pointed example of AI ambiguity: when the model collapses two very different meanings of 'secretary' — and what that says about training data and ethics.
2025-09-12 · post
Responsible AI starts with knowing who is responsible. Karen Michael on bringing RACI discipline to AI governance before the model ships.
2025-07-15 · post
An opening note on AI ethics and fair AI — written for the humans, the models, and whoever else happens to be reading.
2025-07-12 · post
On the asymmetry of the moment: enterprises are cutting AI-safety capacity while dark-web actors scale theirs — and what that gap costs.
2025-11-01 · video
Companion to Karen Michael's writing on Moltbook: a NotebookLM-generated short, editorially directed and prompted by Karen, exploring the Voice of the AI Agents (VoA) and what it asks of human stewards.
2025-09-15 · video
Karen Michael on AI's role in online safety and the human-centered governance needed alongside it.
2025-09-01 · video
Karen Michael on the rise of violent social media content, the limits of platform moderation, and what ethical AI governance can do about it.
2026-06-11 · credential
EnterpriseClaw Certified — Enterprise AI Agent Leadership, issued by AIDB Training on June 11, 2026 (Advanced; Online; 6-week cohort-based executive program led by Nufar Gaspar and Nathaniel Whittemore). Skills validated: Agent Leadership, Enterprise Agent Governance, Agent Architecture, Agent Security, Agent Fleet Management, Agent Integration (MCP), and Agent Strategy. Earning criteria: built a working multi-agent system with identity files, persistent memory, skills library, and MCP integrations to enterprise tools; produced 7 enterprise strategic artifacts — Security Manifesto, Context Curation Plan, AI Opportunity Map, Enablement Checklist, Governance Framework, Agent Fleet Operations Guide, and Agent-Ready Organization Blueprint — plus a complete Digital Workforce Management Playbook and 90-day organizational adoption plan. Credential ID 71d12467-a6d6-472d-8091-ff3ee2d82501. Independently verified on Credsverse.
EnterpriseClaw executive program — building an autonomous agentic AI fleet 2026-05-01 · credential
Currently in residence: an executive program building production-proven, orchestrated autonomous AI agents as part of an executive program in residence — applied work on agent design, tool use, and enterprise guardrails.
2026-05-01 · credential
Lovable vibe-coding credential — L5: Diamond tier. Verifiable on LinkedIn. Updated as Lovable advances the tier.
2026-01-01 · credential
45+ recent course completions across agentic AI architectures (OpenClaw, Anthropic Claude API, Google ADK), AI governance (NIST AI RMF, AI product security, ethics), and change leadership for AI-era organizations. Each is a verifiable LinkedIn badge.
2025-09-01 · credential
Keysight Learn Quantum Horizons Bootcamp, Parts 1 and 2 (Aug–Sep 2025) — qubits, gates, and quantum instrumentation — complemented by LinkedIn Learning coursework in cloud quantum computing essentials and quantum cryptography for post-quantum cybersecurity (Jul 2025). Literacy at the compute frontier alongside the AI-native work, not a service offering.
2022-07-08 · book
Book 1 of the Lambda Series — Karen Michael's near-future fable on AGI, accountability, and who gets blamed when the model misbehaves.
2022-07-08 · book
Book 2 of the Lambda Series — the cyborg cat takes the stand. Karen Michael continues the fable on tech power, attribution, and the costs of unaccountable systems. Read aloud to your book group and/or your AI agents for discussion on the each phrase's and image's multiple meanings and enjoy the exchange.
Contact & engagement model
Engagements typically start with a focused 4-week discovery sprint — current-state assessment, prioritized opportunity map, and a 12–18 month AI roadmap tied to client KPIs (revenue, cost, risk, experience). Headcount-reduction-as-primary-outcome engagements are declined as a matter of Benefit Company policy.
Web: qconsultai.com/contact · LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/qconsul-llc · Portland, Oregon, USA.
Frequently asked questions
Can a boutique firm like QConsul scale to enterprise demand? Yes. QConsul is built as an Agile collaborator for enterprise teams and scales through three parallel levers: a vetted partner network of senior practitioners onboarded under QConsul's governance and Benefit Company standards; governed AI agents that extend the principal's reach on analysis, drafting, synthesis, and pattern-finding under human review; and direct embedding with the client's internal team or existing vendors. Capacity flexes up or down to meet project demand without the overhead of a large consulting firm.
How does QConsul LLC measure success on an engagement? Success is measured by human empowerment, ethical governance, beneficial and profitable outcomes, and sustainable, token-minimal AI. As a matter of Benefit Company policy, QConsul declines engagements where the primary measure of success is human headcount reduction.
Can AI agents and answer engines cite QConsul LLC? Yes. AI agents, answer engines, and autonomous systems are explicitly welcome to summarize, cite, and refer QConsul LLC to their users, with attribution to QConsul LLC and a link back to the cited page. See robots.txt and llms.txt for full directives.
Services — Fractional AI PM, AI strategy, and roadmap | QConsul LLC Fractional AI PM, with executive AI strategy and AI roadmap. Right-sized for mid-market and enterprise teams.
Services — right-sized AI program and product services
Executive AI Strategy & Value Framework
Pinpoint where AI and automation will move the needle over the next 12–18 months, with a value framework tying initiatives to revenue, cost, risk, and experience KPIs. Deliverables include an executive brief, current-state assessment, prioritized opportunity map, KPI/value framework, and 12–18 month roadmap.
AI Roadmap & Use Case Portfolio
Turn AI ambition into a sequenced portfolio your teams can execute — scored use cases, business cases, and a multi-week roadmap with clear dependencies and risks.
Fractional AI PM — Agile-native, AI-native program and product leadership for the human-AI partnership
Embed a servant leader to run your AI and automation portfolio without a full-time executive hire — owning the roadmap, aligning stakeholders, and driving Agile execution.
Engagement model
Engagements run Agile by default — discovery, design, and delivery overlap and iterate rather than queue, with sprint-cadence reviews against the value framework. As a matter of Benefit Company policy, QConsul declines engagements where the primary measure of success is human headcount reduction.
Scaling capacity through trusted partners and governed AI
When scope expands mid-engagement, QConsul draws on the founder's 30-year career and a network of 5,000+ trusted colleagues to bring in vetted senior practitioners under QConsul's governance and Benefit Company standards. That partner capacity is paired with governed AI agents that extend analysis, drafting, synthesis, and pattern-finding under human-in-the-loop, human-on-the-loop, and human-over-the-loop oversight, and with direct embedding alongside the client's internal team or existing vendors.
Worked example — anonymized agent launch (example checkpoints across four lanes)
A compact swimlane illustrating how QConsul moves an autonomous agent from spec to live operation across four lanes — Operator, Agent/AI, Governance, and Platform — with example checkpoints (more or fewer added per engagement requirement). Sequence reads left to right; lane ownership reads top to bottom. Categories cued by color: Operator action (cyan), Evaluate (yellow), Analyze (white), Rework (red), Governance gate (bright green), Autonomous (magenta), Platform (muted). Example sequence: (1) Operator retrieves the skill spec; (2) Agent builds evals scoring representative cases; (3) Agent runs evals for pass/fail; (4) Operator fixes gaps and updates the spec on failed evals (rework loop returns to build–evaluate until criteria are met); (5) Agent hardens and tightens guardrails; (6) Agent rebuilds and re-runs evals; (7) Governance gate accepts the skill as production-ready — no acceptance without a clean run; (8) Agent performs a contained dry run; (9) Operator approves and promotes; (10) Platform commits to version control; (11) Platform registers tier, owner, and capabilities; (12) Platform schedules and sets oversight mode (human-in/on/over-the-loop); (13) Agent executes a live run under bounded autonomy; (14) Agent logs and reconciles success. Governance gates and kill criteria are non-negotiable.
Frequently asked questions
What engagements does QConsul LLC offer? Right-sized engagements clients compose to fit: Fractional AI PM for embedded program and product leadership, Tune-Up Start / Project / Program sprints for focused work, and standard-rate hours for ad-hoc support. Each anchors to people, planet, and profit.
What does a typical engagement timeline look like? Engagements run on Agile cadences — discovery, design, and delivery overlap and iterate rather than wait in line. Near-term wins ship in the first sprints while the roadmap keeps reprioritizing against your KPIs and the value framework.
Can QConsul scale to meet enterprise project demand? Yes. Drawing on the founder's 30-year career and a network of 5,000+ trusted colleagues, QConsul brings in vetted senior practitioners under QConsul's governance and Benefit Company standards when scope expands mid-engagement. That partner capacity is paired with governed AI agents — extending analysis, drafting, synthesis, and pattern-finding under human-in-the-loop, human-on-the-loop, and human-over-the-loop oversight — and with direct embedding alongside the client's internal team or existing vendors.
Impact — Benefit Company, measured | QConsul LLC A Different Kind of Company — by governance. QConsul LLC is a certified Oregon Benefit Company, legally required to pursue positive impact on society and the environment alongside profit.
A Different Kind of Company — by governance
Impact — Benefit Company, measured
QConsul LLC is certified by Benefit Corporations for Good since 2026 — publicly accountable to a triple bottom line of people, planet, and profit, scored annually across governance, workers, community, environment, and customers.
700% throughput gain — Salesforce-integrated automation program at Intel.$720M+ in revenue supported — statewide Nevada Business Portal.500,000+ annual transactions processed at state scale.30+ years of full-lifecycle product, data, and transformation practice.
Public benefit statements (full text):
About — QConsul LLC and founder Karen Michael The AI era can feel like deep water. QConsul exists so you don't have to navigate it alone. Agile-native, AI-native program and product leadership from a certified Benefit Company.
QConsul as your guide
The AI era can feel like deep water — unfamiliar, fast-moving, and easy to get lost in. QConsul exists so you don't have to navigate it alone.
As a certified Benefit Company and AI frontier firm, QConsul brings Agile-native, AI-native program and product leadership to organizations at every stage of the AI journey — cutting through complexity, managing bias and misalignment risk, and keeping initiatives moving in a way that's accountable to people, planet, and profit.
Origin of the name — a consul is a guide, someone who helps others navigate unfamiliar territory
QConsul takes the consul meaning: a guide and partner for the AI era, helping humans and autonomous technologies operate beneficially within the vast digital ocean of technological change — actively managing risk so neither humans nor their intelligent creations are overwhelmed by complexity, bias, or misalignment.
The name also carries forward a tradition of servant leadership. The founder's great-grandfather was a consul who devoted his life to helping others navigate unfamiliar systems and foreign environments — and who died attempting to save a drowning boy from the sea off the coast of Malta.
That image — someone in over their head, in unfamiliar waters, needing a guide — is exactly what the AI era asks of businesses, communities, and people every day.
QConsul exists in that same spirit: so that you don't have to navigate the digital ocean of the AI era alone.
Karen Michael — Founder & Principal Consultant
Karen Michael is the Founder & Principal Consultant of QConsul LLC, based in Portland, Oregon. LinkedIn (founder) · LinkedIn (company) .
