What people are saying

Excerpts from folks who worked with me and know me

  • "'We had the honor of working with Khalil from 2020-2022 as Thrivent embarked on several digital transformation initiatives and I cannot recommend him highly enough for this or other work. In the time we served together (as architecture and business leads, respectively) on the same product team, I learned more from him than I can put into words. In my capacity as product manager, I relied on Khalil's excellent strategic leadership in consulting on the best short and longer term architectural roadmap to mature the capabilities prioritized by the business. I have rarely worked with someone both so technically and interpersonally skilled at navigating and surmounting complex business challenges. There are many who are technically gifted, but Khalil's distinct talent is that he also centers human potential and development in every interaction and translates difficulty into growth opportunity. He is truly passionate about educating and empowering both business and development team members to break down complex challenges into the 'crux' points, and creating sustainable solutions to solve for them."

    —Jason Umentum, product owner, Thrivent

  • "Khalil worked on my team for over seven years. He is a gifted architect, an outstanding developer and a talented leader. He effectively managed large scale business transformation projects that translated complex and disjointed user processes into streamlined, effective, robust enterprise quality applications. I highly recommend Khalil. He is hard-working, highly intelligent and personable. He is an outstanding technology leader and a thoughtful, engaging person."

    —Holly Goodyear, practice leader, Optum

  • " Worked with Khalil Khelah at UnitedHealthcare for several years until 2013. During those years we were in different work groups in a business unit reporting to the same director. It is an honor to write this recommendation for a warm, personable, engaged, active, supportive and accomplished colleague. During those years I managed a national issue resolution desk. Khalil was an important subject matter expert to whom I sent complex technical issues. He always gave prompt and effective attention to issues with a helpful spirit so that United employees could resume their work. Over the years I was on many conference calls with Khalil. He was consistently engaged. His valuable and well-received contributions to group discussions were offered in a balanced way without either oversimplification or understatement. Khalil is a perennial organizer, leader and participant in employer –based charitable community service activities. He can be counted upon to generously give of his time and talents to serve others. Based upon my experience I am highly confident that any work team will be fortunate to have a wonderful member like Khalil."

    —Steve Affield, business manager, UnitedHealth Care

  • "Khalil was a big part of the design and setup of LIS & CDP and integration with Thrivent's customer master. He did a terrific job of laying out options and architecting solutions that we could deliver and met our long term company needs to ingest high volumes of prospects and match the data with clients when possible. A really good solutions architect and outside the box thinker. Always positive and a really good listener."

    —Paul Weller, technical leader, Thrivent

  • "Great partnership on the lead generation work, automating the intake of leads from many sources. Launched the new CDP and worked with many individuals to begin integration of key data. Khalil does a great job putting himself "into the shoes" of our clients when solutioning. He always has a perspective on "if I were the client, I'd want to have it work like..." This proactive thinking helps keep the client experience at the forefront.

    —Andrew Vander Heyden, senior solution architect, Thrivent

  • "Throughout my interactions with Khalil, I've seen him look at the bigger picture when solutioning, keeping the FP and Member experience in mind when discussing options. As I've worked with Khalil on the Lead Integration Service Project and how best to incorporate Identity Resolution into the process, I appreciate him coming to the table with suggested solutions and with an open mind to the suggestions of others. He's very collaborative and easy to have discussions with.

    —Carrie Komaus

  • “Khalil was the solution architect for Lead Gen and the CDP projects this year, both of which significantly transformed our marketing technology stack. Not only did he do a fantastic job in that role but he also stepped in where necessary to keep these projects running, doing development and QA testing in addition to his already demanding job.”

    — Myles Mckee

  • "I have had the pleasure of working with Khalil in a large scale program at UnitedHealthcare. Khalil is a driven and committed individual who has exceptional abilities. He communicates effectively and he has the unique ability to simplify complicated and challenging problems. As the product owner, I worked closely with Khalil to develop architectural diagrams and technical solutions that supported the capabilities and features for the program. Because of his strategic leadership, we were able to count on Khalil to move the program direction in a positive way."

    —Jennifer Murphy-Smith, product manager, UnitedHealth Care

  • ““Khalil operates very transparently and is willing to share his reasoning and thought process to educate all those he interacts with, including business and IT colleagues. He is thorough, strategic, inquisitive, open to questions and concerns and also assumes the best of those he works with-all of which have helped maintain a high degree of trust on the CDP team and beyond to our stakeholders and partners. Khalil has been willing to challenge assumptions and existing processes while also being a great coalition-builder. He is truly committed to Thrivent's client-centric and enterprise-coherent (OneThrivent) transformation.”

    — Jason Umentum

  • “I’ve learned a lot from you and appreciate how you have been able to help Thrivent move incrementally forward and continue to get better. ”

    — Iva Myles, enterprise architect, Thrivent