How I work
- Real partnership, not window-dressing — shared visibility into the decisions that shape a business, not surprises after the fact.
- Hands-on, not theoretical — I've run P&L, GTM, and delivery myself, at increasing scale, for 20+ years.
- Built to run better, whether or not a transaction is the goal.
I'm Chris Sousa. Over 20+ years, I've grown founder-owned and PE-backed businesses in Managed IT, Cybersecurity Services, and adjacent B2B professional services — first at Dataprise, where I went from Sr. Network Engineer to Chief Financial Officer & Group President over 14 years, then as CFO and Head of M&A at JPA Health, and most recently as COO of Omega Systems, a private-equity-backed managed services provider.
Along the way I've owned P&L and delivery at increasing scale — a department early in my career, a $40M business unit as Group President, and a $75M P&L as COO. I've led go-to-market, carrying a $10M+ sales quota. I've built and led culture and team once HR came to report to me directly. And I've found and delivered material cost savings with a repeatable "Cut Out the Waste" program, now run at two different companies.
I also bring real M&A depth, mostly from the buyer's seat: I've evaluated hundreds of acquisitions alongside PE sponsors and other institutional investors — assessing targets, structuring deals, and weighing whether a founder stays on post-close. I've run a full sell-side process myself, too, leading Dataprise's sale to private equity and growing enterprise value 75% from first Letter of Intent to close.
Today I do this work through Plaid Consulting, taking on a small number of engagements at a time — as an embedded operating partner, in an interim or fractional executive role, or as President/CEO when a business needs a full-time operator.