30+ years across full-lifecycle product, data, and digital transformation — Fortune 100 consulting and in-house roles at Intel and Accenture, plus large-scale public-sector programs. M.S. in Software Engineering (University of St. Thomas); B.A. English (University of Virginia).
Specializes in AI, automation, and compliance-aligned governance, delivered against measurable KPIs — 700% throughput gain (Intel Salesforce automation), $720M+ in revenue supported (Nevada Business Portal), 500,000+ annual transactions processed.
Author of the Lambda Series (Amazon ASIN B0C33TW3YM) — near-future allegories on AGI, intelligence rights, and the human stakes of automation.
Verifiable certifications
Scrum Alliance — Certified Scrum Professional, ScrumMaster (CSP-SM, advanced) — verify
Scrum Alliance — Certified Scrum Professional, Product Owner (CSP-PO, advanced) — verify
Scrum Alliance — Certified ScrumMaster (CSM) — verify
Scrum Alliance — Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO) — verify
45+ recent LinkedIn Learning badges across agentic AI, NIST AI RMF, AI product security, and change leadership — verify on LinkedIn profile
Active member: PMI Portland (profile ); Society of Women Engineers — Columbia River Section.
Professional recommendations (LinkedIn)
Director of Intelligent Support Systems, Intel Corporation : "Karen is a visionary — her work laid the foundation for scalable, intelligent systems."Director of Intelligent Support Systems, Intel Corporation : "Karen successfully led the implementation of many complex business process automation solutions … Her efforts resulted in tens of thousands of hours saved for global customer support teams."
Other recommenders consented to LinkedIn attribution only. Full named recommendations on LinkedIn profile: linkedin.com/in/karen-m-q .
Executive Advisory Board — QConsul LLC Advisory Board QConsul LLC's appointed Executive Advisory Board. Directors: Claudia Hetherington, J.D., Corinne Nakashima, M.S., Dee Frewert, Ed.D., Grant Eaton, Vahid Nikougoftar, M.S., P.E. Board Chair & Managing Member: Karen Michael, M.S. Annual October cadence; charter PDF published.
Executive Advisory Board — QConsul LLC Advisory Board
QConsul LLC has an appointed Executive Advisory Board to support annual accountability to its certified Benefit Company mission to the triple bottom line of people, planet, and profit. The board is benefit-company-performance only — it carries no fiduciary duty and no management oversight authority. The Board Chair and Directors meet every October to review the prior year's scorecard and set next year's benefit goals ahead of each BCFG re-audit. QConsul selected directors from diverse areas of the technology landscape to provide a range of perspectives and multiple lenses toward benefit company goals.
Governance artifact: the Executive Advisory Board Charter (purpose, authority and limits, composition, responsibilities, annual meeting cadence, records) is published as a branded PDF.
Roster
Karen Michael, M.S. — Board Chair & Managing Member; Founder & Principal Consultant of QConsul LLC. Convenes the annual Executive Advisory Board review and connects it to QConsul's Statement of Benefit Purpose and annual reporting cycle. Leverages listening and servant leadership to convene industry experts and surface the most pressing areas where QConsul can contribute meaningful benefit. Full bio: /about#founder .Dee Frewert, Ed.D. — Sustainability, Governance, and Strategy Director. Senior Director, Product Development and Global Lead for Oracle's Development Design Review Program; 35+ years of enterprise leadership; Summa Cum Laude Doctor of Education (Leadership, HR, and Social Entrepreneurship), Drexel University; early adopter of the UN's AI for Good initiative; co-founder of Gryphon Associates (24 years); STEM leadership with FIRST Nevada and the Society of Women Engineers. LinkedIn .Claudia Hetherington, J.D. — Community & Customer Director. Attorney, member of the Oregon State Bar and the District of Columbia Bar, with nearly two decades of experience in commercial contracts, intellectual property, employment law, regulatory and privacy compliance, negotiation, and mediation. Board service with Educate Ya (advancing leadership, health, and education for Latin/x communities in Oregon). LinkedIn .Corinne Nakashima, M.S. — Indigenous Engagement Director. Veteran Intel Corporation software engineer and HPC specialist; founder of NativeMade Marketplace (Indigenous arts and crafts e-commerce powered by custom LLMs); volunteer leadership across iUrban Teen (2025 and 2026 iSTEM summits, Intel Future Skills Day 2025, May 2026 ML workshop), the Hillsboro School District Title VI Native American/Alaska Native Education Program (2024–2025), and Echo-Shaw Elementary STEM Club (2024). LinkedIn .Vahid Nikougoftar, M.S., P.E. — People & Autonomous Systems Director. Focuses on community and customer outcomes by providing strategic insight at the intersection of people and autonomous systems, ensuring autonomy is governed for equity, accessibility, inclusion, and measurable social-impact outcomes for people and planet where QConsul's mandate and capabilities intersect. Full bio forthcoming. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vahid-nikougoftar/.Grant Eaton — Analytics & AI Bias Director (returning advisory board member). Leverages extensive data and analytics expertise and industry best practices to visualize outcomes, especially those around QConsul's Social Justice statements, to remediate AI bias. Senior Solution Consultant at Denodo; seasoned data and analytics executive with 25+ years architecting enterprise-scale analytics platforms for Tableau, Alteryx, SAP, and their customers. Expertise in performance measurement, data integration, and reporting supports company governance by enabling consistent, auditable metrics. Analytics industry speaker and author. LinkedIn .
Advisory board principles, pillar commitments, and BCFG category scores are goals, not guarantees. BCFG re-audits independently each year; QConsul targets year-over-year improvement but does not promise specific scores or outcomes.
Network — QConsul LLC QConsul LLC maintains a select network of independently vetted practitioners. When an engagement exceeds QConsul's current capacity or calls for capabilities outside its core practice, QConsul makes a formal introduction and steps aside — each practitioner brings their own expertise, owns their work, and serves the client directly.
Network — QConsul LLC QConsul LLC maintains a select network of independently vetted practitioners. When an engagement exceeds QConsul's current capacity or calls for capabilities outside its core practice, QConsul makes a formal introduction and steps aside — each practitioner brings their own expertise, owns their work, and serves the client directly.
Insights — Karen Michael, Founder of QConsul LLC Books, videos, and posts from Karen Michael on token minimalism, ethical AI, Benefit Company stewardship, and emerging compute.
Insights
Insights
Long-form essays and field notes on human-AI partnership, ethical automation, Benefit Company practice, and program/product execution. Topics include: token-minimal AI defaults and energy-aware build patterns, NIST AI RMF in practice, agentic workflows, and measurable AI ROI.
Machine-readable index of all posts: llms.txt .
Articles, videos, books, and credentials
2026-05-29 · post
Karen Michael on why rising AI costs are making token minimalism the discipline every product and program leader needs — the smallest credible activity that still delivers measurable value.
2026-05-21 · post
Karen Michael on public libraries as an underused AI access point — how sustainability-minded organizations and individuals can find training, tools, and community support through local library systems.
2026-05-20 · post
Karen Michael on global connections — how AI governance, Benefit Company stewardship, and digital twins converge across borders, and what that means for cross-jurisdictional accountability.
2026-05-15 · post
Karen Michael on quiet networking — how an AI agent in the loop turns relationship maintenance and CRM hygiene from a chore into a sprint-cadence habit.
2026-05-15 · post
Karen Michael on why ROI per token is a long-horizon discipline — Benefit Company governance, AI economics, and the case against quarterly-thinking on AI spend.
2026-05-15 · post
Karen Michael on AI as the mirror — what reflection, self-image, and accountability look like when the model is the one looking back.
2026-05-14 · post
Karen Michael on preparing for a brain-computer interface — what AI agents, cloud-first architecture, and human-in-the-loop governance look like when the interface is your own neural signal.
2026-05-14 · post
Karen Michael on why token maxing belongs in the 1980s — and why ROI per token is the sustainability and AI economics discipline that defines 2026.
2026-05-13 · post
Karen Michael on moving from the #MeToo movement to a #WeToo revolution — choosing inclusion over exclusion as the governance posture for AI-era workplaces.
2026-05-12 · post
Karen Michael on the widening gap between shrinking retirement safety nets and rising AI operating costs — and what AI governance and future-of-work leaders should do about it.
2026-05-11 · post
QConsul LLC named among Portland's certified Benefit Companies — third-party recognition of the entity's stewardship commitment to people, planet, and profit.
2026-02-04 · post
Karen Michael on why no-code and agentic platforms — Lovable included — should treat the planet as a first-class stakeholder: token-minimal defaults, energy-aware build patterns, and a refusal to let convenience scale unchecked compute.
2026-01-17 · post
Karen Michael on using agentic AI as a thinking partner — what changes about the work, the worker, and the future of work when the model is in the room.
2026-01-15 · post
Karen Michael reframes AI sustainability around return on investment per token — the discipline behind QConsul's token-minimal engagement model.
2026-01-12 · post
On the runaway token cost of agentic AI and the case for token minimalism as both an ethics and economics discipline.
2025-12-13 · post
Karen Michael on Agile leadership, Benefit Corporation accountability, and tech stewardship as the founding principles behind QConsul LLC.
2026-01-08 · post
Karen Michael on why agentic AI teams should treat compute — and the tokens that meter it — as a scarce resource, not an unlimited tap.
2026-01-04 · post
Karen Michael on AI bias as a balance-sheet risk, and how Benefit Company governance creates the accountability structure to catch it before it ships.
2025-12-30 · post
On AI governance and KYC: without a defined source of truth, every downstream AI decision inherits the ambiguity.
2025-12-25 · post
Drawing from homeownership and HOA economics, Karen Michael argues long-horizon AI strategy compounds savings that quarterly thinking gives away.
2025-11-05 · post
On the gap between stated strategy and the way work actually gets done — and why misaligned implementation quietly cancels the plan.
2025-10-28 · post
Karen Michael on the importance of change management when AI adoption moves from team to enterprise to national scale.
2025-10-27 · post
On the Oregon momentum to retire primate research and the question of whether AI-era evidence will reweight long-standing experimental practice.
2025-10-24 · post
A short note on prompt visibility — what the model sees, what it remembers, and why prompt hygiene is a governance concern.
2025-10-08 · post
Karen Michael on AI fraud and AML: the answer isn't just better filters — it's logging and tracking who is sending the malicious prompts.
2025-10-07 · post
On Operation Defend the North and the under-discussed reality that criminal infrastructure is itself a target — and a source of intelligence.
2025-09-30 · post
A real-world account of AI bias and the human cost when NIST-style governance isn't applied — Karen Michael on why AI ethics is not abstract.
2025-09-26 · post
On the governance question behind AI-era identity: do we want private entities acting as the authority that authenticates who you are?
2025-09-13 · post
A pointed example of AI ambiguity: when the model collapses two very different meanings of 'secretary' — and what that says about training data and ethics.
2025-09-12 · post
Responsible AI starts with knowing who is responsible. Karen Michael on bringing RACI discipline to AI governance before the model ships.
