About
A fractional CTO turning complex technology landscapes into clear business decisions.
For UK mid-market businesses where IT, data and cyber report to the Finance Director, not a dedicated technology executive.
The short version
I am Mike Fraser. I work with managing directors, finance leaders and boards who carry responsibility for IT, data and cyber, but do not have a dedicated CTO or CIO on their executive team.
The role is straightforward. I own your technology function, I manage and challenge your suppliers, and I translate technology decisions into commercial language for your leadership team.
I work with clients across the UK from a base in Malmesbury, Wiltshire. Engagements are remote-first, with in-person time for board meetings and key milestones when it matters.
Background
15 years leading technology in listed and mid-market companies.
15 years of technology leadership across listed and mid-market companies: divisional roles inside RELX, board-level CTO at Wilmington, executive director roles at Oxford Royale Academy and National Milk Records, and now independent fractional and interim work.
2024 to present
Independent
Fractional and Interim CTO
Engagements across telecommunications, manufacturing, media, compliance, education and agriculture. Strategy reviews, technology assurance for boards, and hands-on transformation programmes for businesses where technology has outgrown the leadership structure around it.
Feb 2021 to May 2024
National Milk Records, part of AB Foods Plc
Product and IT Director, Executive Board Member
Executive board member of the UK's leading dairy data and diagnostics business. Responsible for product, technology operations, supplier management and board-level reporting through the period leading up to its acquisition.
Jan 2019 to Mar 2020
Oxford Royale Academy
Chief Technology and Digital Officer
Built the digital and technology function for an international education business. Designed and delivered the platforms supporting commercial growth across multiple programmes and geographies.
Sep 2015 to Dec 2018
Wilmington Plc
Chief Technology Officer, Executive Board Member
Three years on the Executive Committee of an LSE-listed risk and compliance group. Led technology change across a multi-entity portfolio: platform consolidation, supplier rationalisation, and the integration and separation work that comes with active corporate development.
Jan 2011 to Aug 2015
Reed Business Information, part of RELX Plc
Director of Technology, Executive Leadership Team
Technology leadership across one of the UK's largest B2B information businesses. Platform migrations, vendor consolidation and operational improvement at scale, sitting on the divisional Executive Leadership Team.
Oct 2005 to Oct 2009
Reed Business Information, part of RELX Plc
Head of Product Development
First period at RELX. Led product development across digital information platforms, building the product and engineering foundations that supported later technology leadership roles.
How I work today
Three services, one frame of mind.
Whether the engagement is a strategy piece, a transformation programme or an assurance review, the brief is the same: pragmatic, commercially grounded technology leadership that speaks both board and engineering fluently.
Strategy
Clarify where technology, data, AI and cyber should support the business, and where they should not. Strategy engagements give you a roadmap that finance will sign and operations can deliver.
Transformation
Get teams shipping faster and more reliably, with fewer surprises and less noise. Transformation work is delivery, not slides: governance, supplier management, and the right shape of in-house and partner capability.
Assurance
An independent view of technology and cyber risk for boards before they sign, invest, or have to explain a major decision. Due diligence, technical reviews, and the briefing pack you wish you had been given before the meeting.
Credentials
Where the perspective comes from.
Education
Executive MBA, Henley Business School.
Digital MBA, CTO Academy.
Experience at scale
Board-level technology leadership in listed and mid-market businesses, with hands-on experience of technology due diligence and integration across acquisitions, and technology separation across divestments.
Sectors include media, data and analytics, education, professional services, financial services and compliance.
If technology has landed on the Finance Director's desk, let's talk.
A short conversation costs nothing. I will tell you whether what you are describing is something I can help with, and if it is not, I will point you in the right direction.