I've spent 43 years in the chair.
Not next to it.
Owner, operator, CEO, and executive across five technology revolutions. I've built companies, sold them, bought others, and fixed the ones that stopped working. Now I do it for PE firms and IT companies.
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The short version
I helped take an IT company from $45M in revenue to $245M in revenue and an exit of 3x the acquisition multiple. I led two $100M+ acquisitions and ran the integrations. I've sat in the CEO seat, owned the P&L, and answered to a board. McKinsey brings me in when a deal needs an operator's read, not a model. I've watched technology change five times - mainframes to AI - and the thing that fails is never the technology. It's execution. That's what I fix.
What I actually did
IBM
Learned enterprise technology from the inside at IBM, back when computing meant mainframes and the industry ran on big iron.
The integrator: $45M → $245M
Part of a five-person team that bought a hardware-dependent IT integrator in a leveraged buyout, repositioned it for higher value, and sold at $245M.
Two $100M+ acquisitions
Led strategy, owner relationships, valuation, and negotiation, then ran the integrations: operational alignment, synergy realization, enterprise value.
Ingram Micro / scale operations
Operated at global distribution scale - the channel, partners, and ecosystem dynamics most advisors only ever read about.
Tier One PE + McKinsey
Engaged by a Tier One PE firm, alongside McKinsey, on a Fortune 50 carve-out: investment thesis, operational risk, operating plan.
Cphere Consulting
Founded the practice and a network of eleven retired C-suite operators to do this for PE firms and mid-market IT companies.
The same thing fails every time
Five revolutions, one pattern: the technology works. The execution doesn't. Companies write the strategy and never operationalize it. They buy the technology and never build the system to run it.
AI didn't change the pattern - it just made the gap instant and expensive. I've watched it five times. That's not a framework I learned. It's a pattern I lived.
Why five books
Not to be an author. I wrote them because I'd explained the same five failures for 40 years and wanted them in writing: how to make AI actually produce value (Agentic AI for Leaders), how to underwrite technology to the P&L (Unit Economic Discipline), the AI governance boards actually need (Responsible AI Governance in Practice), how to secure an AI-extended company (Zero Trust Architecture), and the one most companies skip until it's expensive - what your AI is optimizing for (Moral Code).
See the books→
I'm not a solo consultant with a deck
Cphere is my practice and a network of 11 retired C-suite operators - CIOs, CFOs, CTOs, COOs who've run real companies. When an engagement needs more than me, you get people who've sat in the exact seat - not analysts.
11
retired C-suite operators
300+
years of operating
experience, on call
Credentials
For the record
A condensed view of operating experience, outcomes, and credentials.
43+
years C-suite experience
IBM, Kyrus/Retalix, Ingram Micro, Wired Fox, Cphere
$245M
exit (built and sold)
2
Two $100M+ acquisitions
led from end to end
McKinsey-engaged
(Fortune 50 carve-out)
5
published books
Harvard AI Executive Program
11
Cphere network:
11 retired C-suite operators