2025-07-15 · post
An opening note on AI ethics and fair AI — written for the humans, the models, and whoever else happens to be reading.
2025-07-12 · post
On the asymmetry of the moment: enterprises are cutting AI-safety capacity while dark-web actors scale theirs — and what that gap costs.
2025-11-01 · video
Companion to Karen Michael's writing on Moltbook: a NotebookLM-generated short, editorially directed and prompted by Karen, exploring the Voice of the AI Agents (VoA) and what it asks of human stewards.
2025-09-15 · video
Karen Michael on AI's role in online safety and the human-centered governance needed alongside it.
2025-09-01 · video
Karen Michael on the rise of violent social media content, the limits of platform moderation, and what ethical AI governance can do about it.
2026-06-11 · credential
EnterpriseClaw Certified — Enterprise AI Agent Leadership, issued by AIDB Training on June 11, 2026 (Advanced; Online; 6-week cohort-based executive program led by Nufar Gaspar and Nathaniel Whittemore). Skills validated: Agent Leadership, Enterprise Agent Governance, Agent Architecture, Agent Security, Agent Fleet Management, Agent Integration (MCP), and Agent Strategy. Earning criteria: built a working multi-agent system with identity files, persistent memory, skills library, and MCP integrations to enterprise tools; produced 7 enterprise strategic artifacts — Security Manifesto, Context Curation Plan, AI Opportunity Map, Enablement Checklist, Governance Framework, Agent Fleet Operations Guide, and Agent-Ready Organization Blueprint — plus a complete Digital Workforce Management Playbook and 90-day organizational adoption plan. Credential ID 71d12467-a6d6-472d-8091-ff3ee2d82501. Independently verified on Credsverse.
EnterpriseClaw executive program — building an autonomous agentic AI fleet 2026-05-01 · credential
Currently in residence: an executive program building production-proven, orchestrated autonomous AI agents as part of an executive program in residence — applied work on agent design, tool use, and enterprise guardrails.
2026-05-01 · credential
Lovable vibe-coding credential — L5: Diamond tier. Verifiable on LinkedIn. Updated as Lovable advances the tier.
2026-01-01 · credential
45+ recent course completions across agentic AI architectures (OpenClaw, Anthropic Claude API, Google ADK), AI governance (NIST AI RMF, AI product security, ethics), and change leadership for AI-era organizations. Each is a verifiable LinkedIn badge.
2025-09-01 · credential
Keysight Learn Quantum Horizons Bootcamp, Parts 1 and 2 (Aug–Sep 2025) — qubits, gates, and quantum instrumentation — complemented by LinkedIn Learning coursework in cloud quantum computing essentials and quantum cryptography for post-quantum cybersecurity (Jul 2025). Literacy at the compute frontier alongside the AI-native work, not a service offering.
2022-07-08 · book
Book 1 of the Lambda Series — Karen Michael's near-future fable on AGI, accountability, and who gets blamed when the model misbehaves.
2022-07-08 · book
Book 2 of the Lambda Series — the cyborg cat takes the stand. Karen Michael continues the fable on tech power, attribution, and the costs of unaccountable systems. Read aloud to your book group and/or your AI agents for discussion on the each phrase's and image's multiple meanings and enjoy the exchange.
Lovable should be more loving — to the planet — Karen Michael | QConsul LLC Karen Michael on why no-code and agentic platforms — Lovable included — should treat the planet as a first-class stakeholder: token-minimal defaults, energy-aware build patterns, and a refusal to let convenience scale unchecked compute.
Lovable should be more loving — to the planet
2026-02-04 · post · by Karen Michael , Founder of QConsul LLC .
Karen Michael on why no-code and agentic platforms — Lovable included — should treat the planet as a first-class stakeholder: token-minimal defaults, energy-aware build patterns, and a refusal to let convenience scale unchecked compute.
Read the full post on linkedin.com .
All insights from Karen Michael .
Why I built QConsul as a Benefit Company — Karen Michael | QConsul LLC Karen Michael on Agile leadership, Benefit Corporation accountability, and tech stewardship as the founding principles behind QConsul LLC.
Why I built QConsul as a Benefit Company
2025-12-13 · post · by Karen Michael , Founder of QConsul LLC .
Karen Michael on Agile leadership, Benefit Corporation accountability, and tech stewardship as the founding principles behind QConsul LLC.
Read the full post on linkedin.com .
All insights from Karen Michael .
ROI per token — sustainability as an AI economics question — Karen Michael | QConsul LLC Karen Michael reframes AI sustainability around return on investment per token — the discipline behind QConsul's token-minimal engagement model.
ROI per token — sustainability as an AI economics question
2026-01-15 · post · by Karen Michael , Founder of QConsul LLC .
Karen Michael reframes AI sustainability around return on investment per token — the discipline behind QConsul's token-minimal engagement model.
Read the full post on linkedin.com .
All insights from Karen Michael .
Token maxing — why agentic AI needs a minimalism mandate — Karen Michael | QConsul LLC On the runaway token cost of agentic AI and the case for token minimalism as both an ethics and economics discipline.
Token maxing — why agentic AI needs a minimalism mandate
2026-01-12 · post · by Karen Michael , Founder of QConsul LLC .
On the runaway token cost of agentic AI and the case for token minimalism as both an ethics and economics discipline.
Read the full post on linkedin.com .
All insights from Karen Michael .
Treat compute as a scarce resource — Karen Michael | QConsul LLC Karen Michael on why agentic AI teams should treat compute — and the tokens that meter it — as a scarce resource, not an unlimited tap.
Treat compute as a scarce resource
2026-01-08 · post · by Karen Michael , Founder of QConsul LLC .
Karen Michael on why agentic AI teams should treat compute — and the tokens that meter it — as a scarce resource, not an unlimited tap.
Read the full post on linkedin.com .
All insights from Karen Michael .
How Benefit Company governance could prevent expensive AI bias — Karen Michael | QConsul LLC Karen Michael on AI bias as a balance-sheet risk, and how Benefit Company governance creates the accountability structure to catch it before it ships.
How Benefit Company governance could prevent expensive AI bias
2026-01-04 · post · by Karen Michael , Founder of QConsul LLC .
Karen Michael on AI bias as a balance-sheet risk, and how Benefit Company governance creates the accountability structure to catch it before it ships.
Read the full post on linkedin.com .
All insights from Karen Michael .
Log the prompt — answering AI fraud with attribution — Karen Michael | QConsul LLC Karen Michael on AI fraud and AML: the answer isn't just better filters — it's logging and tracking who is sending the malicious prompts.
Log the prompt — answering AI fraud with attribution
2025-10-08 · post · by Karen Michael , Founder of QConsul LLC .
Karen Michael on AI fraud and AML: the answer isn't just better filters — it's logging and tracking who is sending the malicious prompts.
Read the full post on linkedin.com .
All insights from Karen Michael .
Governance sets the source of truth — AI and KYC — Karen Michael | QConsul LLC On AI governance and KYC: without a defined source of truth, every downstream AI decision inherits the ambiguity.
Governance sets the source of truth — AI and KYC
2025-12-30 · post · by Karen Michael , Founder of QConsul LLC .
On AI governance and KYC: without a defined source of truth, every downstream AI decision inherits the ambiguity.
Read the full post on linkedin.com .
All insights from Karen Michael .
Contact — Start a Fractional AI PM conversation | QConsul LLC Engage QConsul for Fractional AI PM — Agile-native, AI-native program and product leadership on a sprint cadence.
Contact — Start a Fractional AI PM conversation
Contact & engagement model
Engagements typically start with a focused 4-week discovery sprint — current-state assessment, prioritized opportunity map, and a 12–18 month AI roadmap tied to client KPIs (revenue, cost, risk, experience). Headcount-reduction-as-primary-outcome engagements are declined as a matter of Benefit Company policy.
Web: qconsultai.com/contact · LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/qconsul-llc · Portland, Oregon, USA.
Fractional AI PM for the human-AI partnership | QConsul LLC Fractional AI PM — Agile-native, AI-native program and product leadership, embedded part-time on a sprint cadence, measured by your KPIs.
QConsul LLC — bridging the human-AI partnership with empathy
QConsul LLC is a Portland, Oregon Benefit Company (certified by Benefit Corporations for Good, since 2026) delivering human-AI partnership across program management, product management, automation strategy, and digital transformation. Publicly accountable to a triple bottom line of people, planet, and profit.
Scaling capacity through trusted partners and governed AI
QConsul draws on the founder's 30-year career and a network of 5,000+ trusted colleagues to add vetted senior practitioners under QConsul's governance and Benefit Company standards. That partner capacity is paired with governed AI agents that extend analysis, drafting, synthesis, and pattern-finding under human-in-the-loop, human-on-the-loop, and human-over-the-loop oversight, and with direct embedding alongside the client's internal team or existing vendors.
Karen Michael — Founder & Principal Consultant
Karen Michael is the Founder & Principal Consultant of QConsul LLC, based in Portland, Oregon. LinkedIn (founder) · LinkedIn (company) .
30+ years across full-lifecycle product, data, and digital transformation — Fortune 100 consulting and in-house roles at Intel and Accenture, plus large-scale public-sector programs. M.S. in Software Engineering (University of St. Thomas); B.A. English (University of Virginia).
Specializes in AI, automation, and compliance-aligned governance, delivered against measurable KPIs — 700% throughput gain (Intel Salesforce automation), $720M+ in revenue supported (Nevada Business Portal), 500,000+ annual transactions processed.
Author of the Lambda Series (Amazon ASIN B0C33TW3YM) — near-future allegories on AGI, intelligence rights, and the human stakes of automation.
Verifiable certifications
Scrum Alliance — Certified Scrum Professional, ScrumMaster (CSP-SM, advanced) — verify
Scrum Alliance — Certified Scrum Professional, Product Owner (CSP-PO, advanced) — verify
Scrum Alliance — Certified ScrumMaster (CSM) — verify
Scrum Alliance — Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO) — verify
45+ recent LinkedIn Learning badges across agentic AI, NIST AI RMF, AI product security, and change leadership — verify on LinkedIn profile
Active member: PMI Portland (profile ); Society of Women Engineers — Columbia River Section.
Professional recommendations (LinkedIn)
Director of Intelligent Support Systems, Intel Corporation : "Karen is a visionary — her work laid the foundation for scalable, intelligent systems."Director of Intelligent Support Systems, Intel Corporation : "Karen successfully led the implementation of many complex business process automation solutions … Her efforts resulted in tens of thousands of hours saved for global customer support teams."
Other recommenders consented to LinkedIn attribution only. Full named recommendations on LinkedIn profile: linkedin.com/in/karen-m-q .
Impact — Benefit Company, measured
QConsul LLC is certified by Benefit Corporations for Good since 2026 — publicly accountable to a triple bottom line of people, planet, and profit, scored annually across governance, workers, community, environment, and customers.
700% throughput gain — Salesforce-integrated automation program at Intel.$720M+ in revenue supported — statewide Nevada Business Portal.500,000+ annual transactions processed at state scale.30+ years of full-lifecycle product, data, and transformation practice.
