A practitioner first. I run the systems I write about.
Twenty years building product at scale. Now building AI systems in production, and helping leadership teams rebuild how they operate around them.
I come to it as a builder.
I spent 20-plus years building and running product at scale. Then I left the big-org seat. Since 2024 I've been building my own AI systems and stepping back into product leadership: fractional and interim work, and for the right company, a full-time seat. I got back in because AI changed what a small team can actually do, and most companies are still running the old playbook into a new environment.
I rebuilt my own operating model around AI first. Built the agents myself. Worked out how a system earns more access as it earns more trust. Read-only, then more, once it proves out. So when I sit with a leadership team, I'm drawing on things I run in production, not a deck.
I write about the shift as I work through it. That writing is how a lot of new clients and founders find me now.
The scale sits underneath all of it. SVP and CPO at Verizon Media, across Yahoo! and AOL. Multi-billion-dollar portfolios. Teams from five people to five hundred and beyond. Consumer platforms, SaaS, marketplaces, and companies growing fast enough to break.
I work with the leader who owns the team, the VP of Product, the CPO, the platform lead, to redesign how their org builds and decides around AI. Not over their head. With them. I line up product investment, team structure, and operating cadence with the outcomes that move the business.
Albers Advisory works with a select group of public and confidential clients: the VP Product, CPO, or platform leader whose team bought AI and didn't get faster, growth-stage companies scaling up-market, and larger enterprises resetting how they operate around AI.
"Michael stepped in when we needed it most."
He ramped quickly, defined strategy, rebuilt the roadmap, and fixed what was broken. Within two months he launched a new homepage and tools that drove measurable traffic growth. A consummate professional who executes under pressure.
"An extremely capable operator who makes tough decisions."
Michael can lead multiple distinct product organizations, communicate clearly, and make the hard calls needed to move teams forward. He balances product excellence with strong business alignment.
"Strategic, decisive, and trusted at scale."
He led large, diverse product and design teams at massive scale while driving multi-billion-dollar performance. A rare executive who combines strategic clarity with operational discipline.
"Calm leadership through complexity."
Michael established structured operating discipline, led through reorganizations and ownership transitions, and drove impact with clarity and accountability.