Virtual CIO · Oklahoma City

Executive IT leadership
without the executive overhead.

Fractional CIO services for 10–75 employee businesses in central Oklahoma. Strategic technology direction your business has outgrown — at a fraction of the cost of a full-time hire.

Experience
28 years
As IT Director
24 years
Based in
OKC Metro
Commitment
No contracts

Your business has outgrown a help desk.

You've reached the point where every new system, vendor decision, or security question needs someone who can think strategically — not just fix what's broken.

01

Full-time CIO ≈ $200K+/year

Salary, benefits, and bonus for an experienced IT Director quickly cross $200,000 — before you've even hired a team underneath them. Most 10–75 employee businesses can't justify it.

02

Your MSP isn't your advisor

Managed service providers are excellent at break-fix and patch management. They are not in the business of advising your three-year roadmap, negotiating your vendor contracts, or stress-testing your risk register.

03

Vendors operate in silos

Your support provider, software vendors, ISP, and security tools each have their own contact, contract, and finger-pointing. When something breaks across them — and it always does — the business owner becomes the middleman. That's not your job.

04

Stakes keep rising

Cyber insurance underwriters, regulators, and clients are demanding security postures most SMBs are unprepared for. Without strategic IT leadership, you're flying blind on decisions that matter most.

The work of a Chief Information Officer — on a fractional engagement.

A vCIO sits in the strategic seat: setting direction, managing vendors, controlling spend, and owning risk. Day-to-day technical work stays with your MSP or in-house staff.

IT strategy & roadmap

Three-year technology plan aligned to where the business is going, not where it's been.

Cybersecurity & risk

Risk register, security posture assessment, incident response readiness, cyber insurance alignment.

Vendor management

Contract review, renewal negotiation, MSP performance, consolidation opportunities.

Cloud & M365 architecture

Microsoft 365, Azure, infrastructure decisions, identity strategy, Conditional Access design.

Budget & forecasting

IT capital and operating budgets, project ROI, refresh cycles, license optimization.

AI & automation

Microsoft Copilot deployment, workflow automation, practical AI strategy tied to business outcomes.

Compliance readiness

HIPAA, CMMC, SOC 2, PCI — gap analysis, remediation roadmap, audit prep.

Fractional executive presence

Board updates, quarterly business reviews, vendor escalations — at a CIO altitude.

Strategic seat above. Tactical execution below.

A vCIO complements your existing IT support — not replaces it. I sit in the strategic seat above day-to-day operations. Your support provider (or in-house staff) keeps doing what they do best.

Strategic

OKC CIO Partners

  • IT strategy & roadmap
  • Vendor selection & accountability
  • Security posture & risk register
  • Budget & capital planning
  • Compliance oversight
  • Executive-level reporting
Tactical

Your Support Provider

  • Help desk & ticketing
  • Patching & monitoring
  • Endpoint management
  • After-hours support
  • On-site dispatch
  • Routine remediation
Outcome

Your Result

  • One accountable strategic owner
  • Predictable IT spend
  • Stronger security posture
  • Less vendor herding
  • Decisions backed by experience
  • Confidence in the roadmap

Pragmatic, not dogmatic.

I standardize around modern, secure, cloud-managed platforms — Microsoft 365 and Azure for identity and productivity, Microsoft Defender and Intune for endpoint protection, Meraki or Fortinet for networking, and best-of-breed SaaS for line-of-business needs. Vendor-neutral on the details, opinionated on the architecture.

If your existing stack is working, we don't rip and replace for the sake of it. If your stack is fighting you, we'll lay out the case for change with numbers attached.

Built for the businesses Oklahoma quietly runs on.

10–75 employee organizations that have outgrown reactive IT but aren't large enough to justify a full-time IT Director. Typically $5M–$50M in revenue.

Strongest fit is with industries where uptime, compliance, and operational risk all matter — but technology decisions still get made in a hallway conversation.

Energy services
Oil & gas, field operations, energy tech
Construction
GCs, specialty trades, project management
Manufacturing
Industrial, production, distribution
Healthcare
Medical practices, clinics, HIPAA-aware
Professional services
Law, accounting, engineering firms
Defense supply chain
CMMC-bound Tinker AFB suppliers

Twenty-eight years of doing this — most of it as the one in the room making the call.

I'm Grey Lawson. I've spent the last 24 years as an IT Director running complex, multi-site enterprise environments. Before that, four years in the infrastructure trenches — switches, servers, datacenters.

I started OKC CIO Partners because I kept seeing the same gap in the Oklahoma City market: small and mid-sized businesses that desperately need executive-level technology direction, but the only options are either a $200K+ full-time hire or an MSP who'll happily sell more services they don't need.

I work with one or two clients at a time, deeply. Not a roster of fifty. If we're a fit, you get a real fractional executive — not a quarterly check-in template.

28
Years in enterprise IT
24
Years as IT Director
OKC
Based + served

A simple, low-friction way to start.

From first conversation to ongoing engagement — clear stages, no surprises.

1

Free assessment

60–90 minute conversation. We talk about your business, your tech today, and what's slowing you down. No deck, no sales pitch.

2

Findings & roadmap

A written summary within five business days. Risks I'd act on, quick wins, and what a 12-month roadmap would look like.

3

Engage

Monthly retainer or project-based. Flexible engagement, no auto-renewing contract, scope adjusts as the business changes.

4

Quarterly review

Every 90 days we look at progress against the roadmap, recalibrate priorities, and report up to leadership.

Let's talk about your business.

Tell me a bit about where you are and what you're solving for. I'll respond within one business day.

Service area
Oklahoma City Metro
Edmond · Guthrie · Moore · Norman · Midwest City
Hours
Mon – Sat · 8:00 AM – 6:00 PM CT