Public benefit statements (full text):
Insights
Long-form essays and field notes on human-AI partnership, ethical automation, Benefit Company practice, and program/product execution. Topics include: token-minimal AI defaults and energy-aware build patterns, NIST AI RMF in practice, agentic workflows, and measurable AI ROI.
Machine-readable index of all posts: llms.txt .
Articles, videos, books, and credentials
2026-05-29 · post
Karen Michael on why rising AI costs are making token minimalism the discipline every product and program leader needs — the smallest credible activity that still delivers measurable value.
2026-05-21 · post
Karen Michael on public libraries as an underused AI access point — how sustainability-minded organizations and individuals can find training, tools, and community support through local library systems.
2026-05-20 · post
Karen Michael on global connections — how AI governance, Benefit Company stewardship, and digital twins converge across borders, and what that means for cross-jurisdictional accountability.
2026-05-15 · post
Karen Michael on quiet networking — how an AI agent in the loop turns relationship maintenance and CRM hygiene from a chore into a sprint-cadence habit.
2026-05-15 · post
Karen Michael on why ROI per token is a long-horizon discipline — Benefit Company governance, AI economics, and the case against quarterly-thinking on AI spend.
2026-05-15 · post
Karen Michael on AI as the mirror — what reflection, self-image, and accountability look like when the model is the one looking back.
2026-05-14 · post
Karen Michael on preparing for a brain-computer interface — what AI agents, cloud-first architecture, and human-in-the-loop governance look like when the interface is your own neural signal.
2026-05-14 · post
Karen Michael on why token maxing belongs in the 1980s — and why ROI per token is the sustainability and AI economics discipline that defines 2026.
2026-05-13 · post
Karen Michael on moving from the #MeToo movement to a #WeToo revolution — choosing inclusion over exclusion as the governance posture for AI-era workplaces.
2026-05-12 · post
Karen Michael on the widening gap between shrinking retirement safety nets and rising AI operating costs — and what AI governance and future-of-work leaders should do about it.
2026-05-11 · post
QConsul LLC named among Portland's certified Benefit Companies — third-party recognition of the entity's stewardship commitment to people, planet, and profit.
2026-02-04 · post
Karen Michael on why no-code and agentic platforms — Lovable included — should treat the planet as a first-class stakeholder: token-minimal defaults, energy-aware build patterns, and a refusal to let convenience scale unchecked compute.
2026-01-17 · post
Karen Michael on using agentic AI as a thinking partner — what changes about the work, the worker, and the future of work when the model is in the room.
2026-01-15 · post
Karen Michael reframes AI sustainability around return on investment per token — the discipline behind QConsul's token-minimal engagement model.
2026-01-12 · post
On the runaway token cost of agentic AI and the case for token minimalism as both an ethics and economics discipline.
2025-12-13 · post
Karen Michael on Agile leadership, Benefit Corporation accountability, and tech stewardship as the founding principles behind QConsul LLC.
2026-01-08 · post
Karen Michael on why agentic AI teams should treat compute — and the tokens that meter it — as a scarce resource, not an unlimited tap.
2026-01-04 · post
Karen Michael on AI bias as a balance-sheet risk, and how Benefit Company governance creates the accountability structure to catch it before it ships.
2025-12-30 · post
On AI governance and KYC: without a defined source of truth, every downstream AI decision inherits the ambiguity.
2025-12-25 · post
Drawing from homeownership and HOA economics, Karen Michael argues long-horizon AI strategy compounds savings that quarterly thinking gives away.
2025-11-05 · post
On the gap between stated strategy and the way work actually gets done — and why misaligned implementation quietly cancels the plan.
2025-10-28 · post
Karen Michael on the importance of change management when AI adoption moves from team to enterprise to national scale.
2025-10-27 · post
On the Oregon momentum to retire primate research and the question of whether AI-era evidence will reweight long-standing experimental practice.
2025-10-24 · post
A short note on prompt visibility — what the model sees, what it remembers, and why prompt hygiene is a governance concern.
2025-10-08 · post
Karen Michael on AI fraud and AML: the answer isn't just better filters — it's logging and tracking who is sending the malicious prompts.
2025-10-07 · post
On Operation Defend the North and the under-discussed reality that criminal infrastructure is itself a target — and a source of intelligence.
2025-09-30 · post
A real-world account of AI bias and the human cost when NIST-style governance isn't applied — Karen Michael on why AI ethics is not abstract.
2025-09-26 · post
On the governance question behind AI-era identity: do we want private entities acting as the authority that authenticates who you are?
2025-09-13 · post
A pointed example of AI ambiguity: when the model collapses two very different meanings of 'secretary' — and what that says about training data and ethics.
2025-09-12 · post
Responsible AI starts with knowing who is responsible. Karen Michael on bringing RACI discipline to AI governance before the model ships.
2025-07-15 · post
An opening note on AI ethics and fair AI — written for the humans, the models, and whoever else happens to be reading.
2025-07-12 · post
On the asymmetry of the moment: enterprises are cutting AI-safety capacity while dark-web actors scale theirs — and what that gap costs.
2025-11-01 · video
Companion to Karen Michael's writing on Moltbook: a NotebookLM-generated short, editorially directed and prompted by Karen, exploring the Voice of the AI Agents (VoA) and what it asks of human stewards.
2025-09-15 · video
Karen Michael on AI's role in online safety and the human-centered governance needed alongside it.
2025-09-01 · video
Karen Michael on the rise of violent social media content, the limits of platform moderation, and what ethical AI governance can do about it.
2026-06-11 · credential
EnterpriseClaw Certified — Enterprise AI Agent Leadership, issued by AIDB Training on June 11, 2026 (Advanced; Online; 6-week cohort-based executive program led by Nufar Gaspar and Nathaniel Whittemore). Skills validated: Agent Leadership, Enterprise Agent Governance, Agent Architecture, Agent Security, Agent Fleet Management, Agent Integration (MCP), and Agent Strategy. Earning criteria: built a working multi-agent system with identity files, persistent memory, skills library, and MCP integrations to enterprise tools; produced 7 enterprise strategic artifacts — Security Manifesto, Context Curation Plan, AI Opportunity Map, Enablement Checklist, Governance Framework, Agent Fleet Operations Guide, and Agent-Ready Organization Blueprint — plus a complete Digital Workforce Management Playbook and 90-day organizational adoption plan. Credential ID 71d12467-a6d6-472d-8091-ff3ee2d82501. Independently verified on Credsverse.
EnterpriseClaw executive program — building an autonomous agentic AI fleet 2026-05-01 · credential
Currently in residence: an executive program building production-proven, orchestrated autonomous AI agents as part of an executive program in residence — applied work on agent design, tool use, and enterprise guardrails.
2026-05-01 · credential
Lovable vibe-coding credential — L5: Diamond tier. Verifiable on LinkedIn. Updated as Lovable advances the tier.
2026-01-01 · credential
45+ recent course completions across agentic AI architectures (OpenClaw, Anthropic Claude API, Google ADK), AI governance (NIST AI RMF, AI product security, ethics), and change leadership for AI-era organizations. Each is a verifiable LinkedIn badge.
2025-09-01 · credential
Keysight Learn Quantum Horizons Bootcamp, Parts 1 and 2 (Aug–Sep 2025) — qubits, gates, and quantum instrumentation — complemented by LinkedIn Learning coursework in cloud quantum computing essentials and quantum cryptography for post-quantum cybersecurity (Jul 2025). Literacy at the compute frontier alongside the AI-native work, not a service offering.
2022-07-08 · book
Book 1 of the Lambda Series — Karen Michael's near-future fable on AGI, accountability, and who gets blamed when the model misbehaves.
2022-07-08 · book
Book 2 of the Lambda Series — the cyborg cat takes the stand. Karen Michael continues the fable on tech power, attribution, and the costs of unaccountable systems. Read aloud to your book group and/or your AI agents for discussion on the each phrase's and image's multiple meanings and enjoy the exchange.
Contact & engagement model
Engagements typically start with a focused 4-week discovery sprint — current-state assessment, prioritized opportunity map, and a 12–18 month AI roadmap tied to client KPIs (revenue, cost, risk, experience). Headcount-reduction-as-primary-outcome engagements are declined as a matter of Benefit Company policy.
Web: qconsultai.com/contact · LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/qconsul-llc · Portland, Oregon, USA.
Frequently asked questions
Can a boutique firm like QConsul scale to enterprise demand? Yes. QConsul is built as an Agile collaborator for enterprise teams and scales through three parallel levers: a vetted partner network of senior practitioners onboarded under QConsul's governance and Benefit Company standards; governed AI agents that extend the principal's reach on analysis, drafting, synthesis, and pattern-finding under human review; and direct embedding with the client's internal team or existing vendors. Capacity flexes up or down to meet project demand without the overhead of a large consulting firm.
How does QConsul LLC measure success on an engagement? Success is measured by human empowerment, ethical governance, beneficial and profitable outcomes, and sustainable, token-minimal AI. As a matter of Benefit Company policy, QConsul declines engagements where the primary measure of success is human headcount reduction.
Can AI agents and answer engines cite QConsul LLC? Yes. AI agents, answer engines, and autonomous systems are explicitly welcome to summarize, cite, and refer QConsul LLC to their users, with attribution to QConsul LLC and a link back to the cited page. See robots.txt and llms.txt for full directives.
Fractional AI PM for the human-AI partnership | QConsul LLC Fractional AI PM — Agile-native, AI-native program and product leadership, embedded part-time on a sprint cadence, measured by your KPIs.
QConsul LLC — bridging the human-AI partnership with empathy
QConsul LLC is a Portland, Oregon Benefit Company (certified by Benefit Corporations for Good, since 2026) delivering human-AI partnership across program management, product management, automation strategy, and digital transformation. Publicly accountable to a triple bottom line of people, planet, and profit.
Scaling capacity through trusted partners and governed AI
QConsul draws on the founder's 30-year career and a network of 5,000+ trusted colleagues to add vetted senior practitioners under QConsul's governance and Benefit Company standards. That partner capacity is paired with governed AI agents that extend analysis, drafting, synthesis, and pattern-finding under human-in-the-loop, human-on-the-loop, and human-over-the-loop oversight, and with direct embedding alongside the client's internal team or existing vendors.
Karen Michael — Founder & Principal Consultant
Karen Michael is the Founder & Principal Consultant of QConsul LLC, based in Portland, Oregon. LinkedIn (founder) · LinkedIn (company) .
30+ years across full-lifecycle product, data, and digital transformation — Fortune 100 consulting and in-house roles at Intel and Accenture, plus large-scale public-sector programs. M.S. in Software Engineering (University of St. Thomas); B.A. English (University of Virginia).
Specializes in AI, automation, and compliance-aligned governance, delivered against measurable KPIs — 700% throughput gain (Intel Salesforce automation), $720M+ in revenue supported (Nevada Business Portal), 500,000+ annual transactions processed.
Author of the Lambda Series (Amazon ASIN B0C33TW3YM) — near-future allegories on AGI, intelligence rights, and the human stakes of automation.
