Fractional CFO/Interim CFO/Finance and operations projects

Turn strategy into operating results.

I step into growth-stage companies as a fractional or interim CFO and build the financial clarity, forecasting discipline, and operating rhythm a business needs to scale—or to get through a gap without losing ground.

Craig B. DeLano
Based in Austin. On-site across Texas, remote nationally.
30+Years leading finance and operations
$9M → $35MRevenue growth in two years, most recently as CFO
CFO, COO, CIOCross-functional perspective
CPA, BSIEFinance meets operations
Growth gets expensive when strategy, finance, and operations run on separate tracks. The answer is a management system that connects decisions to execution.

Three ways to bring in a CFO.

Most companies need finance leadership before they can justify a full-time hire, or need it faster than a search can deliver. These are the shapes that work.

Fractional CFO

Ongoing, two to four days a month

For companies that have outgrown a controller but can’t yet justify a full-time CFO. Board and lender reporting, forecasting, pricing and margin discipline, cash management, and an operating cadence that actually holds between meetings.

Interim CFO

Full-time, three to nine months

For a departure, a leave, a transaction, or a stretch that needs more capacity than the team has. I run the function, stabilize the close and the forecast, and hand the permanent hire a working system instead of a backlog.

Project work

Scoped and finite

First-audit readiness. Rebuilding a forecast model people trust. Standing up reporting on a new ERP. Product, customer, and channel profitability. Inventory and supply chain economics. Diligence support on either side of a deal. Post-close integration.

Every engagement starts the same way: a few weeks understanding the business and the numbers before recommending anything.

You’ll know if this is you.

  • Your CFO or controller left, and the board still expects a monthly package.
  • The forecast changes every time someone rebuilds it, and nobody fully trusts the number.
  • You raised, borrowed, or took on a sponsor, and reporting expectations went up overnight.
  • You’re heading into a first audit, and the books weren’t kept with one in mind.
  • Revenue is growing and margin isn’t following, and no one can say precisely which products, customers, or channels are paying for themselves.
  • The close takes three weeks, so decisions get made on stale numbers.
  • You put in a new system and it still hasn’t produced better information.
  • You’re preparing to sell and want the financials to hold up under diligence.

If two or three of those land, that’s usually a conversation worth having.

Clarity at the top. Discipline in the work.

I bring the perspective of an operator and the structure of a consultant, working from the enterprise agenda down to the data, processes, decisions, and execution that make it real.

Management systems

Translate strategy into measurable plans, operating rhythms, forecasts, dashboards, and clear accountability.

Profitability and scale

Build the cost, pricing, margin, and planning disciplines that let high-growth companies scale with control.

Transformation

Align organization, process, data, and technology around the few changes that materially improve performance.

Execution

Bring urgency, analytical rigor, and pragmatic execution to turnarounds, integrations, and complex transitions.

Evidence over adjectives.

A few examples from a career spent helping organizations improve service, profitability, and execution.

$9M → $35M

Revenue growth

Built the financial and operating infrastructure behind nearly 4x growth in two years, as CFO of a venture-backed company.

$40M

Recurring savings

Led a finance transformation from executive vision through CEO and board approval.

43%

Less inventory

Improved service fill rates from 92% to 97% while substantially reducing finished-goods investment.

50%

Faster planning cycle

Redesigned global planning and budgeting with better quality, ownership, and decision support.

Strategy through execution.

Leadership and advisory work across start-ups, middle-market businesses, global enterprises, and complex restructuring situations.

Executive leadership

CFO, COO, and CIO roles with Emerald Cloud Lab (venture-backed), Zero Foxtrot (private-equity owned), Screen Innovations, State Industrial Products, and Columbus Components Group, across growth, transformation, and turnaround environments.

Principia21

Co-founder and managing director of an operations strategy and performance improvement firm, serving clients in life science, healthcare, services, industrial, consumer products, and technology.

Dell / Perot Systems

Executive Director, Strategy and Planning. Global leader, Business Design and Operations Effectiveness consulting practice.

Oliver Wyman

Partner in the Supply Chain practice of a premier global strategy consultancy.

Arthur Andersen / Accenture

Progressed from staff to Associate Partner, with assignments across the U.S., Asia, and Europe.

Have a consequential problem to solve?

I’m most useful where growth, economics, and execution intersect, and where a practical path forward matters more than another presentation.