Chris Sousa · Plaid Consulting

One sleeve up.
One sleeve down.

Strategic enough for the boardroom. Hands-on enough to run the business myself. I help founder-owned and PE-backed businesses in Managed IT, Cybersecurity, and adjacent B2B services grow, run better, and get ready for whatever's next — by stepping in and running things alongside you, not reporting from the outside.

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What I Do

Four ways to work together

Embedded Operating Partner

Ongoing engagements with a small number of clients at a time — working revenue, operations and delivery, culture, cost, and systems alongside your leadership team, hands-on.

President & CEO Opportunities

Full-time operating leadership for businesses that need a hands-on operator running go-to-market, delivery, team, and financial discipline day to day.

Interim & Fractional Leadership

Fractional CFO, CRO, or COO support, or interim executive coverage during a leadership transition — full operating rigor, without a permanent hire.

PE Sponsor & Board Advisory

Target evaluation, diligence, and portfolio company support — informed by dozens of acquisitions evaluated alongside PE and other institutional investors.

Track Record

Twenty-plus years, real numbers

$75MP&L owned as COO, Omega Systems
$40MBusiness unit run as Group President, Dataprise
75%Enterprise value growth, first LOI to close (Dataprise sale)
5xEBITDA growth in under 3 years as CFO & Head of M&A, JPA Health
$2M+Annual savings from a repeatable cost-efficiency program, built twice
HundredsOf acquisitions evaluated alongside PE and other institutional investors
Philosophy

How I approach the work

The sleeve down: strategy, systems, board-level judgment — the thinking that has to be right first.
The sleeve up: delivery, cost, culture — the work that actually moves the business.
Built to run better — ready to sell, never forced to.

Thinking about your next move?

Whether that's professionalizing the business you've built, evaluating an acquisition, or finding the operator to run it — that's the conversation I want to have.

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