Fractional Executive Leadership
Fractional CEO Services
Strategic leadership for transitions, turnarounds, and the critical periods when your organization needs an experienced hand at the top.
Fractional and interim CEO engagements are typically the highest-impact, shortest-duration fractional roles, focused on transitions, turnarounds, and strategic inflection points.
The Board Wants a Plan. Your CEO Walks In With One.
Your founder just stepped back. The leadership team is uncertain. The board wants a plan. Your fractional CEO meets individually with each VP, identifies the three decisions that have been stalling, makes them, and presents a 90-day transition roadmap to the board by Friday.
That is the fractional model. You get a CEO who has led organizations through transitions before. They stabilize the team, maintain momentum, and either hand off to a permanent hire or continue in a fractional capacity. No six-month search while the company drifts.
What a Fractional CEO Handles
A Fractional CEO provides senior strategic leadership on a part-time or interim basis. They own organizational direction, leadership alignment, and stakeholder communication.
- Strategic planning and execution - setting direction and ensuring the organization follows through
- Leadership team development - building a team that can operate independently
- Board and investor communication - telling the story and managing expectations
- Organizational alignment - getting every function pulling in the same direction
- Transition management - navigating leadership changes, acquisitions, or restructuring
- Culture and vision - maintaining identity through periods of change
The Leadership Vacuum
A full-time CEO carries total compensation well above $400K when you factor base, bonus, and equity. But the real cost of a leadership vacuum is not the salary line item. It is the decisions that do not get made, the talent that leaves, and the momentum that stalls.
Fractional CEO engagements are typically transition-focused: 6-12 months of intensive leadership while the organization stabilizes, searches for a permanent leader, or discovers the fractional model works for their stage.
The cost of an empty seat at the top is not measured in salary savings. It is measured in stalled decisions, departing talent, and lost confidence from the board, customers, and team.
Signs You Need a Fractional CEO
CEO-level gaps create cascading problems across the entire organization. If these sound familiar, the issue is at the top:
- Your founder or CEO has stepped back and there is no succession plan
- The leadership team is misaligned and decisions are stalling
- The board is losing confidence in the current direction
- You are navigating an acquisition, merger, or major restructuring
- Growth has stalled and you need someone to diagnose why
- You need interim leadership while conducting a permanent search
Meet Our Fractional CEOs
Strategic leaders across manufacturing, professional services, and private equity portfolio companies. The right CEO matched to your industry and challenge.
Michelle Book
Fractional Executive, CEO
Molly Varangkounh
Fractional Executive, CEO
Ready for Experienced Leadership?
A 30-minute call to discuss your situation. No pitch, no pressure.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does a fractional CEO do?
A fractional CEO steps in to lead the business on a part-time or interim basis, owning organizational direction, leadership alignment, and board and stakeholder management. It's often the highest-impact, shortest-duration engagement we do: setting the plan, steadying the team, and driving execution through a transition, without a full-time commitment.
When should a company hire a fractional CEO?
Common signals: a sudden leadership gap or CEO departure, a founder stepping back or preparing an exit, a turnaround or restructuring, a stretch between permanent CEOs, or a board that needs an experienced operator to steady the ship and set direction fast.
How much does a fractional CEO cost?
Engagements average between $2,700 and $8,500 per month for basic services and scale from there based on your needs, priorities, and available internal resources. That's a fraction of a full-time CEO's total compensation, which runs well above $400,000 once you factor base, bonus, and equity.
What's the difference between a fractional CEO and an interim CEO?
Not much, and that's the point. The two overlap heavily: both put an experienced operator in the seat for a defined period. "Interim" usually means full-time through a specific gap, while "fractional" can be part-time and ongoing. Altus does both and shapes the engagement to the situation.
What's the difference between a fractional CEO and a business coach or advisor?
A coach or advisor guides from the sideline; you still run the company. A fractional CEO takes the wheel: making the decisions, leading the team, and owning the outcomes and the accountability to the board, not just offering advice.
What industries do your fractional CEOs work in?
Our fractional CEOs work across many sectors, and we're not limited to a fixed list. We match the right operator to your business whatever your industry. Our CEOs have led companies in manufacturing, construction, healthcare, professional services, cooperatives, agriculture, private equity, venture capital.