THE EXPERIENCE BEHIND AICENTRIC
35+ years of leadership. A practical view of AI.
My experience spans aviation maintenance, international operations, organisational change and leadership development. I founded Aicentric to turn that experience into useful ways for leaders to work with AI.
Ole-Henrik Isaksen · Founder, Aicentric AS
01 / PLANNING
Make the whole workload visible.
At SAS, my responsibilities have included long-term capacity planning, operational readiness and fleet growth strategy for Maintenance & Facilities. In demanding operations, a plan has to connect available competent people, facilities, timing and dependencies.
What this brings to Aicentric
For Aicentric, this means starting with capacity and constraints before producing a task list. AI can help organise inputs, compare scenarios and surface questions; the leader checks the assumptions and chooses the priorities.
02 / LEAN & IMPROVEMENT
Understand the problem. Test the change.
I am an International Certified Kaizen Lean Black Belt through Kaizen Institute International. At National Oilwell Varco, I restructured the Project Group and the Training Department to profitable organizations within a year.
What this brings to Aicentric
This experience shapes Improvement Studio: describe what actually happens, distinguish evidence from assumptions, explore possible causes, then test one measurable change with the team. The concept is in development; these steps describe the approach, not a released AI service.
03 / LEADERSHIP & ADOPTION
Make change work for people.
I founded EL-Akademiet at EL-PROFFEN and developed leadership and project management programmes. By 2021, the academy had grown to more than 2,500 annual participants. At NOV, I was Business Lead / SME for selecting and implementing a workforce management planning system supporting more than 30,000 employees globally, and developed its global adoption strategy.
What this brings to Aicentric
For Aicentric, adoption belongs in the design from the start. AI can help a leader prepare a conversation, explain a change and explore likely questions. Listening, trust and decisions remain human responsibilities.
SHARING PRACTICAL EXPERIENCE
From operational work to the conference stage.
I spoke at World Aviation Festival in 2024 and 2025 on practical AI implementation, adoption and value creation in aviation and maintenance, and was invited back for 2026.
Experience across organisations.
- SAS · Head of Support Functions, 2022–present; member of the Maintenance Production Leadership Team.
- MSG Aviation · CTO & COO, 2022; commercialisation readiness, redesign and preparation for fabrication.
- EL-PROFFEN · Founder & Head of EL-Akademiet, 2017–2022.
- NOV · Senior Manager AM Projects Europe, and Training Manager 2011–2017.
- SAS & Royal Norwegian Air Force · Project Officer, section leadership, technician, instructor and international training manager roles, 1988–2011.
Career details reflect my CV as of September 2026. Aicentric is my independent company. Organisations named here describe my professional background; their inclusion does not imply sponsorship, endorsement or partnership. Past outcomes are not a promise of future results.
Start with a real leadership challenge.
Keep examples anonymous and leave out confidential workplace information. A useful starting point is the situation, its effect and what you would like to improve.
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