Fractional CTO Services
Firms bring me in for different reasons: a CRM that has stopped scaling, an onboarding process that runs on manual effort, a vendor stack nobody has looked at in years, a security or compliance gap, pressure to figure out AI, or a technology seat that's empty or never existed. Sometimes there's a capable technology leader in place who has more decisions than one person can get to.
Part of my job is helping you figure out which of these is true for your firm, and which aren't worth your money to solve.
I'm independent and vendor-neutral, so my only interest is what works for your firm. I look for the real problem before recommending anything, and I work in a deliberate order: standardize, then centralize, then automate. Automate a process nobody has standardized and you just make the mess run faster.
Most firms need some of these, not all. Which two or three matter right now is usually the first conversation.
A multi-year plan that sequences technology investment against the firm's goals, the way a financial plan sequences a client's.
Clear decision rights, a single front door for new requests, and a cadence that aligns the firm without burying it in meetings.
An audit of the stack and the contracts, renewal discipline, renegotiation, and rigorous evaluation before you commit to anything new.
Alignment to a recognized framework, supervision and archiving across every channel, vendor risk, and disaster recovery that is tested rather than assumed.
Streamlining the firm's most cross-functional workflow to cut not-in-good-order rates and return capacity to advisors and staff.
Deciding whether to optimize, replace, or consolidate, and making the CRM a workflow engine rather than a passive record store.
A practical, compliance-aware path to AI. Start with proven, low-risk categories and bring them under your supervision regime before they go live.
Aligning the technology your advisors and clients touch every day so it strengthens the relationship instead of getting in the way.
Documenting decisions, moving knowledge into the institution, and defining what you should eventually hire or build.
In Depth 01
Account opening is the most cross-functional workflow in the firm, which is why it's so often the one nobody owns end to end. It touches advisors, operations, and compliance, plus three or four vendors who each solved their own piece of it. What the firm sees is rework, not-in-good-order rates nobody is happy with, and staff time spent chasing paper.
I led a digital account opening implementation across a multi-broker-dealer environment, integrating the platform with CRM, compliance, and back-office systems. Advisor productivity went up and NIGO rates came down, both measurably. I spoke on the future of account opening at FSI OneVoice 2026, on a panel with Pershing, Fidelity, and Docupace.
In Depth 02
Most firms don't have a CRM problem. They have a workflow problem that shows up in the CRM. Before recommending whether to optimize, replace, or consolidate, I want to know what work needs to flow through it. A migration that carries the old habits into a new system is an expensive way to stand still.
My CRM work includes an evaluation and recommendation for a multi-billion-dollar fee-only RIA and, at my prior firm, the Salesforce CRM strategy and implementation plan as part of a broader platform modernization.
In Depth 03
Many firms carry more vendor relationships than they should, on terms nobody has revisited in years. Vendor strategy is a discipline: knowing what you need, how to evaluate it, how to negotiate it, and how to manage it once you have it.
At my prior firm I realigned the technology stack and renegotiated vendor contracts for roughly $1.2 million in annual savings. I've spoken on vendor due diligence and cybersecurity risk management at three FINRA conferences, including on panels with FINRA staff.
In Depth 04
AI tools for advisors are multiplying faster than most firms can evaluate them, and the hard part is rarely the technology. It's deciding which categories are worth piloting, how a tool fits your supervision regime, and what you'd say to an examiner about it. I start with proven, low-risk categories and bring them under governance before they go live rather than after.
I led the evaluation and compliance approval of AI-powered advisor tools in a live FINRA-regulated environment. For FinTech firms building in this space, I can also offer the buy-side view: what the evaluation looks like from inside a firm, and what moves a decision toward or away from adoption.
In Depth 05
For a broker-dealer or RIA, cybersecurity is a regulatory obligation and a business continuity problem before it's an IT problem. Examiners want to see a recognized framework, evidence that vendors are being watched, and a recovery plan that has been exercised, not just written. Most firms have pieces of this. Few have it assembled in a way they'd be comfortable handing to an examiner.
At my prior firm I built and ran the cybersecurity governance program for two broker-dealers and an RIA, aligned to the NIST Cybersecurity Framework 2.0. I've spoken on broker-dealer cybersecurity at two FINRA conferences, including a panel with FINRA Member Supervision and the FBI.
An engagement runs in three phases and starts small.
A current-state read, a prioritized roadmap, and the governance to execute it. Sometimes that's a week, sometimes a quarter. The output is a plan, not an implementation, with quick wins pulled forward where they exist. You decide whether to continue with the plan already in hand, which keeps the entry point low-risk.
I act as your technology executive, execute the roadmap, and manage vendors and partners on a light weekly, monthly, and quarterly cadence.
Document the decisions, move the knowledge into the institution, and hand off to a permanent hire or a team that can run without me.