I’m Mark Grice, a fractional CTO consultant with more than 20 years helping organisations make sense of technology, from start-ups and SMEs to PLCs and government bodies at local, national and international level.

A background built on high stakes

Most recently I spent 13 years as Chief Technology Officer at Global Secure Software System, where I advised law-enforcement agencies handling extremely sensitive data. When the cost of a wrong call is that high, you learn to be calm, precise and honest about risk. That’s the same temperament I bring to your business.

I’m also a certified penetration tester, so I understand security from the inside out, not as a checklist, but as a set of real-world trade-offs.

How I think about the job

My approach comes down to a few simple principles:

  • Judgement over jargon. Twenty years means knowing what not to build, not just what to build.
  • Honest about risk. You’ll always get the straight version, including when the answer is “don’t.”
  • In the room, then through delivery. I don’t hand over a deck and disappear. I help make the decision and stay close enough to see it land.
  • Plain language. If you’re a non-technical leader, you’ll always understand exactly what we’re deciding and why.

What it’s like to work with me

I join your leadership team as an independent, senior technology mind, available when you need strategic guidance and out of the way when you don’t. I’m calm under pressure, allergic to hype, and happy to be the one who asks the awkward question before it becomes an expensive one.

I’m not here to sell you technology. I’m here to help you make decisions you’ll still be glad about in three years.

And when you need something built

Advising and building are different jobs. When a decision leads to real delivery work, I can introduce people I trust, including my own development agency, FullyCoded, but my advice never depends on you using them. Vendor-neutral is the whole point of having an advisor.