Advisory /
Buy a defined executive outcome before buying a large programme.
The best starting point is a live decision: trusted reporting, regulatory evidence, AI governance, portfolio-company diligence, or a leadership gap with board-level consequences.
- Recommended entry point
Executive data & AI confidence review
Ten business days, one fixed fee agreed before work starts, and a board-ready view of what is true, what is exposed, and what should happen over the next 90 days.
Practices
Four practices, each with its own buyer, problem, and evidence.
01
Data and AI governance
The numbers in the board pack, the regulatory returns and the AI use cases cannot all be defended, and nobody can say quickly which ones can.
Boards, CROs, CDOs and executives accountable to the FCA, the PRA and BCBS 239
02
Data architecture and platforms
A platform decision is due, the vendor slides all disagree, and the business needs data products it can name owners for.
CTOs, CDIOs, CIOs and transformation sponsors in regulated and PE-backed businesses
03
AI agents and controlled automation
The agent works in a demo. Nobody can yet say what it may touch, what it costs, when it stops, or who signs it off.
COOs, CTOs, Heads of AI and platform leads
04
Transformation and fractional leadership
The data function needs to be built or turned round, the delivery partners need holding to outcomes, and there is no one senior enough to own it.
CEOs, CFOs, PE operating partners and transformation sponsors
Evidence
05
Critical Data Element governance and audit evidence
Alpha Bank London
Data and AI governance
06
Data and AI governance
07
Data architecture and platforms
08
Transformation and fractional leadership
09
Transformation and fractional leadership
Fixed-scope offers
Clear scope, price, timing, evidence, and boundaries.
Each offer stands on its own. A larger mandate follows only when the findings and business case justify it.
10
Executive data & AI confidence review
A ten-business-day independent review of whether the organisation's data, reporting, governance, and AI controls can support the decisions now being asked of them.
- Executive interviews and evidence request
- Data, reporting, governance, and AI maturity assessment
- Risk and opportunity heatmap
- Decision and control dependency map
- 90-day action plan
- Board-ready findings pack and executive readout
11
Board AI governance workshop
A focused half-day session that turns AI governance from abstract policy into explicit decision rights, materiality thresholds, evidence, and board oversight.
- Pre-session evidence review and sponsor interview
- Board briefing on current AI governance obligations and market practice
- Use-case materiality and decision-rights exercise
- Control and evidence gap map
- Board question set and 60-day action note
12
Data & AI diligence for PE
A rapid, independent assessment of whether a portfolio company's data and AI capabilities support the investment thesis, expose hidden execution risk, or create a practical value-creation route.
- Management and sponsor interviews
- Decision-grade MI and data quality assessment
- Platform, vendor, and key-person dependency review
- AI opportunity, governance, and third-party exposure map
- Value-creation and risk heatmap
- Investment committee or portfolio board readout
13
Fractional data & AI leadership
Senior, hands-on data and AI leadership for organisations that need direction, operating discipline, and board credibility without immediately hiring a permanent executive.
- Executive mandate and outcome scorecard
- Operating model and decision rights
- Team, supplier, and programme leadership
- Board, ExCo, and governance reporting
- Permanent-role definition and transition plan where required
Core competencies
Operating models, UK GDPR controls, AI lifecycle gates, and evidence packs.
Scope and price describe what you buy. These eight capabilities describe what does the work once the engagement starts.
01
Governance operating models and decision rights
Designing and embedding an operating model rather than writing policy. The test of governance is whether decisions change, evidence exists, and ownership holds once the programme team has gone.
- Charters, decision rights, and forum design that survive reorganisation
- Policy translated into standards, controls, and day-to-day process
- Adoption measured by evidence produced, not documents published
02
UK GDPR and Data Protection Act knowledge
Connecting legal principles to the operational processes that carry them: ownership, lifecycle, incident handling, and individual rights. Legal advice stays with counsel; the operating design is the work here.
- Lawful basis, purpose limitation, and minimisation expressed as data controls
- Records of processing, retention schedules, and DPIA routes that are actually used
- Personal data breach and rights request processes with defensible timelines
03
Responsible AI
Governing AI use cases across the whole lifecycle, from intake and risk tiering through approval, deployment, monitoring, and retirement, so adoption speeds up without accountability falling behind.
- Single intake route, materiality thresholds, and proportionate risk tiering
- Approval gates, human control, and evaluation criteria fixed before deployment
- Monitoring, drift and incident triggers, and a planned route to retirement
04
Accountabilities, capability, and succession
Setting direction, developing people, and creating accountability without becoming the bottleneck. The measure is whether the function still runs well when the leader is out of the room.
