Ivan Wong
Forward-deployed engagement and delivery leadBanking, payments and AIToronto

Ivan Wong

I embed with client teams, find the AI use cases worth building, and prototype them fast so the right ones reach production.

Ten years in consulting, product and delivery with banks, payment companies and technology teams in Canada and the US. I've been the primary client contact on AI automation and payments launches, led engineering teams, and moved critical platforms through acquisitions and divestitures. I use AI as an accelerator, going from workshop to working prototype quickly.

How I work See the work Resume LinkedIn Open to forward-deployed, engagement, delivery and product roles

Where I've worked

  • Electric Mind
  • .Monks
  • IBM
  • Capco
  • EY

How I work

I work forward deployed, embedded with client teams and close to the people, the workflow and the data. AI is my accelerator for getting from a workshop to something clients can click through.

01

Embed

Sit with the people doing the work. Map the organization, the workflow and the data before deciding anything.

Seen in
Big Five Canadian bank30+ workshops Credit union centralCTO advisor
02

Find what's worth building

Separate what clients ask for from what they need, size each use case, and agree on what success looks like up front.

Seen in
Big Five Canadian bank78 processes assessed Process re-engineering80% faster GEO and AEO strategyAI referral target
03

Prototype with AI

Use Claude, Cursor and ChatGPT to turn ideas into clickable prototypes and working demos, so stakeholders react to something real early.

Seen in
Monks.FlowConcept to MVP in 2 months Personal buildsAI agents and apps
04

Ship and enable

Set the plan and the weekly cadence, keep decisions and risks written down where everyone can see them, and train people so adoption sticks.

Seen in
Fleet paymentsThree-company launch Top 10 US bank6 releases Executive coursePayments fundamentals
AI toolkit Claude Claude Design Cursor ChatGPT n8n, Dify and Ollama (explored) Used to prototype apps and build personal AI agents, including an AI chief of staff.

Selected work

Most of this work was done as a consultant, so each case study names the firm I was with and my role. Client names are kept confidential.

Client
One of Canada's Big Five banks
Program
AI strategy and operations
Role
Product and Engagement Lead, primary client point of contact
Via
Electric Mind
Length
12 weeks

Finding where AI can take work out of everyday banking

A 12-week program to find and test AI automation across the bank's everyday banking lines of business.

  • Ran discovery across 10+ lines of business, with 30+ workshops and 78 processes assessed for automation.
  • Escalated dependency risks early and re-baselined the plan, then delivered 2 automation proofs of concept.
10+ lines of business78 processes assessed2 proofs of concept
Client
One of Canada's Big Five banks
Program
Generative and answer engine optimization (GEO and AEO)
Role
Product and Engagement Lead
Via
Electric Mind
Length
About 12 weeks

Getting a bank found, and cited, in AI answers

More customers now ask an AI assistant instead of running a search. This work set out how the bank shows up when they do.

  • Defined the bank's enterprise GEO strategy for discovery through AI search and AI assistants.
  • Set a measurable target for traffic referred by AI assistants, so progress can be tracked through 2030.
  • Shipped optimization proofs of concept to test the strategy.
Enterprise GEO strategyAI referral target to 2030Optimization proofs of concept
Client
A global fleet management leader
Product
Digital fleet payments
Role
Go-to-Market Lead, primary client point of contact
Partners
A major US bank and a connected-vehicle payments company
Via
Electric Mind

Launching fleet payments across three companies

A new digital payments product for fleet fuel, maintenance and tolls, built on the client's recent acquisition of a payments technology company.

  • Established the launch governance framework and aligned executives across the client, its bank partner and its technology partner on pricing, payment flows and operational readiness.
  • Kept a shared decision log with owners and trade-offs, so decisions kept moving across three companies.
  • Drove launch readiness, go-to-market and sales enablement for a phased rollout.
~45,000 units targeted at launch3 companies
Client
A Canadian credit union central
Program
Digital banking divestiture
Role
Strategic Delivery Lead
Via
Electric Mind

Handing off a digital banking business

The client sold its digital banking business to a global banking software company, a change that reached credit unions across Canada.

  • Advised the CTO through the divestiture.
  • Led delivery across due diligence, invoicing migration and operational handoff for 100+ enterprise clients.
  • Coordinated product, finance and legal teams to maintain continuity and manage transition risk.
170+ credit unions100+ enterprise clients
Client
A Canadian digital bank
Program
Acquisition of a national consumer banking brand
Role
Project Manager, then Senior Product Manager
Via
Electric Mind
When
2026

Bringing two banks' payments together

The acquisition meant converging two banks and migrating the acquired business onto the digital bank's platform.

  • Helped scope and then managed the payments architecture discovery, which produced a payments migration strategy and target-state architecture.
  • Moved into the Senior Product Manager role in late September for EFT, internal transfers, FX and shared payment services.
  • Developed target-state requirements and the target-state customer experience for the migration.
EFTInternal transfersFXShared payment services
Client
A Canadian credit union central
Product
Cross-border payments
Role
Product Manager
Team
4 developers, 1 QA analyst
Via
Capco

Affordable cross-border payments for credit-union members

A vendor cross-border payments integration on the central's digital banking platform, which serves 40+ Canadian credit unions.

