Fractional CISO & CTO for Regulated Industries

I find what's broken. I fix it.

I came to security from engineering, not from compliance — and that’s the difference.

Technology leadership for companies where getting it wrong has real consequences — medical devices, health software, legal, financial services. Architecture, cloud, and the security work most technology leaders can’t do themselves. You get me, not a junior.

View My WorkHow I Work
20+
Years Experience
2
Exits
5+
Industries
$33M
Budget Managed
Process

How I Work

Two ways to work together. Both have clear scope and no surprise invoices.

MODEL A

Fixed-Price Projects

Assessment, remediation, migration. Fixed scope, fixed price, defined end date.

01
PHASE 01

Discovery & Assessment

1–2 weeks, fixed fee

I embed with your team, audit your systems, and interview stakeholders. Depending on the engagement that means threat modeling, reviewing your architecture and cloud posture, working through penetration test findings, or assessing where your documentation falls short of what a regulator expects. You get a technical assessment with a prioritized remediation roadmap — not a slide deck, a real plan with real estimates.

02
PHASE 02

Scoped Engagement

4–12 weeks, fixed price

Fixed-price proposal with clear deliverables, milestones, and a defined end date. I do the work: close the findings, harden the platform, build the integration, migrate the data. No scope creep, no hourly surprises.

03
PHASE 03

Delivery & Handoff

Payment on completion

Working software, closed findings, and documentation that holds up under audit — plus your team trained to maintain it. You own everything. No dependency on me — if you want ongoing support, that’s a separate conversation, not a condition of the work. If you need me again, you know where to find me.

MODEL B

Fractional Technology Leadership

Ongoing technical ownership for companies too small for a full-time CTO and too regulated to go without one.

I take on the technology leadership role on a monthly basis — architecture ownership, cloud cost and posture, build-versus-buy decisions, premarket and post-market cybersecurity, vendor and audit response, and the hands-on engineering to close findings rather than just document them. Defined monthly scope, no hourly billing.

What a fractional CISO / CTO engagement covers →
SERVICE

Penetration Test Remediation

You’ve got a thorough report full of findings and no one to close them. Testing firms can’t remediate their own findings without compromising their independence as the assessor — so the report lands and the work stalls. I close findings, document the remediation so it holds up for a regulatory reviewer, and get you back through retest.

What remediation involves →
SERVICE

FDA Cybersecurity Remediation

A deficiency letter with a 180-day clock on it, or a premarket submission with a cybersecurity package nobody is confident in. FDA wants uniquely identified testable requirements traced to verification evidence, not security principles — and that conversion is most of the work. Connected devices and software-only products alike.

What the engagement involves →
Work

Case Studies

Real problems, real solutions. Here's what it looks like when I get involved.

HealthcareClinical Device Startup

FDA 510(k) Cybersecurity Remediation

Cybersecurity remediation carried through to 510(k) submission. Audited submission security claims against the shipped product and reconciled the documentation to as-built behavior.

Read the case study →
Professional ServicesProfessional Services Firm

Business Email Compromise — Investigation and Containment

Compromise contained and scope established. Identity infrastructure hardened against the attack path that was used.

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HealthcareMulti-Location Healthcare Provider

EMR Platform Migration from Legacy Java to Azure

Fully modernized EMR platform running on Azure with automated deployments, HL7/FHIR integrations, and a scalable architecture the team could maintain independently.

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Legal TechNational Legal Staffing Firm

Replacing a Failed Search Platform with a Solution That Actually Works

Replaced a failing search platform with a system recruiters actually use. Cleaned and structured 80,000+ contact records.

Read the case study →
Financial ServicesOne of Tennessee's Largest Credit Unions

Digital Banking Migration for 130,000+ Members

Successful migration for 130K+ members with near-zero disruption. 60% cost reduction in statement generation.

Read the case study →
HealthcareHealthcare Workforce SaaS Startup

Performance Crisis to Acquisition: Saving a Key Customer Relationship

Saved the customer relationship. The turnaround directly contributed to the company’s acquisition.

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TelecomNTT

ML-Driven Routing Engine Saving $2.4M/Year in Telecom Costs

$2.4M per year in telecom cost savings. Fully automated — no human in the loop for daily routing decisions.

Read the case study →
Founded & ExitedAccuConference

Built a SaaS Platform from Zero to Acquisition by NTT

Acquired by NTT. Stayed on as VP of Information Systems for 6 years, managing a $33M budget and 225+ people across 8 countries.

Read the case study →
All case studies →
About

Bill Barksdale

I've been doing this for over 20 years. I co-founded AccuConference, grew it to 10,000+ customers, and sold it to NTT. I was VP of Technology at a healthcare workforce startup through its acquisition. Two successful exits. I've managed $33M budgets and teams of 225+ people across 8 countries.

Then I figured out something about myself — I'm not a sit-in-meetings guy. I'm a get-in-the-code, fix-the-architecture, ship-the-thing guy.

I have a pattern: I walk into companies with outdated platforms, mounting technical debt, and teams that need unblocking — and I fix what's wrong. At that healthcare startup, I came in as employee #5, rebuilt the engineering organization to 40+, and helped lead the company to acquisition. At AccuConference, I built the technology from nothing and grew it to an exit. The common thread is taking something that isn't working and making it work.

Now I run a boutique consulting practice, and most of what I do is security work in places where getting it wrong is expensive. A medical device heading into an FDA submission that needs a cybersecurity package. A penetration test report full of findings and nobody who can close them. A breach that needs investigating and an environment that needs rebuilding afterward. Healthcare, medical devices, legal, financial services — regulated industries, where the consequences are real.

I can read the finding, write the fix, and produce documentation that holds up for a regulator — rather than hand you a report and a list of recommendations someone else has to implement. CISSP certified.

I don't sell hours. I sell outcomes. Every engagement has a defined scope, defined milestones, and a fixed price. I assess the problem, I scope the fix, and I deliver it. No open-ended billing, no surprise invoices.

Certifications
CISSP: Certified Information Systems Security Professional
AZ-305: Azure Solutions Architect
AZ-104: Azure Administrator
AI-900: Azure AI Fundamentals
Johns Hopkins Healthcare Data Security
Vanderbilt Agentic AI
ITIL 4 Foundation
Certified ScrumMaster (CSM)
Contact

Have a system that needs fixing?

Tell me what's not working. No pitch deck, no sales call — I'll give you straight advice whether we work together or not.

Rather skip the form? bill@bato.com reaches me directly.

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