- Clear accountabilities and a decision path that does not route through one person
- Capability building and succession inside data, governance, and AI teams
- Performance managed against outcomes the business recognises
05
Contested decisions closed with an owner
Chairing disagreement, bringing a decision to closure, and escalating proportionately. Senior rooms rarely lack opinions; they lack a way to convert them into a recorded decision with an owner.
- Framing contested trade-offs so a committee can actually choose
- Closing decisions with owner, date, and evidence recorded
- Escalation calibrated to materiality rather than to volume
06
Regulated financial services
Working to the evidential standards regulated firms are held to: three lines of defence, internal audit, supervisory engagement, and demonstrable customer outcomes.
- Evidence packs that withstand second line challenge and internal audit
- BCBS239, FCA, PRA, and Consumer Duty expectations translated into controls
- Findings and remediation tracked to closure with traceable artefacts
07
Group standards with local variations
Adapting Group standards to local obligations without creating an isolated national framework. Local divergence should be deliberate, documented, and defensible to both the centre and the local regulator.
- Group policy adopted locally with recorded, justified variations
- One control set serving both Group assurance and UK supervisory expectations
- Influence across matrixed reporting lines with no direct authority
08
Obligations restated for ExCo and engineers
Turning regulatory and technical constraint into commercial language, and commercial ambition into requirements engineers and risk teams can act on. Both directions matter; most governance stalls because only one is done.
- Obligations restated as cost, revenue, and risk exposure the ExCo can weigh
- Business intent turned into data, control, and delivery requirements
- Board and regulator narratives drawn from the same underlying evidence
How I work
Diagnose, frame, decide, embed: four steps to a 90-day plan with named owners.
Every engagement starts with the decision at stake. The output is designed to be board-readable and executable.
01
Diagnose
Inspect the evidence: data estate, governance posture, reporting quality, and where commercial or regulatory decisions are failing.
02
Frame
Separate immediate control risks from strategic architecture choices; translate technical gaps into board-readable consequences.
03
Decide
Agree the sequencing: what must be fixed first, where to invest, which vendor or platform decisions can be deferred without cost.
04
Embed
Deliver a 90-day plan with named owners and milestones that survive beyond the engagement.
Working together
First steps, NDAs, fixed fees, and regulated environments.
How do engagements typically start?
With a brief, confidential conversation about the specific decision or risk at hand. Most mandates begin as a focused diagnostic (a structured review of the data estate, governance posture, or AI agenda) before scope and phasing are agreed. There is no standard onboarding package; the starting point is shaped by the problem.
How do you handle confidentiality and NDAs?
All enquiries and engagements are treated as confidential by default. NDAs are signed before substantive discussions begin, and engagement terms include explicit data handling obligations. Regulated and PE-adjacent contexts, where information barriers and dual-role sensitivities apply, are handled with appropriate care.
What does an advisory engagement look like in practice?
A typical engagement has three stages: a structured discovery phase (interviews, document review, evidence inspection), an analysis and synthesis phase that produces a board-readable findings pack, and a sequenced action plan with clear ownership. Fractional engagements add ongoing leadership (team direction, vendor management, and governance forums) on a retained basis.
Who do you usually work with?
CEOs, CFOs, boards, and PE operating partners who need independent assurance on a data or AI decision. CTOs, CDIOs, and transformation directors commissioning a structured review. Regulated firms needing fractional data leadership during a search or restructure. The common factor is a consequential decision that requires evidence, not opinion.
How are engagements scoped and priced?
Engagements are scoped by objective and deliverable, not by time-and-materials. Every fee is fixed and agreed in writing before work starts, based on scope, access, and timing. Diagnostics, workshops, and diligence are quoted per engagement. Fractional leadership is a monthly retainer set by mandate and days per week. Toolkit licences are quoted on request. The Products and services page shows the current scope, timing, and output for each productised offer.
Can you work inside regulated or audited environments?
Yes. The majority of the work is in financial services, insurance, and public sector organisations where FCA, PRA, BCBS239, GDPR, and internal audit requirements shape what evidence is acceptable. Deliverables are designed to withstand regulatory and board scrutiny, not just internal review.
Qualified mandate
Bring the decision at stake and the evidence behind it.
The first conversation tests fit, scope, evidence access, and the smallest intervention that could materially improve the decision.
Confidential by default · NDA-ready · GDPR-aligned