Brian A. Bretz, MBA

AI product leader — 0-to-1 platforms in fintech and regulated industries.

Product leader with 15+ years building 0-to-1 platforms across fintech, financial services, and SaaS — now shipping AI-powered products hands-on with LLMs and agents.

15+ YRS TECH · FINTECH · FINANCIAL SERVICES AMERICAN UNIVERSITY ARLINGTON, VA
Brian A. Bretz ARLINGTON, VA
Brian A. Bretz, MBA — AI product leader
AI Product Leadership
▲ 15 YRS

Impact

The story, quickly.

A successful record driving software innovation in fast-paced environments — from small start-ups to large enterprises across tech, fintech, and financial services.

01 15+ Years leading product & program portfolios
02 5M+ Users of managed consumer SaaS apps
03 +20 NPS points gained by acting on user feedback
04 50% Planning cycle time cut with AI product ops
05 35 People managed across development portfolios
06 4 Compliance standards met — Fed to SOC 2

Portfolio

Selected products & initiatives.

Agentic AI, regulated payments, consumer-scale messaging, and digital transformation. Select a program to inspect it.

Experience

Delivery across AI, fintech, SaaS, and regulated platforms.

MAY 2025 — PRESENT
AI Product Consultant Current
Independent Consulting
  • —Advises product, engineering, and executive leaders on AI adoption, AI-powered products, and LLM and agent integration.
  • —Built a Python financial-analytics app with agentic Claude features via the Anthropic API, using Spec-Driven Development in Claude Code.
  • —Sets AI-enhanced product standards — LLMs accelerating PRDs, prototypes, and test cases across Claude Code, Figma, AWS, GitHub, Atlassian, and Notion.
  • —Engineered task-aware model routing balancing quality, speed, and cost; distills GenAI trends into executive summaries.
NOV 2021 — APR 2025
SVP, Director of Product Management
MainStreet Bank
  • —Launched a Banking-as-a-Service and real-time payments platform — digital wallets, real-time transactions, and partner APIs — from concept to production in a federally regulated environment.
  • —Ran a 35-person technical program (20 FTEs + 15 consultants) across payments, web, and mobile on a two-week release cadence.
  • —Cut specification cycle time by 50% with LLM-based product operations; kept services compliant with Federal Reserve, NACHA, PCI-DSS, and SOC 2.
  • —Delivered monthly executive and board-level reporting on program health, milestones, KPIs, and risk.
FEB 2019 — NOV 2021
Senior Product Manager
Angi
  • —Managed the Messaging Platform, Business Management Tools, and the mHelpDesk field-service platform — web, mobile, developer APIs, and docs.
  • —Launched Business Management Tools; led the Angi rebrand across email, SMS, and push, reaching 4M+ consumers.
  • —Lifted mHelpDesk NPS by +20 points in under six months by resolving high-impact workflow pain points.
SEP 2016 — JUL 2018
Director of Product Management
MyTaskit
  • —Principal product lead for a 10-person software team shipping architectural changes, streamlined workflows, and new-market entry.
  • —Won Boating Industry Magazine's 2018 Top Products Award and the company's 2017 CEO Excellence Award.
  • —Partnered with sales, marketing, engineering, and support on the strategic development plan across web, iOS, and Android.
NOV 2012 — APR 2016
AVP, Senior Technical Program Manager
T. Rowe Price
  • —Directed cross-functional teams (20+ FTEs) delivering digital capabilities across web and mobile portfolios.
  • —Rebranded, redesigned, and launched the Retirement Plan Services portal for 1M+ customers; shipped mobile transaction workflows.
  • —Promoted to AVP within the first year; owned schedules, resource plans, risk mitigation, and cost management.

Strengths

Where product strategy meets AI execution.

Regulated product strategy

0-to-1 product development in regulated environments — fintech, payments, compliance, and business continuity.

AI-enhanced operations

Ships agentic AI features and spec-driven workflows; LLMs accelerate PRDs, prototypes, mappings, and test cases.

Team leadership

Leads cross-functional teams of up to 35 people, coaching product managers and engineering leaders. CEO Excellence Award, 2017.

Program delivery

Schedules, action tracking, risk mitigation, resource planning, and release coordination across complex teams.

Executive reporting

Monthly executive and board-level reporting — program health, milestones, KPIs, and risk, translated into clear decisions.

Skills & tools

Product management Agentic AI 0-to-1 product development Spec-driven development Product strategy & roadmaps OKRs & KPIs Agile portfolio management Program management Risk management Analytics strategy Executive reporting SaaS web · mobile · APIs User-centered design (UCD) Notion Jira Confluence Pendo Figma Postman Looker GitHub AWS REST APIs Visual Studio Code Claude Code Claude Design ChatGPT Codex Gemini Antigravity

Credentials

Education & certifications.

Graduate

American University

Master of Business Administration (MBA)

Undergraduate

UMBC

B.S., Information Systems Management

Certifications

Product & agile

Pragmatic PM · A-CSPO · CSM · Agile OKRs · SAFe 4.0 Agilist

Contact

Available for product and AI leadership conversations.

Based in Arlington, VA. Experience across financial services, fintech, SaaS, consulting, and regulated software delivery.

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