Our Team
Education
- B.A. in Public Policy, UNC-Chapel Hill
Elevator Pitch
Since leaving Carolina, Nick Sullivan has lived several professional lives – healthcare executive, real estate investor, franchise owner, and AI transformation consultant at Microsoft. When Microsoft cut his role and pointed to AI as the reason, he could have walked away resentful of the technology – Nick did the opposite. He founded Gr(ai)n Consulting to help small business owners, leaders, and career professionals adopt AI with curiosity, purpose, and responsible use. Gr(ai)n doesn’t reshape people around software – it adapts AI around their real workflows, pain points, and goals, building the tools, automations, and fluency that let them do more of what they already do well. Gr(ai)n’s mantra is “AI empowers in units of 1.” These models are built from centuries of human intellect and output which means it’s our skills, our judgment, and our creativity that give AI its power, not the other way around. That’s a message not shared enough and one he lean on to have honest conversation about pivots, failure, building across industries and how AI gives unprecedented ability to own our futures. Nick’s path hasn’t been linear and he’s grateful to the layoff that became his launchpad. He uses his story to help others see a career isn’t a ladder to climb; it’s a basket of skills we keep sharpening and customizing to fit our ambition.