Senior technology and operating leadership for companies that need things fixed, not just diagnosed.
For 35+ years, Kirk Holmes and the Holmes and Associates team have helped CEOs, owners and boards modernize systems, control cyber and AI risk, cut waste, and build teams that can carry the work forward. We work as trusted advisors, on focused projects, or as fractional CIO, CISO and COO-type leaders, whichever fits what you need.
MIT BS Electrical Engineering · Stanford GSB MBA · CISA · ITIL V3 · CMMC-trained
Three ways we help, often in combination.
Fractional CIO, CISO & COO
Step in, stabilize the function, build the team, and hand off cleanly.
- Rapid assessment of systems, data, vendors and risk
- Prioritized plan with costs and quick wins
- Systems modernization: fix, extend or replace
- Vendor selection, negotiation and accountability
- Coaching the internal team to run the roadmap
Transformation & turnaround
Decisive intervention when a function or initiative is off track.
- Crisis and turnaround management
- M&A integration and carve-outs
- Organizational design and scaling
- Cost modeling and budget discipline
- Process improvement and innovation, including AI
Cybersecurity & AI risk
Systems-based risk management that holds up for customers, auditors and insurers.
- Cybersecurity Organizational Maturity Scan (COMS)
- STPA-Sec systems vulnerability analysis
- SOC 2 and security-questionnaire readiness
- AI governance and safe adoption
A track record at scale.
Kaman Corporation
$2B global manufacturer. As CIO & CISO through major M&A, cut IT costs 30%, rebuilt a 100-person IT organization, stood up a cyber program that passed a DoD CMMC pre-assessment, and restarted a stalled ERP consolidation.
SalientCRGT
Embedded advisor to the CEO for about ten years as the company grew from $40M to $400–500M in revenue and roughly $1B in valuation. Cut overhead 33% after a merger.
US Department of Justice
For the CIO and CFO, mapped $1B in department-wide support costs and redesigned how services were delivered and charged. The CIO adopted a restructuring of its $500M IT budget.
Other clients include Impact Justice (fractional CIO), IRS, Comcast, AT&T, Prince George's County Government, and many other businesses, public agencies and nonprofits.
“He helped guide our transformation as we grew from a tiny startup into a billion-dollar enterprise… Any time we needed guru-assistance, I turned to Holmes and Associates in lieu of Accenture, McKinsey, or any other larger consulting firm.”
Tom Ferrando, CEO, SalientCRGT
Led by Kirk Holmes
Kirk leads each engagement and brings in experienced colleagues as the work requires, so clients get senior judgment with the right depth of expertise behind it.
Kirk works across technology, finance, operations and organizational design, because complex problems rarely stay in one lane. Clients describe him as the operator who shows up, figures out what actually happened, and says exactly what to change, who to hire, and what to spend.
He builds a culture of continuous improvement and customer service, coaches the team, and hands the work off internally when it's ready. Clients often say their organizations were never the same: re-energized IT teams, happier internal customers, and business leaders who trust technology to help them reach their goals.
- Education & certifications
- MIT, BS Electrical Engineering · Stanford GSB, MBA · CISA · ITIL V3 · CMMC-trained
- Board & advisory roles
- BluVentures, Cyber Advisor to a cybersecurity- and AI-focused investment fund
- PureCipher, Board of Advisors
- Center for Care Innovations, Board and Audit Committee
Start small, then scale to what you need.
Assess
A fixed-scope review of systems, risk, team and spend, ending in a prioritized plan and budget.
Deliver
Advisory support, a project-based “fix it” engagement, or part-time CIO, CISO or COO-type leadership to carry out the plan.
Hand off
Coach your team to sustain the work, with ongoing board or advisory support if you want it.
Tell us what needs fixing.
A short conversation is usually enough to see whether we can help and what a first engagement would look like.