Kenneth Thomas
Fractional CTO
Based in United States · 22+ years experience
Summary
I'm a Fractional CTO for organizations with 50 to 250 staff that pay an outside IT company. I set technology direction with your leadership and check that your IT company delivers.
About
At most organizations with 50 to 250 staff, the outside IT company is the only one checking its own work. It makes the technology decisions and reports on its own results. Your leadership team may not know who has administrative access to your systems or which vendors store your data.
Nobody notices the gap while things run. It shows up when a key person leaves, or a contract ends. It also shows up when an insurer or attorney asks for a record nobody ever built. If your board asked tomorrow who controls your systems, could anyone answer?
As your Fractional CTO, I work with your leadership on IT and AI direction and review your technology spend. I also report to your board in plain English. Your IT company keeps doing the hands-on work, and I hold it to its contract.
Work starts with the Technology Ownership Review. Over three weeks, I document what you run, who controls it, and what you pay for it. I also show what you would lose if your IT provider walked away. Your board gets a written record it can read.
I ran IT for 22 years before I started advising on it. My last role was IT Director at NESN. There I moved the company off a legacy phone system onto Microsoft Teams Phone and rolled out Microsoft Teams. I also built a policy library in Confluence, so staff had one place to find company policy. Those projects cut costs. Earlier, I held IT roles at Black News Channel, the Florida Department of Health, Gadsden County, and the Florida House of Representatives.
A former NESN colleague, now Director of Cybersecurity and AI Risk Strategy, wrote: "A team would be lucky to walk into an environment that he set up."
I hold an MBA from Florida A&M University, a Master's in IT from Florida Tech, and a Bachelor's in IT from Florida State University. I am finishing a PhD in Technology Management at National University. I directed the IT program at Keiser University and taught at Florida A&M. In January 2027, I will lead a District Leaders roundtable at FETC in Orlando and present a poster on board-level technology risk.
Skills
Cloud & Infrastructure, M&A / Due Diligence, Platform Modernisation, Cybersecurity, Vendor Management, Governance & Risk
Regions covered
Industry experience
Not-for-profit, Government, Fintech, Professional Services, Manufacturing, Retail, SaaS, Education, Healthcare
At a glance
Kenneth brings hands-on experience across Cloud & Infrastructure, M&A / Due Diligence, Platform Modernisation, Cybersecurity, Vendor Management, Governance & Risk. Available for engagements across United States. Industry experience includes Not-for-profit, Government, Fintech, Professional Services, Manufacturing and 4 more.
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.