Fernando Duarte

I’m Fernando Duarte, a father of two, support, CX, and AI operations leader based in Colma, California. I help companies build support organizations that scale, develop strong teams, and improve customer experience through better systems, smarter operations, and practical AI.

I’ve spent my career leading support in high-growth environments where the work goes far beyond answering tickets. Strong support should protect the customer, improve the product, surface risk early, and create measurable business value. My background sits at the intersection of leadership, operations, systems, and cross-functional execution. I’ve built teams through growth, partnered closely with Product, Engineering, and executive stakeholders, and created the structure needed for support to perform at a high level as companies scale.

Most recently, I served as Director of Support at Odyssey, a platform that helps families, schools, vendors, and government partners manage high-stakes education funding programs. In that role, I led support in a complex multi-stakeholder environment where service quality, operational discipline, and adaptability all mattered. I focused on strengthening the support organization through clearer processes, stronger reporting, smarter workflows, and practical use of AI. That work helped drive a 43% reduction in average handle time through AI-assisted workflows and a 38% reduction in ticket volume through intake redesign.

Before Odyssey, I led CX Tools and Technology work at Noom, where I drove cross-functional initiatives that improved customer satisfaction and cost efficiency through better systems and workflows. At OpenGov, I helped grow support from 3 people to more than 50 while maintaining a 98% CSAT score, reducing the R&D backlog by half, launching 24/7 support coverage, and building a resource center with more than 1,700 articles. At Reltio, I streamlined support across five global offices and improved agent productivity through Zendesk automation and process design. Across roles, I’ve stayed focused on building support teams that are structured, data-informed, and tightly connected to the business.

One of the achievements I value most has nothing to do with software or dashboards. Across more than 16 years of leadership, not a single team member has resigned from one of my teams, and many have chosen to follow me to new companies. To me, that speaks to the kind of culture I work hard to build: one grounded in trust, growth, accountability, and respect.

I’m also a builder and writer. I spend a lot of time thinking about where support is headed, especially where AI, operations, and customer experience meet. I build tools, develop frameworks, and write about modern support design, AI in support, and operational leadership. I’m fluent in Spanish and interested in leadership roles, advisory work, speaking, and writing at the intersection of support, operations, and AI.

If you’re hiring a senior support leader, looking for advisory support, or rethinking how support should scale, I’d love to connect. You can also find my writing on Substack.