About

Senior expertise. Personal accountability. Real systems shipped.

Desert Apex Solutions is led by Adam Cartwright — a hands-on technology leader who has spent his career building and scaling enterprise systems across logistics, fintech, retail, and construction.

Adam Cartwright, Founder of Desert Apex Solutions
01 / The story

Take on the harder problem. Ship the system. Leave a stronger organization.

Adam Cartwright founded Desert Apex Solutions in 2024 to bring enterprise-grade AI and technology leadership to organizations that need more than advice — they need a partner who can ship.

He currently serves as Director of Artificial Intelligence at a 300+ person specialty AEC manufacturer, where he owns enterprise AI strategy, governance, and production delivery end-to-end across the organization.

Previously, he served as Head of Enterprise AI at Dutch Bros Coffee, where he built the enterprise AI program from the ground up across 40,000+ employees and 29 states — scaling from zero to 40+ active initiatives in under six months, deploying a company-wide AI assistant driving 15% productivity gains, and cutting legal lease review cycles from 30+ days to 5.

Before AI, Adam led Aurora Payments' Shared Services organization through a period of rapid growth — directing three M&A integrations (including a 65% revenue lift on an acquired international software company), launching Aurora's first SaaS product from zero to 1,000+ customers in six months, and building the company's PMO from scratch.

Earlier in his career, he led enterprise technology modernization at a global marine shipping terminal (Keelson Management / CMA-CGM) — directing multimillion-dollar infrastructure, cybersecurity, and field automation programs across international teams.

What ties the work together is a pattern: take on the harder problem, ship the system, leave a stronger organization.

02 / How we work

Five principles that shape every engagement.

Principal-led, always.

When you engage Desert Apex Solutions, you work with Adam directly — not a junior consultant handed your account after the pitch.

In-house first.

We do as much as possible in-house — to transfer capability to your team, keep costs down, and keep velocity up. When external engineering strengthens the outcome, we bring it in. Our default is to build alongside you, not around you.

Strategy that ships.

We don't deliver decks and disappear. Every engagement is scoped toward a working system, a deployed framework, or a measurable operating improvement.

Honest tradeoffs.

We tell you what we'd build, what we'd skip, and what we'd do differently. Boutique means we can afford to be candid.

Cross-industry pattern recognition.

Enterprise retail at scale, marine logistics, payments and fintech, and AEC construction give us a wider toolkit than the typical AI consultancy.

03 / Career at a glance

Enterprise systems delivery across logistics, fintech, retail, and AI.

2026 — Present

Director of Artificial Intelligence

Specialty AEC Manufacturer · 300+ employees · Arizona
2025 — 2026

Head of Enterprise AI

Dutch Bros Coffee · 40,000+ employees · 29 states
2024 — Present

Founder & Principal Consultant

Desert Apex Solutions · Mesa, Arizona
2022 — 2025

Sr. Director of Program Management & Head of Shared Services

Aurora Payments · Mesa, Arizona
2020 — 2022

Sr. Technical IT Project Manager

Keelson Management / CMA-CGM · Marine Shipping Terminal

Let's see if there's a fit.

Thirty minutes. No pitch deck. Just a working conversation about what you're trying to do and whether we're the right partner.

Book a 30-minute intro