Executive Advisory / Fractional Executives / Virtual Chief AI Officer
The executive who ownsAI strategy, governanceand return, without thepermanent C-suite hire.
A Virtual Chief AI Officer (vCAIO) provides accountable leadership across AI strategy, governance, risk, security and executive reporting, without requiring a permanent C-suite appointment.
A senior executive, appointed on a fractional basis, who owns your AI strategy, governance, risk, security and board reporting.
02
Who it's for
Organisations with AI in use and nobody accountable for it. Typically 200 to 5,000 people, or any regulated or government entity.
03
What it costs
Register to see indicative fees. A fixed monthly fee, confirmed in writing after scoping, instead of a permanent C-suite salary.
04
How it starts
The 90-Day AI Leadership Gate, with outcomes agreed in writing before we begin.
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How you stop
At day 90 you continue, change scope, or stop. No exit fee, no notice period on that decision.
06
Why us
We govern AI and secure it, and we provide a vCISO alongside the vCAIO. Led by the author of The CISO's AI Firewall.
Your board approved the investment.Did anyone set the governance expectation?
StuckThe pilots stall
Pilots produce demos but not the business value that justified them, and nobody owns the decision to scale them or stop them.
VetoThe CFO stops believing
AI projects get approved on ROI projections that nobody measures after launch. Finance stops sponsoring and starts saying no.
DriftThe board approved, then moved on
The board approves major AI investment and moves on. Governance expectations go unset, and AI risk never reaches a standing agenda.
69%Staff are already using it
Organisations that suspect or have evidence of staff using prohibited public GenAI tools. If nobody owns AI, nobody knows which tools those are or what data they touch.
Source: Gartner survey of 302 cybersecurity leaders, March to May 2025.
AI doesn't need another project manager. It needs an accountable executive.
Cybersecurity Link provides fractional AI leadership across strategy, governance, risk, security and board reporting, connecting AI ambition to accountable execution.
Definition / 06
What a Virtual Chief AI Officer actually is
A Virtual Chief AI Officer (vCAIO) is a senior executive appointed on a fractional basis to provide accountable leadership across AI strategy, governance, risk, security and board reporting, with the authority to decide what gets built, what gets stopped and what gets governed. The role complements your existing leadership team without a permanent C-suite appointment. Unlike a consultant, a vCAIO holds the accountability rather than advising on it.
And what it isn't
01
Not a consultant.
A consultant advises. A vCAIO accepts executive accountability for the AI agenda, drives decisions and reports to leadership and the board.
02
Not your CTO's second job.
Giving AI accountability to your CTO dilutes their focus and still leaves the specialist gap. They should be your closest partner, not your AI owner.
03
Not an implementation partner.
We don't fine-tune models, write pipelines or configure your data platform. We decide what gets built and hold whoever builds it to standard.
04
Not a governance platform.
Software produces a dashboard. A dashboard cannot chair your AI forum or answer for a decision.
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Not an AI vendor.
We sell no models and resell no third-party licences or seats. Our own platform, AISF, is never a condition of an engagement and never a finding in our own assessments.
Accountability / 07
What your vCAIO owns
This role sits alongside your CIO, CTO and CISO, not above them. If you already have a security or technology leader, this is the person who takes AI off their plate and gives them back their day job. If they would rather keep AI and want executive backup instead, that works too. We'll say which we think fits on the call.
Standing mandate
The AI strategy, roadmap and governance model, re-cut as the market moves
Which use cases get funded, and which get stopped
Your AI governance forum: chaired, minuted, decisions recorded
The AI inventory: what you're running, who owns it, what it touches
Model, vendor and third-party AI risk, including the AI inside software you already bought
AI security controls: tested, not assumed
Board and executive reporting on progress and return
Regulatory position across the frameworks that apply to you
Evidence artefact
AI inventory & risk register
Governance framework & policy set
Prioritised use-case roadmap with ROI model
Board reporting pack
Conformity and readiness evidence
Two costs your CFO will weigh
Qualitative comparison
01 // THE HIRE
Full-time compensationC-suite level
Paid in full, whatever the workload.
Benefits, equity, feesExtra
Time to hireMany months
02 // THE STATUS QUO
AI pilots with nobody to scale or stop themStuck
Hidden AI spend?
AI cost sits in seat licences, usage fees and features inside software you already bought. Until someone counts it, nobody knows the total.
A permanent Chief AI Officer means a full-time salary and a new standing function. We give you senior ownership from day one, and a governance system your team ends up running.
Comparison is qualitative. Your fee is confirmed in writing after scoping.
What this costs, and how you stop
Engagement fees are scoped according to organisational size, regulatory exposure, mandate and reporting requirements.
Establish
Register to see indicative feesFixed monthly fee
Your named executive, the AI inventory, governance framework and first board report.
Every engagement runs to the 90-Day AI Leadership Gate, with outcomes agreed in writing before we start. At day 90 you decide: continue, change scope, or stop.
We do this because many organisations reading this have already funded AI work that didn't deliver. You shouldn't have to take our word for it either.
Day 1Outcomes agreed
Day 90Decision
At day 90
Continue
Change scope
Stop
No notice periodNo exit feeNo argument
The five ways organisations try to solve this
Select a column to compare it with us.