  • Directed a $1M project, delivering 2 product integrations in parallel.
  • Facilitated a launch-planning workshop with legal, infosec, marketing and vendor teams to build one master timeline, then reviewed critical items weekly.
  • Launched with 3 pilot credit unions, giving 70,000+ active members low- or no-cost international transfers.
  • Traced lower-than-expected post-launch activity to a login-blocking security token mismatch, and the fix improved adoption.
$1M project70,000+ members3 pilot credit unions
Client
A top 10 US bank
Product
Transaction limits and entitlements platform
Role
Senior Product Manager
Via
IBM Consulting
When
2021 to 2022

Deciding who can move how much money

A centralized platform for the bank's retail banking divisions that sets transaction limits and feature entitlements.

  • Led a team of 10 developers building the platform, scaled across 5 retail banking lines of business.
  • Managed the release of 6 end-to-end use cases connecting wire transfers, debit cards and other products.
  • Secured buy-in from senior stakeholders across divisions, with regulatory compliance and security built in.
Team of 10700 transactions per second25M debit cards
Company
.Monks
Product
Monks.Flow
Role
Senior Product Manager, Product Lead
When
2022 to 2024

An AI product from concept to MVP in two months

Monks.Flow is an AI-powered marketing optimization and forecasting platform. This was my in-house product role.

  • Led a cross-functional team across product, engineering, design and data science.
  • Scoped the MVP to forecasting rather than a full media-mix tool so it could be validated with CMOs faster, and resolved design and engineering trade-offs to launch on time.
  • Owned the roadmap and MVP delivery, including Market Mix Modeling.
Concept to MVP in 2 monthsProjected client ROI gains up to 30%
More engagements at Capco
  • Process re-engineering, global financial services provider. Re-engineered workflows for 30,000+ users across 3 lines of business, cutting end-to-end execution time by 80%.
  • Digital strategy, Canadian Tier 1 bank. Led roadmap planning for an $80M digital banking platform strategy affecting 8M customers over 5 years.
  • Digital platform, Tier 2 Canadian bank. Elicited requirements for 20+ features on a $10M+ platform build, in an Agile delivery model.
  • Business banking, Big Five Canadian bank. Defined target-state requirements.
  • Capco Payments Academy. Built a payments fundamentals course for executives.

Experience

Consulting, in-house product and client engagement leadership, across banks, payment companies and technology.

YearsCompanyTitleWork
2024 to nowElectric MindSenior Engagement Lead (contract)AI automation, payments launches, bank M&A
2022 to 2024.MonksSenior Product ManagerMonks.Flow
2021 to 2022IBM Consulting (IBM iX)Managing ConsultantTop 10 US bank
2016 to 2021CapcoAssociate to Senior Consultant, promoted twiceCredit unions, Canadian banks, Payments Academy
2014 to 2015EYStaff Consultant, IT Risk AssuranceFinancial services clients
2015University of WaterlooHonours Bachelor of Accounting and Financial ManagementSchool of Accounting and Finance

Certifications: SAFe Product Owner/Product Manager (POPM) and IBM Design Thinking Practitioner

Things I build

Side projects I build hands-on, several of them with AI.

Web appAIBuilt

IvanOS

A personal operating system with an AI chief of staff. Includes a content-management module for my music work.

AI agentIn progress

FUNNR

An AI artist-manager agent for my music career as iFunner.

Web appsAIIn progress

GolfIQ

A suite of golf apps, including CaddieIQ for course management and player profiles, built with Claude, Cursor and ChatGPT.

Web appPreparing release

FirstCue

Song intake for wedding couples, with drag-and-drop picks in place of a shared doc. Built for my own DJ bookings, with other DJs in mind.

macOSIn progress

Kinect Lab

A modular macOS platform for experimenting with an Xbox 360 Kinect: live visuals, 3D scanning and body tracking.

HardwareReact

Smart espresso scale

A DIY scale built on an ESP32, talking over Bluetooth Low Energy to a React app.

Community and music

Outside client work, I run events and a music business.

Community

YOUnity

Co-founder since 2008. Led 30 volunteers running two annual charity galas for 400+ patrons, raising $3M+ for community causes. Recipient of the 10 Years' Ontario Volunteer Service Award.

Also Operations Manager for the ABNA Chinese Canadian Legend Gala since 2008.

DJ and producer

iFunner

Open-format and tech house. I play events and weddings, and run Lai Cha Party, a Toronto day party celebrating Asian culture and music that drew 200+ people to its debut.

With MeJan 2025
Don't MindMar 2025
Spotify streams20K+

@ifunner on Instagram

Let's talk about what you're building.

Email ivanwg@outlook.com
LinkedIn linkedin.com/in/ivantfwong
Resume Two pages, PDF Download
Based in Toronto, Canada