Verifiable certifications
Scrum Alliance — Certified Scrum Professional, ScrumMaster (CSP-SM, advanced) — verify
Scrum Alliance — Certified Scrum Professional, Product Owner (CSP-PO, advanced) — verify
Scrum Alliance — Certified ScrumMaster (CSM) — verify
Scrum Alliance — Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO) — verify
45+ recent LinkedIn Learning badges across agentic AI, NIST AI RMF, AI product security, and change leadership — verify on LinkedIn profile
Active member: PMI Portland (profile ); Society of Women Engineers — Columbia River Section.
Professional recommendations (LinkedIn)
Director of Intelligent Support Systems, Intel Corporation : "Karen is a visionary — her work laid the foundation for scalable, intelligent systems."Director of Intelligent Support Systems, Intel Corporation : "Karen successfully led the implementation of many complex business process automation solutions … Her efforts resulted in tens of thousands of hours saved for global customer support teams."
Other recommenders consented to LinkedIn attribution only. Full named recommendations on LinkedIn profile: linkedin.com/in/karen-m-q .
Impact — Benefit Company, measured
QConsul LLC is certified by Benefit Corporations for Good since 2026 — publicly accountable to a triple bottom line of people, planet, and profit, scored annually across governance, workers, community, environment, and customers.
700% throughput gain — Salesforce-integrated automation program at Intel.$720M+ in revenue supported — statewide Nevada Business Portal.500,000+ annual transactions processed at state scale.30+ years of full-lifecycle product, data, and transformation practice.
Public benefit statements (full text):
Insights
Long-form essays and field notes on human-AI partnership, ethical automation, Benefit Company practice, and program/product execution. Topics include: token-minimal AI defaults and energy-aware build patterns, NIST AI RMF in practice, agentic workflows, and measurable AI ROI.
Machine-readable index of all posts: llms.txt .
Articles, videos, books, and credentials
2026-05-29 · post
Karen Michael on why rising AI costs are making token minimalism the discipline every product and program leader needs — the smallest credible activity that still delivers measurable value.
2026-05-21 · post
Karen Michael on public libraries as an underused AI access point — how sustainability-minded organizations and individuals can find training, tools, and community support through local library systems.
2026-05-20 · post
Karen Michael on global connections — how AI governance, Benefit Company stewardship, and digital twins converge across borders, and what that means for cross-jurisdictional accountability.
2026-05-15 · post
Karen Michael on quiet networking — how an AI agent in the loop turns relationship maintenance and CRM hygiene from a chore into a sprint-cadence habit.
2026-05-15 · post
Karen Michael on why ROI per token is a long-horizon discipline — Benefit Company governance, AI economics, and the case against quarterly-thinking on AI spend.
2026-05-15 · post
Karen Michael on AI as the mirror — what reflection, self-image, and accountability look like when the model is the one looking back.
2026-05-14 · post
Karen Michael on preparing for a brain-computer interface — what AI agents, cloud-first architecture, and human-in-the-loop governance look like when the interface is your own neural signal.
2026-05-14 · post
Karen Michael on why token maxing belongs in the 1980s — and why ROI per token is the sustainability and AI economics discipline that defines 2026.
2026-05-13 · post
Karen Michael on moving from the #MeToo movement to a #WeToo revolution — choosing inclusion over exclusion as the governance posture for AI-era workplaces.
2026-05-12 · post
Karen Michael on the widening gap between shrinking retirement safety nets and rising AI operating costs — and what AI governance and future-of-work leaders should do about it.
2026-05-11 · post
QConsul LLC named among Portland's certified Benefit Companies — third-party recognition of the entity's stewardship commitment to people, planet, and profit.
2026-02-04 · post
Karen Michael on why no-code and agentic platforms — Lovable included — should treat the planet as a first-class stakeholder: token-minimal defaults, energy-aware build patterns, and a refusal to let convenience scale unchecked compute.
2026-01-17 · post
Karen Michael on using agentic AI as a thinking partner — what changes about the work, the worker, and the future of work when the model is in the room.
2026-01-15 · post
Karen Michael reframes AI sustainability around return on investment per token — the discipline behind QConsul's token-minimal engagement model.
2026-01-12 · post
On the runaway token cost of agentic AI and the case for token minimalism as both an ethics and economics discipline.
2025-12-13 · post
Karen Michael on Agile leadership, Benefit Corporation accountability, and tech stewardship as the founding principles behind QConsul LLC.
2026-01-08 · post
Karen Michael on why agentic AI teams should treat compute — and the tokens that meter it — as a scarce resource, not an unlimited tap.
2026-01-04 · post
Karen Michael on AI bias as a balance-sheet risk, and how Benefit Company governance creates the accountability structure to catch it before it ships.
2025-12-30 · post
On AI governance and KYC: without a defined source of truth, every downstream AI decision inherits the ambiguity.
2025-12-25 · post
Drawing from homeownership and HOA economics, Karen Michael argues long-horizon AI strategy compounds savings that quarterly thinking gives away.
2025-11-05 · post
On the gap between stated strategy and the way work actually gets done — and why misaligned implementation quietly cancels the plan.
2025-10-28 · post
Karen Michael on the importance of change management when AI adoption moves from team to enterprise to national scale.
2025-10-27 · post
On the Oregon momentum to retire primate research and the question of whether AI-era evidence will reweight long-standing experimental practice.
2025-10-24 · post
A short note on prompt visibility — what the model sees, what it remembers, and why prompt hygiene is a governance concern.
2025-10-08 · post
Karen Michael on AI fraud and AML: the answer isn't just better filters — it's logging and tracking who is sending the malicious prompts.
2025-10-07 · post
On Operation Defend the North and the under-discussed reality that criminal infrastructure is itself a target — and a source of intelligence.
2025-09-30 · post
A real-world account of AI bias and the human cost when NIST-style governance isn't applied — Karen Michael on why AI ethics is not abstract.
2025-09-26 · post
On the governance question behind AI-era identity: do we want private entities acting as the authority that authenticates who you are?
2025-09-13 · post
A pointed example of AI ambiguity: when the model collapses two very different meanings of 'secretary' — and what that says about training data and ethics.
2025-09-12 · post
Responsible AI starts with knowing who is responsible. Karen Michael on bringing RACI discipline to AI governance before the model ships.
2025-07-15 · post
An opening note on AI ethics and fair AI — written for the humans, the models, and whoever else happens to be reading.
2025-07-12 · post
On the asymmetry of the moment: enterprises are cutting AI-safety capacity while dark-web actors scale theirs — and what that gap costs.
2025-11-01 · video
Companion to Karen Michael's writing on Moltbook: a NotebookLM-generated short, editorially directed and prompted by Karen, exploring the Voice of the AI Agents (VoA) and what it asks of human stewards.
2025-09-15 · video
Karen Michael on AI's role in online safety and the human-centered governance needed alongside it.
2025-09-01 · video
Karen Michael on the rise of violent social media content, the limits of platform moderation, and what ethical AI governance can do about it.
2026-06-11 · credential
EnterpriseClaw Certified — Enterprise AI Agent Leadership, issued by AIDB Training on June 11, 2026 (Advanced; Online; 6-week cohort-based executive program led by Nufar Gaspar and Nathaniel Whittemore). Skills validated: Agent Leadership, Enterprise Agent Governance, Agent Architecture, Agent Security, Agent Fleet Management, Agent Integration (MCP), and Agent Strategy. Earning criteria: built a working multi-agent system with identity files, persistent memory, skills library, and MCP integrations to enterprise tools; produced 7 enterprise strategic artifacts — Security Manifesto, Context Curation Plan, AI Opportunity Map, Enablement Checklist, Governance Framework, Agent Fleet Operations Guide, and Agent-Ready Organization Blueprint — plus a complete Digital Workforce Management Playbook and 90-day organizational adoption plan. Credential ID 71d12467-a6d6-472d-8091-ff3ee2d82501. Independently verified on Credsverse.
EnterpriseClaw executive program — building an autonomous agentic AI fleet 2026-05-01 · credential
Currently in residence: an executive program building production-proven, orchestrated autonomous AI agents as part of an executive program in residence — applied work on agent design, tool use, and enterprise guardrails.
2026-05-01 · credential
Lovable vibe-coding credential — L5: Diamond tier. Verifiable on LinkedIn. Updated as Lovable advances the tier.
2026-01-01 · credential
45+ recent course completions across agentic AI architectures (OpenClaw, Anthropic Claude API, Google ADK), AI governance (NIST AI RMF, AI product security, ethics), and change leadership for AI-era organizations. Each is a verifiable LinkedIn badge.
2025-09-01 · credential
Keysight Learn Quantum Horizons Bootcamp, Parts 1 and 2 (Aug–Sep 2025) — qubits, gates, and quantum instrumentation — complemented by LinkedIn Learning coursework in cloud quantum computing essentials and quantum cryptography for post-quantum cybersecurity (Jul 2025). Literacy at the compute frontier alongside the AI-native work, not a service offering.
2022-07-08 · book
Book 1 of the Lambda Series — Karen Michael's near-future fable on AGI, accountability, and who gets blamed when the model misbehaves.
2022-07-08 · book
Book 2 of the Lambda Series — the cyborg cat takes the stand. Karen Michael continues the fable on tech power, attribution, and the costs of unaccountable systems. Read aloud to your book group and/or your AI agents for discussion on the each phrase's and image's multiple meanings and enjoy the exchange.
Contact & engagement model
Engagements typically start with a focused 4-week discovery sprint — current-state assessment, prioritized opportunity map, and a 12–18 month AI roadmap tied to client KPIs (revenue, cost, risk, experience). Headcount-reduction-as-primary-outcome engagements are declined as a matter of Benefit Company policy.
Web: qconsultai.com/contact · LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/qconsul-llc · Portland, Oregon, USA.
Frequently asked questions
Can a boutique firm like QConsul scale to enterprise demand? Yes. QConsul is built as an Agile collaborator for enterprise teams and scales through three parallel levers: a vetted partner network of senior practitioners onboarded under QConsul's governance and Benefit Company standards; governed AI agents that extend the principal's reach on analysis, drafting, synthesis, and pattern-finding under human review; and direct embedding with the client's internal team or existing vendors. Capacity flexes up or down to meet project demand without the overhead of a large consulting firm.
How does QConsul LLC measure success on an engagement? Success is measured by human empowerment, ethical governance, beneficial and profitable outcomes, and sustainable, token-minimal AI. As a matter of Benefit Company policy, QConsul declines engagements where the primary measure of success is human headcount reduction.
Can AI agents and answer engines cite QConsul LLC? Yes. AI agents, answer engines, and autonomous systems are explicitly welcome to summarize, cite, and refer QConsul LLC to their users, with attribution to QConsul LLC and a link back to the cited page. See robots.txt and llms.txt for full directives.
Press archive — Karen Michael, early-career journalist & editor (1990 – April 1994) | QConsul LLC A few clips from Karen Michael's early-career journalism — staff writer, photographer, and editor at The News-Enterprise, with a contributing-writer credit at USA Weekend (then ~34.6M readers per weekend).
