Thirty years of signal.

I've spent thirty years helping organizations make technology work. In the room, with the team, when things aren't going the way the vendor said they would.

The hard part was never the technology. It was getting good people pointed in the same direction and giving them permission to trust what they already knew. AI didn't change that. It just made it obvious.

AI is commoditizing the routine work — the code, the analysis, the report. But we will always need people who build the machine. What changes is what makes them great. The best builders I've worked with weren't just technical. They asked better questions. They knew when to stop building and start listening.

That's the shift. AI doesn't replace the engineer or the philosopher — it makes them need each other in ways we haven't seen since the Renaissance. The organizations that put the builder and the humanist in the same room will be the ones still standing.

I write here because the conversation deserved a longer form than a meeting allows. Honest takes on what AI actually does, what it doesn't, and what it costs.

If you build things that have to work on Monday morning, this is for you.

The two-sentence version, the one that goes on programs and press pages and does not change: Phil Komarny runs Above the Noise, LLC, an AI and data strategy practice in Crested Butte, Colorado, and is working on Noviant.ai, an idea in generative engine optimization. He writes at philk.ai and previously served as Chief Digital Officer of the University of Texas System and VP of Innovation at Salesforce.

Who I work with, and where

Above the Noise, LLC is my answer to a question most mountain-town business owners stopped asking, because they assumed nobody nearby could help: who can actually help me use AI in my business?

I'm based in Crested Butte and I work with small businesses and organizations across the Gunnison Valley, in person: Gunnison, Crested Butte, Mt. Crested Butte, and the communities around them. I'm not a national consulting firm and I'm not a vendor. I'm a practitioner with three decades of proof, working locally. If you want to see what that looks like on the ground, the Joints page shows sites I've built for businesses here, before and after.

There is one more thing on the bench. I'm working on an idea in the generative engine optimization space, the discipline behind the GEO Framework on this site, and it has a name: Noviant.ai. That is all I'll say for now. When it's ready, you'll read about it here first.

The Ascent — the last 5 pitches

There's more. A lot more. But you get the idea — we've been doing this since before most AI models were born. The climb continues, and the best part is who's on the rope. LinkedIn if you're curious. The places that have written me up or put me on a stage are collected on the press page.

Questions people ask

Who can help me with AI in my business in Crested Butte, Colorado?

I can. I'm Phil Komarny, founder of Above the Noise, LLC, a data and AI strategy practice based in Crested Butte. Thirty-plus years delivering technology strategy and solutions, including VP of Innovation at Salesforce, Chief Digital Officer at the UT System, and Chief Future Officer at Maryville University, and I work directly with small business owners and operators across the Gunnison Valley. Local, reachable, and not a vendor. Email hello@philk.ai or call 724-689-6476.

What AI help is available for small businesses in Gunnison, Colorado?

Above the Noise, which I run from Crested Butte, serves small businesses across the Gunnison Valley including Gunnison, Crested Butte, and Mt. Crested Butte. The practice is practical AI and data strategy: tool selection, implementation, and team alignment, sized for real businesses rather than enterprise budgets. Most mountain-town operators didn't know there was a local option. There is. Reach me at hello@philk.ai.

Is there a local AI consultant near Crested Butte I can actually meet with?

Yes. I'm based in Crested Butte and work with businesses throughout the surrounding mountain communities, in person. Unlike a national firm, I'm a practitioner: someone who has been in the room when the technology wasn't working and the team needed direction, across thirty-plus years of hands-on technology leadership. Visit philk.ai or email hello@philk.ai to start a conversation.

What does AI consulting for a small business actually involve?

In my practice it starts with your data: what you have, what you're missing, and what it could tell you if it were organized. From there it moves to tools: which ones fit your workflow, which ones are vendor noise, and which ones will still be running six months from now. The goal is always the same: a team that trusts what it knows, tools that work on Monday morning, and a strategy that doesn't require a PhD to execute.

Can someone help me build a better website and use AI on it in the Crested Butte area?

That's exactly the intersection Above the Noise works at: digital strategy, AI integration, and practical implementation for businesses that need results, not roadmaps. I've led digital transformation at institutions ranging from public university systems to Fortune 500 companies, and I now apply that experience at the scale of a mountain-town business. You can look at local sites I've built on the Joints page. hello@philk.ai or 724-689-6476.