We help enterprise commerce teams separate AI signal from noise.
100+ combined years building commerce platforms. We've seen every hype cycle. We know what actually ships.
Who We Are
We've spent our careers building commerce platforms for brands like AT&T, Burberry, Michael Kors, and RH. Strategy, architecture, data, implementation — the full stack of enterprise commerce.
Most AI initiatives stall because they start with the technology instead of the problem. We start with what your business actually needs — then build the shortest path to production.
Deep commerce expertise. Real AI capability. No vendor partnerships. Just straight answers and solutions that ship.
Straight Answers. Solutions That Ship.
What We Do
Commerce strategy, data, and AI — from practitioners who've built enterprise platforms for 25 years.
Commerce Strategy
Where should your commerce platform go next? Platform advisory, replatforming, composable commerce architecture, and vendor-neutral roadmapping — grounded in 25 years of building what works.
Data Strategy & Readiness
Your AI is only as good as your data. Data architecture, schema design, enrichment, and quality — the foundation for both commerce operations and AI readiness.
AI Strategy & Assessment
Where will AI actually move the needle? We assess your current state, prioritize use cases, evaluate build vs. buy, and build a roadmap grounded in reality — not vendor pitches.
Architecture & Implementation
Strategy without execution is just a PowerPoint. We design and build commerce platforms and AI-integrated architectures — from composable storefronts to MCP servers — production-hardened, not demo-ready.
Team Enablement
We're not here to create dependency. We train your teams on commerce platforms and AI, transfer knowledge, and build internal capability so you own and evolve what we build — long after our engagement ends.
Our Services
Our Team
Experienced professionals who bring diverse expertise to every engagement.
Elena Rybalchenko
VP of Marketing & Growth
Elena brings a strategist’s mind and a storyteller’s instinct to every engagement. Her career spans brand marketing, product marketing, and growth strategy for enterprise technology and consumer brands, giving her a nuanced understanding of how different audiences evaluate and adopt complex offerings.
At JBM, Elena leads marketing strategy engagements and oversees the firm’s own brand positioning. She works with clients to clarify their market narrative, identify their highest-value audience segments, and build go-to-market strategies that generate measurable pipeline. Her approach is grounded in data but expressed through compelling creative — because the best marketing strategy in the world means nothing if it doesn’t resonate with the people who matter most.
Devon Hillard
Founder & Principal
Devon founded Black Magic Consulting with a simple thesis: the best consulting happens when deep technical expertise meets genuine strategic partnership. Before launching JBM, he co-founded Spark::red and spent over two decades architecting enterprise commerce platforms for Fortune 500 retailers and global brands.
His approach to consulting reflects hard-won experience across hundreds of engagements. Devon believes that technology decisions are business decisions, and the most impactful transformations start with a clear understanding of what the business actually needs — not what the latest vendor pitch promises. This philosophy has made him a trusted advisor to C-suite leaders navigating the intersection of commerce, content, and customer experience.
Eli Jones
Project Manager
Eli’s transition from military leadership to consulting operations was natural. The skills that made him an effective Marine Corps officer — meticulous planning, clear communication under pressure, and an unwavering commitment to mission success — translate directly to managing complex enterprise engagements.
At JBM, Eli oversees program delivery and operational excellence. He designs execution frameworks that keep multi-team initiatives coordinated and accountable, identifies risks before they become blockers, and ensures that every engagement runs with the precision and discipline our clients expect. His leadership style combines high standards with genuine investment in team development, creating an environment where exceptional work is the baseline, not the exception.
Robert Gaydos
VP of Technology
Robert is the technical backbone of Black Magic Consulting. His career spans the full evolution of enterprise computing, from on-premise data centers to cloud-native architectures, and he brings that breadth of experience to every platform decision and architecture review.
What sets Robert apart is his pragmatism. In a field prone to chasing the newest technology, he consistently identifies the solution that best fits the client’s actual needs — whether that means a cutting-edge cloud migration or a carefully optimized enhancement to existing infrastructure. His deep expertise in Oracle database systems, cloud platforms, and enterprise integration patterns has saved clients millions in avoided missteps and accelerated time-to-value across dozens of major implementations.
Roddy Richards
VP of Development
Roddy represents the engineering excellence that distinguishes JBM’s delivery capability. While many consultancies specialize in recommendations, Roddy ensures that our strategies translate into production-quality software that performs under real-world conditions.
His cross-platform fluency is genuinely rare. Whether the engagement calls for a React-based web application, a native mobile experience, a Python data pipeline, or a Node.js microservice architecture, Roddy delivers with the same standard of craftsmanship. He believes that great engineering is invisible — users should experience the value, not the complexity — and this philosophy produces systems that are as maintainable as they are powerful.
Russell Moore
Managing Director
Russell brings a rare combination of strategic vision and technical fluency to every engagement. His background spans management consulting and hands-on technology leadership, giving him the ability to bridge the gap between boardroom strategy and engineering execution.
At JBM, Russell leads digital transformation engagements that go beyond surface-level modernization. He works with leadership teams to identify the structural changes — in process, technology, and culture — that unlock sustainable competitive advantage. His particular expertise in artificial intelligence and machine learning helps clients separate genuine opportunity from hype, building AI strategies that deliver measurable business value rather than impressive demos.
Built to Ship
How We Work
A four-phase engagement model that takes commerce and AI initiatives from assessment through production — and transfers ownership to your team.
Assessment
We immerse ourselves in your commerce platform landscape, data quality, and business objectives to identify where improvements and AI will actually move the needle — and where they won't.
Proof of Value
Before committing to a full build, we validate the highest-impact use cases with focused proofs that test against real data and real constraints.
Implementation
We design and build commerce platforms and AI-integrated architectures that actually ship. From composable storefronts to MCP servers — production-hardened, not demo-ready.
Enablement
We transfer knowledge so your teams own what we build. Training, documentation, pair programming, architecture reviews — whatever it takes.
Proven Results
Unifying the Customer Experience Across Every Channel
A comprehensive digital transformation that consolidated fragmented customer touchpoints into a unified experience platform, reducing churn by 35% and driving 52% growth in digital self-service adoption.
Reimagining Luxury Commerce for the Digital Age
A complete digital commerce transformation that unified brand storytelling with transactional excellence, delivering 47% revenue growth and a fundamentally reimagined customer experience.
Ready to Get Started?
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