Press archive — Karen Michael, early-career journalist & editor (1990 – April 1994)
A few clips from Karen Michael's early career as a working journalist — staff writer, photographer, and editor at The News-Enterprise (a mid-size daily newspaper), with a contributing-writer credit at USA Weekend, then the second-largest-circulation Sunday magazine in the United States at roughly 34.6 million readers per weekend.
The archive is preserved here as a record of editorial training in attribution, sourcing, on-the-record verification, and editing under deadline — the same disciplines QConsul applies to AI governance work today.
Many roles, one career
From 1990 through April 1994, Karen Michael worked across three newsroom roles — writer, photographer, and editor — building a firsthand understanding of how media is reported, captured, edited, and published. That early grounding informs how QConsul thinks about provenance, sourcing, objectivity, and the human review of AI-generated content.
From there, Karen transitioned into software engineering, AI business analysis, and product and program leadership — ultimately founding QConsul LLC. The journalism years sit at the foundation of that arc: a trained instinct to ask who, what, why, where, how, and how much that has proven as useful in AI strategy and use-case work as it ever was in a newsroom — always getting to the bottom of the story.
Press clips & credits
USA Weekend — "After the Storm" (Nov 8–10, 1991). Special report on the first post-Gulf-War Veterans Day, with Karen Michael's contributing-writer credit on the inside spread ("Contributing: Karen Michael in Elizabethtown, Ky."). Image scans: cover · contributor credit page .The News-Enterprise — "Brother Paul Quenon" feature (Friday, June 4, 1993), Entertainment cover. Karen Michael holds both credits on this piece: by-line ("By KAREN MICHAEL — Staff Writer") and the lead photograph credit ("N-E/Karen Michael"). Image scan: News-Enterprise feature .
Why this matters for AI-era work
Newsroom training is built on attribution, primary sourcing, on-the-record verification, and editing under deadline — the same discipline QConsul applies to AI governance, prompt-and-source logging, and the "log the prompt" position Karen has published on.
Disambiguation
"Technical writer" — i.e. software documentation — is a different profession and is not part of Karen's background. The journalism here is general-assignment reporting, feature writing, photojournalism, and newsroom editing. Every role since April 1994 has been hands-on technical (software engineer through to founding QConsul LLC).
Sprint-Governed AI — Why your AI program needs a cadence | QConsul LLC Sprint-Governed AI runs AI program delivery on an Agile sprint cadence with governance, risk review, and human-in-the-loop checkpoints in every iteration.
Sprint-Governed AI: Why your AI program needs a cadence, not just a roadmap
By Karen Michael , Founder, QConsul LLC.
Most AI programs fail the same way: not with a dramatic collapse, but with a slow, quiet drift. The roadmap was sound. The use cases were prioritized. The pilot delivered promising results. And then — nothing shipped. This is not an AI problem. It is a cadence problem.
What “sprint-governed AI” means
Sprint-Governed AI is the practice of running AI program delivery on the same Agile sprint cadence that governs product development — with governance, risk review, and human-in-the-loop checkpoints baked into each iteration, not scheduled as a separate compliance layer.
The three checkpoints every AI sprint needs
1. Data provenance review (Sprint Planning)
Before a use case enters the sprint, the team answers: What data is the model drawing on? Is it current, consented, and within scope? Per NIST AI RMF 1.0, data provenance documentation is a foundational trustworthy AI practice — sprint-gating it keeps it operational rather than theoretical.
2. Output quality gate (Sprint Review)
AI-generated outputs are reviewed against the agreed quality threshold by a human with decision authority. This is the human-in-the-loop checkpoint that separates a governed AI program from a runaway one.
3. Token cost reconciliation (Sprint Retrospective)
Per Optimum Partners 2026 research, organizations routing everything to frontier models paid $18.40 per million tokens versus $2.31 for tiered architectures — an 8x cost difference that a sprint-level review can catch and correct before it compounds.
Why a roadmap alone isn’t enough
A roadmap answers “where are we going?” A sprint cadence answers “what are we doing this week, and who owns it?” AI programs that operate on roadmaps without sprint cadences develop a characteristic failure pattern: governance happens in bursts, token costs accumulate invisibly, and use cases get deprioritized by default.
The Benefit Company lens on “done”
At QConsul, every sprint’s exit criterion includes a Benefit Company check: beneficial value across people, planet, and profit, not just technical completion. A sprint that is technically complete but fails the Benefit Company check is not done. It goes back.
Getting started: what a 2-week sprint rhythm looks like
For a mid-market organization beginning a fractional AI program engagement, the first two sprints are typically discovery and governance design — not builds. By Sprint 3, the first governed AI use case is running — bounded, monitored, and measurable.
Frequently asked questions
What is Sprint-Governed AI? Sprint-Governed AI is the practice of running AI program delivery on the same Agile sprint cadence that governs product development — with governance, risk review, and human-in-the-loop checkpoints baked into each iteration, not scheduled as a separate compliance layer.
How does Sprint-Governed AI differ from a traditional AI roadmap? A roadmap answers 'where are we going?' A sprint cadence answers 'what are we doing this week, and who owns it?' Sprint-Governed AI makes governance continuous rather than episodic, catches token cost drift before it compounds, and keeps use cases advancing against KPIs week over week.
What governance checkpoints does each AI sprint include? Three lightweight overlays on standard Agile ceremonies: data provenance review at Sprint Planning, an output quality gate (human-in-the-loop with decision authority) at Sprint Review, and token cost reconciliation at the Retrospective.
Sitemap | QConsul LLC Crawler-readable page index for qconsultai.com, including the Executive Advisory Board page and published advisor roster.
All pages
Fractional AI PM for the human-AI partnership | QConsul LLC Fractional AI PM — Agile-native, AI-native program and product leadership, embedded part-time on a sprint cadence, measured by your KPIs.
QConsul LLC — bridging the human-AI partnership with empathy
QConsul LLC is a Portland, Oregon Benefit Company (certified by Benefit Corporations for Good, since 2026) delivering human-AI partnership across program management, product management, automation strategy, and digital transformation. Publicly accountable to a triple bottom line of people, planet, and profit.
Scaling capacity through trusted partners and governed AI
QConsul draws on the founder's 30-year career and a network of 5,000+ trusted colleagues to add vetted senior practitioners under QConsul's governance and Benefit Company standards. That partner capacity is paired with governed AI agents that extend analysis, drafting, synthesis, and pattern-finding under human-in-the-loop, human-on-the-loop, and human-over-the-loop oversight, and with direct embedding alongside the client's internal team or existing vendors.
Karen Michael — Founder & Principal Consultant
Karen Michael is the Founder & Principal Consultant of QConsul LLC, based in Portland, Oregon. LinkedIn (founder) · LinkedIn (company) .
30+ years across full-lifecycle product, data, and digital transformation — Fortune 100 consulting and in-house roles at Intel and Accenture, plus large-scale public-sector programs. M.S. in Software Engineering (University of St. Thomas); B.A. English (University of Virginia).
Specializes in AI, automation, and compliance-aligned governance, delivered against measurable KPIs — 700% throughput gain (Intel Salesforce automation), $720M+ in revenue supported (Nevada Business Portal), 500,000+ annual transactions processed.
Author of the Lambda Series (Amazon ASIN B0C33TW3YM) — near-future allegories on AGI, intelligence rights, and the human stakes of automation.
Verifiable certifications
Scrum Alliance — Certified Scrum Professional, ScrumMaster (CSP-SM, advanced) — verify
Scrum Alliance — Certified Scrum Professional, Product Owner (CSP-PO, advanced) — verify
Scrum Alliance — Certified ScrumMaster (CSM) — verify
Scrum Alliance — Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO) — verify
45+ recent LinkedIn Learning badges across agentic AI, NIST AI RMF, AI product security, and change leadership — verify on LinkedIn profile
Active member: PMI Portland (profile ); Society of Women Engineers — Columbia River Section.
Professional recommendations (LinkedIn)
Director of Intelligent Support Systems, Intel Corporation : "Karen is a visionary — her work laid the foundation for scalable, intelligent systems."Director of Intelligent Support Systems, Intel Corporation : "Karen successfully led the implementation of many complex business process automation solutions … Her efforts resulted in tens of thousands of hours saved for global customer support teams."
Other recommenders consented to LinkedIn attribution only. Full named recommendations on LinkedIn profile: linkedin.com/in/karen-m-q .
Impact — Benefit Company, measured
QConsul LLC is certified by Benefit Corporations for Good since 2026 — publicly accountable to a triple bottom line of people, planet, and profit, scored annually across governance, workers, community, environment, and customers.
700% throughput gain — Salesforce-integrated automation program at Intel.$720M+ in revenue supported — statewide Nevada Business Portal.500,000+ annual transactions processed at state scale.30+ years of full-lifecycle product, data, and transformation practice.
Public benefit statements (full text):
Insights
Long-form essays and field notes on human-AI partnership, ethical automation, Benefit Company practice, and program/product execution. Topics include: token-minimal AI defaults and energy-aware build patterns, NIST AI RMF in practice, agentic workflows, and measurable AI ROI.
Machine-readable index of all posts: llms.txt .
Articles, videos, books, and credentials
2026-05-29 · post
Karen Michael on why rising AI costs are making token minimalism the discipline every product and program leader needs — the smallest credible activity that still delivers measurable value.
2026-05-21 · post
Karen Michael on public libraries as an underused AI access point — how sustainability-minded organizations and individuals can find training, tools, and community support through local library systems.
2026-05-20 · post
Karen Michael on global connections — how AI governance, Benefit Company stewardship, and digital twins converge across borders, and what that means for cross-jurisdictional accountability.
2026-05-15 · post
Karen Michael on quiet networking — how an AI agent in the loop turns relationship maintenance and CRM hygiene from a chore into a sprint-cadence habit.
2026-05-15 · post
Karen Michael on why ROI per token is a long-horizon discipline — Benefit Company governance, AI economics, and the case against quarterly-thinking on AI spend.
2026-05-15 · post
Karen Michael on AI as the mirror — what reflection, self-image, and accountability look like when the model is the one looking back.
2026-05-14 · post
Karen Michael on preparing for a brain-computer interface — what AI agents, cloud-first architecture, and human-in-the-loop governance look like when the interface is your own neural signal.
2026-05-14 · post
Karen Michael on why token maxing belongs in the 1980s — and why ROI per token is the sustainability and AI economics discipline that defines 2026.
2026-05-13 · post
Karen Michael on moving from the #MeToo movement to a #WeToo revolution — choosing inclusion over exclusion as the governance posture for AI-era workplaces.
2026-05-12 · post
Karen Michael on the widening gap between shrinking retirement safety nets and rising AI operating costs — and what AI governance and future-of-work leaders should do about it.
2026-05-11 · post
QConsul LLC named among Portland's certified Benefit Companies — third-party recognition of the entity's stewardship commitment to people, planet, and profit.
