A small IT team.
Or none at all.
Senior technical leadership, with someone who can carry the work through.
Leadership. Engineering. Accountability.
Fractional CTO in Detroit for credit unions and small businesses.
I lead your technology.
I do the engineering work.
One person accountable for the roadmap, the vendors, and getting the work done. Ongoing, on a monthly retainer.
A closer look at the work“Nate helped us turn our IT audit findings into a practical plan and carried the technical work through. He explained the priorities clearly, documented the changes, and gave us evidence of what had been addressed. Having someone who could both lead the work and do the engineering made a real difference for our team.”
01 / A clear owner
You need someone
who owns the answers.
You have examiners, vendors, and a board asking questions. Your technology needs a clear owner and a practical plan.
A small IT team.
An audit on
the horizon.
Clear priorities, remediation work, and evidence of what changed. Work with credit unions.
Vendors pulling in
different directions.
One person to coordinate the work and make the tradeoffs clear.
02 / From the plan to the work
Strategy is only useful
when it gets done.
An engineer's approach
to the CTO's job.
I connect the decisions in the boardroom to the work in your environment. The roadmap, the implementation, and the follow-through stay connected.
Understand what is there.
Review the environment, the commitments, and what needs attention first.
Make the priorities clear.
Turn urgent issues and longer-term needs into a practical roadmap.
Carry the work through.
Coordinate vendors, do the engineering, and document what changed.
A typical first month starts with a review, urgent priorities, and a plan for the year. See the services and first-month plan.
03 / The engagement
A clear scope.
A shared set of priorities.
We agree on the work up front, then review it together each month.
Within the retainer
- Technology strategy and roadmap
- Vendor management
- Security and compliance oversight
- Infrastructure engineering
- On-site or remote work as agreed
- Monthly planning and priorities
Outside the retainer
- End-user help desk
- Hardware, software, and licensing purchases
- Large projects outside the agreed roadmap
Capacity, travel, and availability are agreed as part of the engagement. Additional project work is scoped separately.
Talk through your situation
04 / The person doing the work
Nate Howard.
Network and security
engineer first.
15 years in IT, including 10 at Sentinel Technologies and Presidio. I bring the same hands-on approach to technology leadership.
I keep a full lab environment in a Detroit datacenter, where I test changes before they reach your network.
Based at Michigan Central in Detroit. I work with credit unions and small businesses across Metro Detroit, with remote work by agreement. More about my approach.
Practical reading
Before the next technology decision.
A fractional CTO or an MSP?
Work out whether you need better support coverage, technical leadership, or both.
From audit findings to evidence.
Organize credit union IT remediation around owners, changes and checks.
Start with one useful AI workflow.
Set the boundaries, test the result and decide whether to expand.
05 / Let's talk
A question is
a good place to start.
Ask my AI assistant about working together, or send me a note directly.
Nate's AI assistant
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