Bio
John Darroch is an American operations consultant based in Amsterdam, with deep roots in the San Francisco Bay Area. Before founding Oak Operations, John spent nearly three years as Chief of Staff at Climate Resilient Communities, a Palo Alto-based non-profit where he led daily operations across accounting, programs, IT, and development. During that time he helped triple the organization's full-time headcount, cut time-to-hire by 50%, and designed the internal policies and systems that made that growth possible without losing cohesion.
Earlier in his career, John worked as an immigration analyst and paralegal — roles that sharpened his ability to manage complex, detail-intensive processes, work across functions, and communicate clearly under pressure.
He founded Oak Operations to bring that same operational discipline to small businesses and non-profits that are growing faster than their systems can keep up with — organizations that need practical, experienced support but aren't ready for a full-time operations hire.
Who we work best with
Oak Operations works best with non-profits and small businesses that are at an inflection point — organizations that have momentum but whose internal systems, finance processes, or team structures haven't kept pace. If you're spending more time managing chaos than doing the work that matters, that's exactly where we come in.
We've worked across accounting, programs, IT, development, and administration — which means we can see how the pieces connect, not just fix one thing in isolation.
Our Philosophy
We believe that good operations should be invisible. When your systems are working, your team isn't thinking about them — they're just doing great work. Our job is to build the infrastructure that makes that possible, and then get out of the way.
We don't hand you a report and disappear. We work alongside you to put changes in place, train your team where needed, and make sure what we build actually sticks. Every recommendation is tailored to your organization's size, budget, and goals — not copied from a playbook.
Contact us
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