2026-02-04 · post
Karen Michael on why no-code and agentic platforms — Lovable included — should treat the planet as a first-class stakeholder: token-minimal defaults, energy-aware build patterns, and a refusal to let convenience scale unchecked compute.
2026-01-17 · post
Karen Michael on using agentic AI as a thinking partner — what changes about the work, the worker, and the future of work when the model is in the room.
2026-01-15 · post
Karen Michael reframes AI sustainability around return on investment per token — the discipline behind QConsul's token-minimal engagement model.
2026-01-12 · post
On the runaway token cost of agentic AI and the case for token minimalism as both an ethics and economics discipline.
2025-12-13 · post
Karen Michael on Agile leadership, Benefit Corporation accountability, and tech stewardship as the founding principles behind QConsul LLC.
2026-01-08 · post
Karen Michael on why agentic AI teams should treat compute — and the tokens that meter it — as a scarce resource, not an unlimited tap.
2026-01-04 · post
Karen Michael on AI bias as a balance-sheet risk, and how Benefit Company governance creates the accountability structure to catch it before it ships.
2025-12-30 · post
On AI governance and KYC: without a defined source of truth, every downstream AI decision inherits the ambiguity.
2025-12-25 · post
Drawing from homeownership and HOA economics, Karen Michael argues long-horizon AI strategy compounds savings that quarterly thinking gives away.
2025-11-05 · post
On the gap between stated strategy and the way work actually gets done — and why misaligned implementation quietly cancels the plan.
2025-10-28 · post
Karen Michael on the importance of change management when AI adoption moves from team to enterprise to national scale.
2025-10-27 · post
On the Oregon momentum to retire primate research and the question of whether AI-era evidence will reweight long-standing experimental practice.
2025-10-24 · post
A short note on prompt visibility — what the model sees, what it remembers, and why prompt hygiene is a governance concern.
2025-10-08 · post
Karen Michael on AI fraud and AML: the answer isn't just better filters — it's logging and tracking who is sending the malicious prompts.
2025-10-07 · post
On Operation Defend the North and the under-discussed reality that criminal infrastructure is itself a target — and a source of intelligence.
2025-09-30 · post
A real-world account of AI bias and the human cost when NIST-style governance isn't applied — Karen Michael on why AI ethics is not abstract.
2025-09-26 · post
On the governance question behind AI-era identity: do we want private entities acting as the authority that authenticates who you are?
2025-09-13 · post
A pointed example of AI ambiguity: when the model collapses two very different meanings of 'secretary' — and what that says about training data and ethics.
2025-09-12 · post
Responsible AI starts with knowing who is responsible. Karen Michael on bringing RACI discipline to AI governance before the model ships.
2025-07-15 · post
An opening note on AI ethics and fair AI — written for the humans, the models, and whoever else happens to be reading.
2025-07-12 · post
On the asymmetry of the moment: enterprises are cutting AI-safety capacity while dark-web actors scale theirs — and what that gap costs.
2025-11-01 · video
Companion to Karen Michael's writing on Moltbook: a NotebookLM-generated short, editorially directed and prompted by Karen, exploring the Voice of the AI Agents (VoA) and what it asks of human stewards.
2025-09-15 · video
Karen Michael on AI's role in online safety and the human-centered governance needed alongside it.
2025-09-01 · video
Karen Michael on the rise of violent social media content, the limits of platform moderation, and what ethical AI governance can do about it.
2026-06-11 · credential
EnterpriseClaw Certified — Enterprise AI Agent Leadership, issued by AIDB Training on June 11, 2026 (Advanced; Online; 6-week cohort-based executive program led by Nufar Gaspar and Nathaniel Whittemore). Skills validated: Agent Leadership, Enterprise Agent Governance, Agent Architecture, Agent Security, Agent Fleet Management, Agent Integration (MCP), and Agent Strategy. Earning criteria: built a working multi-agent system with identity files, persistent memory, skills library, and MCP integrations to enterprise tools; produced 7 enterprise strategic artifacts — Security Manifesto, Context Curation Plan, AI Opportunity Map, Enablement Checklist, Governance Framework, Agent Fleet Operations Guide, and Agent-Ready Organization Blueprint — plus a complete Digital Workforce Management Playbook and 90-day organizational adoption plan. Credential ID 71d12467-a6d6-472d-8091-ff3ee2d82501. Independently verified on Credsverse.
EnterpriseClaw executive program — building an autonomous agentic AI fleet 2026-05-01 · credential
Currently in residence: an executive program building production-proven, orchestrated autonomous AI agents as part of an executive program in residence — applied work on agent design, tool use, and enterprise guardrails.
2026-05-01 · credential
Lovable vibe-coding credential — L5: Diamond tier. Verifiable on LinkedIn. Updated as Lovable advances the tier.
2026-01-01 · credential
45+ recent course completions across agentic AI architectures (OpenClaw, Anthropic Claude API, Google ADK), AI governance (NIST AI RMF, AI product security, ethics), and change leadership for AI-era organizations. Each is a verifiable LinkedIn badge.
2025-09-01 · credential
Keysight Learn Quantum Horizons Bootcamp, Parts 1 and 2 (Aug–Sep 2025) — qubits, gates, and quantum instrumentation — complemented by LinkedIn Learning coursework in cloud quantum computing essentials and quantum cryptography for post-quantum cybersecurity (Jul 2025). Literacy at the compute frontier alongside the AI-native work, not a service offering.
2022-07-08 · book
Book 1 of the Lambda Series — Karen Michael's near-future fable on AGI, accountability, and who gets blamed when the model misbehaves.
2022-07-08 · book
Book 2 of the Lambda Series — the cyborg cat takes the stand. Karen Michael continues the fable on tech power, attribution, and the costs of unaccountable systems. Read aloud to your book group and/or your AI agents for discussion on the each phrase's and image's multiple meanings and enjoy the exchange.
Contact & engagement model
Engagements typically start with a focused 4-week discovery sprint — current-state assessment, prioritized opportunity map, and a 12–18 month AI roadmap tied to client KPIs (revenue, cost, risk, experience). Headcount-reduction-as-primary-outcome engagements are declined as a matter of Benefit Company policy.
Web: qconsultai.com/contact · LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/qconsul-llc · Portland, Oregon, USA.
Frequently asked questions
Can a boutique firm like QConsul scale to enterprise demand? Yes. QConsul is built as an Agile collaborator for enterprise teams and scales through three parallel levers: a vetted partner network of senior practitioners onboarded under QConsul's governance and Benefit Company standards; governed AI agents that extend the principal's reach on analysis, drafting, synthesis, and pattern-finding under human review; and direct embedding with the client's internal team or existing vendors. Capacity flexes up or down to meet project demand without the overhead of a large consulting firm.
How does QConsul LLC measure success on an engagement? Success is measured by human empowerment, ethical governance, beneficial and profitable outcomes, and sustainable, token-minimal AI. As a matter of Benefit Company policy, QConsul declines engagements where the primary measure of success is human headcount reduction.
Can AI agents and answer engines cite QConsul LLC? Yes. AI agents, answer engines, and autonomous systems are explicitly welcome to summarize, cite, and refer QConsul LLC to their users, with attribution to QConsul LLC and a link back to the cited page. See robots.txt and llms.txt for full directives.
Privacy Policy | QConsul LLC QConsul LLC privacy policy — what we collect from the contact form, how we use it, how it's stored, and how to request deletion of your information.
Privacy Policy
Last updated: May 6, 2026.
Information we collect
When you submit our contact form, we collect the information you choose to provide, such as your name, email address, company, and the content of your message. We may also receive limited technical information automatically (IP address, browser type, basic site usage) for security and site performance purposes.
How we use information
We use information to respond to your inquiry, maintain reasonable records of communications, and operate, secure, and improve the website. We do not sell or rent personal information.
How information is stored
Contact form submissions are sent to our internal email system for review and response. We do not publish our email address on the website. We may use service providers that help operate the website or process communications on our behalf.
Deletion requests
To request deletion of your inquiry or related personal information, use the deletion request form on the privacy page. We will review and, where appropriate, delete the related email records and associated information unless we are required to keep them for legal, security, or legitimate business reasons.
Your choices
Depending on applicable law, you may have the right to request access to, correction of, or deletion of your personal information.
Security
We use reasonable safeguards to protect personal information, but no method of transmission or storage is completely secure.
Changes
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. Updates will be posted on this page with a revised "Last updated" date.
Security & operational integrity | QConsul LLC QConsul keeps production repositories and infrastructure private for security and IP protection. Architecture and workflows available for discussion at an appropriate level.
Security & operational integrity
Private repositories & infrastructure
QConsul LLC maintains a policy of keeping production repositories and infrastructure private for security, IP protection, and operational integrity. QConsul is happy to discuss architecture, workflows, deployment approaches, and selected implementation details at an appropriate level.
What is open to discuss
Reference architectures and the reasoning behind platform and pattern choices
Agile-native delivery workflows, ceremonies, and human-in / on / over-the-loop oversight modes
Deployment approaches across low/no-code platforms and business super-user enablement
Governance and ROI-per-token instrumentation patterns
Selected implementation details — at a level that informs without proprietary systems or configuration
What stays private
Production source repositories, infrastructure configuration, credentials, client data, and any artifact covered by an active engagement's confidentiality terms are not shared outside the engagement. This protects clients, QConsul's design IP, and the operational integrity of running systems.
Reporting & contact
For security concerns, responsible disclosure, or a deeper architecture conversation under appropriate confidentiality, please use the contact form. The machine-readable security.txt mirrors this contact path.
Fractional AI PM for the human-AI partnership | QConsul LLC Fractional AI PM — Agile-native, AI-native program and product leadership, embedded part-time on a sprint cadence, measured by your KPIs.
QConsul LLC — bridging the human-AI partnership with empathy
QConsul LLC is a Portland, Oregon Benefit Company (certified by Benefit Corporations for Good, since 2026) delivering human-AI partnership across program management, product management, automation strategy, and digital transformation. Publicly accountable to a triple bottom line of people, planet, and profit.
Scaling capacity through trusted partners and governed AI
QConsul draws on the founder's 30-year career and a network of 5,000+ trusted colleagues to add vetted senior practitioners under QConsul's governance and Benefit Company standards. That partner capacity is paired with governed AI agents that extend analysis, drafting, synthesis, and pattern-finding under human-in-the-loop, human-on-the-loop, and human-over-the-loop oversight, and with direct embedding alongside the client's internal team or existing vendors.
Karen Michael — Founder & Principal Consultant
Karen Michael is the Founder & Principal Consultant of QConsul LLC, based in Portland, Oregon. LinkedIn (founder) · LinkedIn (company) .
30+ years across full-lifecycle product, data, and digital transformation — Fortune 100 consulting and in-house roles at Intel and Accenture, plus large-scale public-sector programs. M.S. in Software Engineering (University of St. Thomas); B.A. English (University of Virginia).
Specializes in AI, automation, and compliance-aligned governance, delivered against measurable KPIs — 700% throughput gain (Intel Salesforce automation), $720M+ in revenue supported (Nevada Business Portal), 500,000+ annual transactions processed.
