Kenneth Thomas
Governance-Focused Fractional CTO
Based in United States · 22+ years experience
Summary
I work with independent school boards. In three weeks, I document what a school runs, who controls it, and what it loses if its IT provider walks away. I ran IT for twenty years before advising on it.
About
Most leadership teams cannot say which systems they run, who has administrative access, or which vendors store their data. They also cannot say what they would lose first if their IT provider stopped answering the phone. That is rarely a crisis at the time. The systems work, the invoices get paid, and nobody has a reason to look. It becomes a problem when a key person leaves, a contract ends, or an insurer or attorney asks for a record nobody ever built.
My entry service is the Technology Ownership Review. It runs for three weeks at a fixed fee, and it produces that record. The document names every system in use, who controls each one, which vendors hold your data and under what terms, and what you would lose access to first if the relationship with your provider ended tomorrow. A board member or an owner should be able to read the whole thing without an engineer sitting next to them.
I ran the technology before I advised anyone on it. I was IT Director at New England Sports Network and led technology at Black News Channel. Before broadcast, I worked in the Florida Department of Health, in Gadsden County government, and at the Florida House of Representatives. Across twenty years, I signed the contracts and took the calls when systems went down. I have also had to tell a board that what it already bought wasn't going to work.
Most of my clients are independent school boards, where volunteers make technology decisions while holding full-time jobs elsewhere. I also work with nonprofits and owner-run companies, usually the ones coming out of a provider relationship that went bad.
I don't sell software or managed services, and I don't take referral money from vendors. I am not trying to replace your IT provider. In most cases, the provider is fine, and the problem is that nobody outside the provider can describe what it does. The engagement ends once the record exists and the board can read it.
I hold an MBA from Florida A&M University and a master's in information technology from Florida Tech. I am finishing a PhD in technology management at National University. I have taught as IT Faculty and Program Director at Keiser University and as an adjunct instructor at Florida A&M.
One repetition to watch for when you paste both fields into the same page. The short bio says I ran IT for twenty years before advising on it. The detailed bio now opens its third paragraph with a near match. If the directory shows both on one profile, change the detailed one to say I spent twenty years inside the work before I started advising on it.
Skills
Regions covered
Industry experience
Education, Not-for-profit
At a glance
Kenneth brings hands-on experience across Cloud & Infrastructure, Cybersecurity, Governance & Risk. Available for engagements across United States. Industry experience includes Education, Not-for-profit.
How fractional CTO engagements with Kenneth work
Kenneth works on a fractional basis — typically one to three days a week for an agreed engagement length — so you get senior technical leadership without the cost or commitment of a full-time hire. Engagements commonly include technical due diligence, board reporting, engineering team leadership, technology strategy, architecture reviews, hiring support, and stepping in as interim CTO during a transition.