Why Alchemy

I am not a theorist. I have built the things I advise on, at scale, with real accountability for commercial outcomes. Every engagement starts with understanding your needs: not just the symptom, but an instinct for the likely root causes, built on long experience and pattern recognition.

That instinct is then tested in a fixed-price Technology and AI MOT. What follows is one of two things: an ongoing retainer, where I sit on your board or in the business, or a time-bound assignment with a defined outcome.

• Technology and AI MOT. Fixed price, fixed scope, no ongoing commitment.
• Retainer. Board advisory and a virtual CIO: strategic counsel, a trusted voice, and someone to govern technology and manage your team and suppliers.
• Assignment. Project delivery and interim leadership: time-bound, outcome-defined, to fix and rescue.

If you are asking who hires a fractional CIO, start with Fractional CIO UK. For the market data and costs, see the Fractional CIO FAQ.

A tight piece of work that ends in a clear set of options and recommendations. For organisations with meaningful technology spend, the savings it identifies almost always cover the investment. The MOT pays for itself.

The ongoing route. You buy days in a quarterly block, in advance, and use them where they count: board papers, supplier negotiations, programme reviews, or coaching your Head of IT.

• A block is 2 to 26 days a quarter (26 is roughly two days a week).
• Prepaid, and booked in half days.
• Up to two unused days roll over to the next quarter.
• Days beyond 10 in a quarter are discounted by 10%.

See the worked examples in What a fractional CIO costs in the UK.

I have built and run global technology functions at WPP, Heathrow Airport, BSI, Arup and the BBC. Most recently I built WPP Open, the world’s first agentic AI operating platform for end-to-end marketing, deployed to 70,000 practitioners across 110 countries, which generated $40m in documented commercial value in its first year.

I am both a Chartered Accountant (ACA) and a Chartered IT Professional (CITP), so the business case gets the same scrutiny as the architecture. I am Treasurer of Article 19 and sit on the board of AIGAS, the AI Governance Standards body.

Catalyst is my monthly LinkedIn newsletter on key emerging themes and trends in enterprise technology. It is the best way to stay in touch, and the place I test ideas before they become advice.

For software vendors with something worth saying to senior technology buyers, there is a sponsored feature in Catalyst, clearly labelled as partner content. It reaches more than 1,000 subscribers.

Thirty years of IT leadership in global enterprises and seven years implementing AI, balanced by over a decade as a trustee in digital rights and human rights NGOs, championing user protection. That combination is why event organisers and hosts invite me.

• Speaker: keynotes, panels and fireside chats.
• Contributor: TV and digital interviews, and commentary.
• Guest: podcasts, livestreams and webinars.

A fixed-price, two-week GTM Sprint for AI software businesses selling to enterprise buyers, paid up front. There are two tiers.

• Foundation (£5,000 plus VAT): get ready. A buyer Q&A pack of 30 to 40 likely buyer questions with draft answers, positioning and messaging with a buyer map, a target list of 20 to 25 named enterprise accounts with first messages, and a Catalyst feature.
• Full Sprint (£6,950 plus VAT): get in the room. Everything in Foundation, plus a pitch deck in your branding, a 90-minute buyer rehearsal with me as the proxy CIO, and up to three personal introductions where the fit is real.

For AI software vendors with a working product, seeking buyers in enterprise and the mid-market without hiring a sales team. There are two ways to work together, and no joining fee.

• Introduce: I open the door. Our materials carry both logos. You contract directly with the buyer and I introduce you, with my fee disclosed. I take 10% of year-one contract value and 5% in year two, then nothing, paid when you are paid.
• Vendor-led: I carry your badge. You lead under your brand and bring me in as your senior CIO voice on buyer calls, which suits overseas vendors who need a UK resource. Time is booked in half days at £700 plus VAT, with expenses at cost.

It starts with a free 30-minute screening call on your product, your evidence and two customer references. I take on few vendors and may decline. From there it can evolve into a GTM Sprint, or into an advisory role as a fractional board advisor or NED on a quarterly retainer.