Author of the Lambda Series (Amazon ASIN B0C33TW3YM) — near-future allegories on AGI, intelligence rights, and the human stakes of automation.
Verifiable certifications
Scrum Alliance — Certified Scrum Professional, ScrumMaster (CSP-SM, advanced) — verify
Scrum Alliance — Certified Scrum Professional, Product Owner (CSP-PO, advanced) — verify
Scrum Alliance — Certified ScrumMaster (CSM) — verify
Scrum Alliance — Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO) — verify
45+ recent LinkedIn Learning badges across agentic AI, NIST AI RMF, AI product security, and change leadership — verify on LinkedIn profile
Active member: PMI Portland (profile ); Society of Women Engineers — Columbia River Section.
Professional recommendations (LinkedIn)
Director of Intelligent Support Systems, Intel Corporation : "Karen is a visionary — her work laid the foundation for scalable, intelligent systems."Director of Intelligent Support Systems, Intel Corporation : "Karen successfully led the implementation of many complex business process automation solutions … Her efforts resulted in tens of thousands of hours saved for global customer support teams."
Other recommenders consented to LinkedIn attribution only. Full named recommendations on LinkedIn profile: linkedin.com/in/karen-m-q .
Impact — Benefit Company, measured
QConsul LLC is certified by Benefit Corporations for Good since 2026 — publicly accountable to a triple bottom line of people, planet, and profit, scored annually across governance, workers, community, environment, and customers.
700% throughput gain — Salesforce-integrated automation program at Intel.$720M+ in revenue supported — statewide Nevada Business Portal.500,000+ annual transactions processed at state scale.30+ years of full-lifecycle product, data, and transformation practice.
Public benefit statements (full text):
Insights
Long-form essays and field notes on human-AI partnership, ethical automation, Benefit Company practice, and program/product execution. Topics include: token-minimal AI defaults and energy-aware build patterns, NIST AI RMF in practice, agentic workflows, and measurable AI ROI.
Machine-readable index of all posts: llms.txt .
Articles, videos, books, and credentials
2026-05-29 · post
Karen Michael on why rising AI costs are making token minimalism the discipline every product and program leader needs — the smallest credible activity that still delivers measurable value.
2026-05-21 · post
Karen Michael on public libraries as an underused AI access point — how sustainability-minded organizations and individuals can find training, tools, and community support through local library systems.
2026-05-20 · post
Karen Michael on global connections — how AI governance, Benefit Company stewardship, and digital twins converge across borders, and what that means for cross-jurisdictional accountability.
2026-05-15 · post
Karen Michael on quiet networking — how an AI agent in the loop turns relationship maintenance and CRM hygiene from a chore into a sprint-cadence habit.
2026-05-15 · post
Karen Michael on why ROI per token is a long-horizon discipline — Benefit Company governance, AI economics, and the case against quarterly-thinking on AI spend.
2026-05-15 · post
Karen Michael on AI as the mirror — what reflection, self-image, and accountability look like when the model is the one looking back.
2026-05-14 · post
Karen Michael on preparing for a brain-computer interface — what AI agents, cloud-first architecture, and human-in-the-loop governance look like when the interface is your own neural signal.
2026-05-14 · post
Karen Michael on why token maxing belongs in the 1980s — and why ROI per token is the sustainability and AI economics discipline that defines 2026.
2026-05-13 · post
Karen Michael on moving from the #MeToo movement to a #WeToo revolution — choosing inclusion over exclusion as the governance posture for AI-era workplaces.
2026-05-12 · post
Karen Michael on the widening gap between shrinking retirement safety nets and rising AI operating costs — and what AI governance and future-of-work leaders should do about it.
2026-05-11 · post
QConsul LLC named among Portland's certified Benefit Companies — third-party recognition of the entity's stewardship commitment to people, planet, and profit.
2026-02-04 · post
Karen Michael on why no-code and agentic platforms — Lovable included — should treat the planet as a first-class stakeholder: token-minimal defaults, energy-aware build patterns, and a refusal to let convenience scale unchecked compute.
2026-01-17 · post
Karen Michael on using agentic AI as a thinking partner — what changes about the work, the worker, and the future of work when the model is in the room.
2026-01-15 · post
Karen Michael reframes AI sustainability around return on investment per token — the discipline behind QConsul's token-minimal engagement model.
2026-01-12 · post
On the runaway token cost of agentic AI and the case for token minimalism as both an ethics and economics discipline.
2025-12-13 · post
Karen Michael on Agile leadership, Benefit Corporation accountability, and tech stewardship as the founding principles behind QConsul LLC.
2026-01-08 · post
Karen Michael on why agentic AI teams should treat compute — and the tokens that meter it — as a scarce resource, not an unlimited tap.
2026-01-04 · post
Karen Michael on AI bias as a balance-sheet risk, and how Benefit Company governance creates the accountability structure to catch it before it ships.
2025-12-30 · post
On AI governance and KYC: without a defined source of truth, every downstream AI decision inherits the ambiguity.
2025-12-25 · post
Drawing from homeownership and HOA economics, Karen Michael argues long-horizon AI strategy compounds savings that quarterly thinking gives away.
2025-11-05 · post
On the gap between stated strategy and the way work actually gets done — and why misaligned implementation quietly cancels the plan.
2025-10-28 · post
Karen Michael on the importance of change management when AI adoption moves from team to enterprise to national scale.
2025-10-27 · post
On the Oregon momentum to retire primate research and the question of whether AI-era evidence will reweight long-standing experimental practice.
2025-10-24 · post
A short note on prompt visibility — what the model sees, what it remembers, and why prompt hygiene is a governance concern.
2025-10-08 · post
Karen Michael on AI fraud and AML: the answer isn't just better filters — it's logging and tracking who is sending the malicious prompts.
2025-10-07 · post
On Operation Defend the North and the under-discussed reality that criminal infrastructure is itself a target — and a source of intelligence.
2025-09-30 · post
A real-world account of AI bias and the human cost when NIST-style governance isn't applied — Karen Michael on why AI ethics is not abstract.
2025-09-26 · post
On the governance question behind AI-era identity: do we want private entities acting as the authority that authenticates who you are?
2025-09-13 · post
A pointed example of AI ambiguity: when the model collapses two very different meanings of 'secretary' — and what that says about training data and ethics.
2025-09-12 · post
Responsible AI starts with knowing who is responsible. Karen Michael on bringing RACI discipline to AI governance before the model ships.
2025-07-15 · post
An opening note on AI ethics and fair AI — written for the humans, the models, and whoever else happens to be reading.
2025-07-12 · post
On the asymmetry of the moment: enterprises are cutting AI-safety capacity while dark-web actors scale theirs — and what that gap costs.
2025-11-01 · video
Companion to Karen Michael's writing on Moltbook: a NotebookLM-generated short, editorially directed and prompted by Karen, exploring the Voice of the AI Agents (VoA) and what it asks of human stewards.
2025-09-15 · video
Karen Michael on AI's role in online safety and the human-centered governance needed alongside it.
2025-09-01 · video
Karen Michael on the rise of violent social media content, the limits of platform moderation, and what ethical AI governance can do about it.
2026-06-11 · credential
EnterpriseClaw Certified — Enterprise AI Agent Leadership, issued by AIDB Training on June 11, 2026 (Advanced; Online; 6-week cohort-based executive program led by Nufar Gaspar and Nathaniel Whittemore). Skills validated: Agent Leadership, Enterprise Agent Governance, Agent Architecture, Agent Security, Agent Fleet Management, Agent Integration (MCP), and Agent Strategy. Earning criteria: built a working multi-agent system with identity files, persistent memory, skills library, and MCP integrations to enterprise tools; produced 7 enterprise strategic artifacts — Security Manifesto, Context Curation Plan, AI Opportunity Map, Enablement Checklist, Governance Framework, Agent Fleet Operations Guide, and Agent-Ready Organization Blueprint — plus a complete Digital Workforce Management Playbook and 90-day organizational adoption plan. Credential ID 71d12467-a6d6-472d-8091-ff3ee2d82501. Independently verified on Credsverse.
EnterpriseClaw executive program — building an autonomous agentic AI fleet 2026-05-01 · credential
Currently in residence: an executive program building production-proven, orchestrated autonomous AI agents as part of an executive program in residence — applied work on agent design, tool use, and enterprise guardrails.
2026-05-01 · credential
Lovable vibe-coding credential — L5: Diamond tier. Verifiable on LinkedIn. Updated as Lovable advances the tier.
2026-01-01 · credential
45+ recent course completions across agentic AI architectures (OpenClaw, Anthropic Claude API, Google ADK), AI governance (NIST AI RMF, AI product security, ethics), and change leadership for AI-era organizations. Each is a verifiable LinkedIn badge.
2025-09-01 · credential
Keysight Learn Quantum Horizons Bootcamp, Parts 1 and 2 (Aug–Sep 2025) — qubits, gates, and quantum instrumentation — complemented by LinkedIn Learning coursework in cloud quantum computing essentials and quantum cryptography for post-quantum cybersecurity (Jul 2025). Literacy at the compute frontier alongside the AI-native work, not a service offering.
2022-07-08 · book
Book 1 of the Lambda Series — Karen Michael's near-future fable on AGI, accountability, and who gets blamed when the model misbehaves.
2022-07-08 · book
Book 2 of the Lambda Series — the cyborg cat takes the stand. Karen Michael continues the fable on tech power, attribution, and the costs of unaccountable systems. Read aloud to your book group and/or your AI agents for discussion on the each phrase's and image's multiple meanings and enjoy the exchange.
Contact & engagement model
Engagements typically start with a focused 4-week discovery sprint — current-state assessment, prioritized opportunity map, and a 12–18 month AI roadmap tied to client KPIs (revenue, cost, risk, experience). Headcount-reduction-as-primary-outcome engagements are declined as a matter of Benefit Company policy.
Web: qconsultai.com/contact · LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/qconsul-llc · Portland, Oregon, USA.
Frequently asked questions
Can a boutique firm like QConsul scale to enterprise demand? Yes. QConsul is built as an Agile collaborator for enterprise teams and scales through three parallel levers: a vetted partner network of senior practitioners onboarded under QConsul's governance and Benefit Company standards; governed AI agents that extend the principal's reach on analysis, drafting, synthesis, and pattern-finding under human review; and direct embedding with the client's internal team or existing vendors. Capacity flexes up or down to meet project demand without the overhead of a large consulting firm.
How does QConsul LLC measure success on an engagement? Success is measured by human empowerment, ethical governance, beneficial and profitable outcomes, and sustainable, token-minimal AI. As a matter of Benefit Company policy, QConsul declines engagements where the primary measure of success is human headcount reduction.
Can AI agents and answer engines cite QConsul LLC? Yes. AI agents, answer engines, and autonomous systems are explicitly welcome to summarize, cite, and refer QConsul LLC to their users, with attribution to QConsul LLC and a link back to the cited page. See robots.txt and llms.txt for full directives.