About Ashlei Rolloff

Where it started

I spent six years inside a commercial HVAC rep firm. I rose to VP of Marketing and led a team of twenty across three departments.

While I was there, I built an internal marketing agency from scratch. It crossed $1M in revenue in its first year. The firm saw what I had built and moved the agency under the Nerd Herd umbrella. That agency became Nerd Herd.

What I learned the hard way

You can hit every external metric and still run at half your real capacity. That was me. The bottleneck was leadership, and AI is what helped me see it clearly for the first time.

That lesson shaped everything I teach now. I use AI to clear the busywork so I get back the presence and clarity my team and my family actually need.

What I do now

As founder and CEO of Nerd Herd, I work with manufacturers and rep firms across HVAC, AEC, and MEP. Through BUILD AI Institute, I teach trade-based businesses to use AI to move faster while keeping what made them trustworthy in the first place.

I host HVAC Leaders, a podcast for decision-makers in commercial HVAC, and I volunteer as a DECA competition judge at the district and state level.

What I believe

Humanity is the ROI of AI. I believe the most AI-forward companies will also be the most human ones. That starts with leaders who protect their own time first.