AI Consulting & Training

We help organizations use AI to work smarter

Connect + Trade brings practical AI expertise to your team. Not theory. Not hype. Hands-on workshops, coaching, strategy, and custom solutions built for the way you actually work.

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What We Do

Four ways we can help

Every engagement is tailored to your organization, your industry, and your team's actual experience level.

AI Workshops

Hands-on, customized workshops for teams and organizations. Tailored to your industry, your tools, and your people's actual experience level. Formats range from focused half-day sessions to multi-day programs.

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AI Coaching

One-on-one or small group coaching for professionals who've started using AI but want to get significantly better. Advanced techniques, effective workflows, and the judgment to know when AI helps and when it doesn't.

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AI Strategy & Assessment

An honest picture of where AI fits in your organization — and where it doesn't. From focused half-day assessments to full organizational audits with practical implementation paths.

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Custom AI Solutions

Design and implementation of AI tools built for your specific needs — custom assistants, workflow automation, internal knowledge bases, and system prompts. Built to solve real problems, not to impress in a demo.

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Our Story

From cross-border trade to AI strategy

Connect + Trade was founded on a simple idea: connecting sellers and buyers across borders and through technology to trade. The company started in international strategy — export consulting, online marketing, cross-border commerce.

The world changed. AI changed it.

Today, we use AI to help our clients use AI — to connect with their customers and trade more effectively. The name still means what it always meant, but the tools and the terrain have evolved. Connection now happens through intelligent systems. Trade now runs on data, automation, and strategic AI adoption.

The "+" in Connect + Trade is intentional: we sit at the intersection — between technology and strategy, between AI capability and business reality, between what's possible and what's practical.

Academic Foundation Grounded in applied AI courses at Tulane University — not just consulting experience, but teaching experience.

Practical Focus We build tools and teach skills that people actually use the next day — not theory that sits in a binder.

National Reach Based in New Orleans, available nationally. Remote or in-person — whatever works best for your team.

Our Approach

How we work

Every engagement follows the same principle: understand your reality first, then build something that fits it.

Understand

We start by listening. What does your team actually do day-to-day? Where are the pain points? What have you already tried with AI? We meet you where you are, not where a slide deck says you should be.

Design

Based on what we learn, we design an engagement that fits — whether that's a half-day workshop, a coaching program, a strategy assessment, or a custom tool. Nothing off-the-shelf.

Deliver

We deliver practical results your team can use immediately. Skills people apply the next morning. Tools that solve real problems. Strategy with a clear path forward. No binders that collect dust.

Who We Are

Founded by an AI educator

Knud Berthelsen

Professor of Practice, Tulane University

Knud Berthelsen founded Connect + Trade to bring the same applied AI expertise he teaches at Tulane University to organizations outside the classroom. As a Professor of Practice with a joint appointment at the Strategy, Leadership & Analytics Minor (SLAM) and the Connolly Alexander Institute for Data Science (CAIDS), he teaches courses on AI tools and the societal impact of AI, and leads workshops for faculty, staff, corporate clients, and individuals.

LinkedIn Academic Site

Let's talk about what AI can do for you

Whether you're exploring AI for the first time or looking to go deeper, we'd like to hear what you're working on. No pitch deck — just a conversation about what might actually help.

Based in New Orleans · Available nationally

Remote or in-person — whatever works for your team