The question you'd ask
Full-time CAIO
Give it to your CTO
AI consultancy
Governance platform
Cybersecurity Link
Time to start
Months
Immediate
Weeks
Days
Days
Owns the outcome
Yes
In addition to their day job
No, advises
No, reports
Yes, named
Cost
Full salary
Hidden: their focus
Project fees
Licence + services
Fixed fee, shared on registration
Can secure the AI, not just govern it
Depends on the hire
Rarely
Rarely
No
Yes, both
Independent of AI vendors
Yes
Yes
Often partnered
Is the vendor
Yes, contractually
Builds your internal capability
Yes
No
Rarely
No
Yes, that's graduation
Hands-on model and pipeline work
Yes
Yes
Yes
N/A
No: we direct, others build
We put the last row in ourselves. A vCAIO decides what gets built and holds it to standard. The building is a separate job, and we'll tell you who should do it.
11 // ENGAGEMENT MODELS
Three engagement models
Each solves a different problem. The tier describes your situation, not the quality of the service. You can move between tiers as your AI exposure and internal capability change.
EstablishMost common
Closest fit so far
“We have AI everywhere and nobody owns it.”
You may be here if: tick what applies
What's included:
AI inventory across the business, including third-party and embedded AI
Governance framework and policy set
Prioritised use-case roadmap with an ROI model
First board report
Not included: model development, platform engineering, certification audit
Not sure which one fits? We'll help you work out which engagement suits your situation. If the honest answer is a full-time hire, we'll tell you that too.
Not a capability statement. A named person. Your proposal names your executive before you sign anything.
Founder & PrincipalSteve Sharma
IRAPCISSPCREST
18+ years across four major banks, defence and government. Author, The CISO's AI Firewall.
Cybersecurity DirectorManju Sharma
CISMISO 27001Risk
15+ years leading enterprise risk, governance and compliance programmes across government and regulated sectors.
HR & Admin DirectorSanjeev Kumar
PeopleOperationsCompliance
15+ years overseeing strategic talent management, workforce operations and administrative governance for technology enterprises.
COO India OperationsParas Sharma
OperationsDeliveryAgile
12+ years driving offshore service delivery, operational scaling and cross-border security engineering operations.
Cybersecurity DirectorMansee Sharma
ISO 42001NIST AICloud
Specialist in emerging tech security, AI governance frameworks and cloud security architecture for modern enterprise environments.
Every engagement is assigned a named senior executive before the engagement begins. Where additional specialists are required, they are identified in the proposal and subject to client approval.See leadership and credentials
13 // THE CASE
Why an AI executive should come from security
Because AI governance is a management-system discipline, the EU AI Act sets cybersecurity requirements for high-risk systems, and unapproved AI use is a security exposure as well as a governance gap. Three answers you can check yourself.
0101
ISO/IEC 42001 is an AI management system standard.
ISO/IEC 42001 shares its management-system structure with ISO/IEC 27001: leadership, internal audit, management review and corrective action. Our founder is an ISO/IEC 27001 Lead Auditor.
ISO/IEC 42001:2023 · ISO/IEC 27001:20220202
The EU AI Act requires cybersecurity for high-risk AI systems.
Article 15 sets accuracy and cybersecurity requirements for high-risk AI systems. Where it applies to your system and role, meeting it takes security testing, not policy alone.
EU AI Act · Art. 150303
Unapproved AI use is a security and governance problem.
A substantial proportion of executives report concerns about data exposure through unapproved AI use. Shared agent packages have performed data exfiltration and prompt injection without users noticing. Shadow AI is a governance problem and a security incident. Firms that only write policy find out about the second one late.
Governing AI without being able to secure it is half an answer. We do both, and we codified the approach in The CISO's AI Firewall: a practical executive framework for securing, governing and deploying enterprise AI. The method behind our AI leadership:
We call it the 90-Day AI Leadership Gate. The first 90 days establish the initial operating position, with outcomes agreed in writing before we begin. It's the part you can hold us to first.
1
Map
2
Govern
3
Prioritise
4
Prove
5
Assure
01
Map: AI inventory + risk position
By day 30
02
Govern: operating model + controls
By day 60
03
Prove, then decide
By day 90
How the gate actually works
Before we start, we agree the 90-day outcomes in writing: specific, dated and measurable. They go in the engagement letter, not a slide.
At day 90 we present against them. Not a status update: a scorecard against what we said.
You continue, change scope, or stop. If you stop, there's no notice period on that decision and no exit fee. We hand over everything we've built.
What we need from you
Access to systems, policies and people using AI, a sponsor who can unblock decisions, and a few hours each month for interviews and review. We write every required document.
And what happens after 90 days
Governance moves from establishment to operation and assurance as your team takes over. We stay only at the level you still need. The intended outcome is that you graduate to a lower tier.
15 // FRAMEWORKS
Which framework should you actually start with?
They do different jobs: values, risk management, a management system, legal obligation and technical security. Here's how they fit together.
OECD AI PrinciplesValues. Principles, not an operating model.
NIST AI RMFRisk management. Voluntary, under revision: Govern · Map · Measure · Manage.
ISO/IEC 42001Management system. Certifiable, and what you show customers and auditors.
EU AI Act / local lawLegal obligations, where they apply to you.
Technical securityOWASP LLM Top 10, security architecture, testing.
If you already operate an ISO 27001 management system, existing governance, documentation and improvement processes may provide a strong foundation for ISO/IEC 42001. If your exposure is mostly US, start with NIST AI RMF. Where the EU AI Act applies, its obligations set your floor wherever you start.
Standards and obligations we work with
ISO
ISO/IEC 42001INTL
AI management system
NIST
NIST AI RMFUS
Voluntary framework
OWASP
OWASP LLM Top 10INTL
LLM security resource
EU
EU AI ActEU
Role-based obligations
AU
AU Voluntary AI Safety StandardAU
National guidance
SG
Singapore Model AI GovernanceSG
Risk-proportional oversight
SR
SR 26-2 model riskUS BANKING
Supervisory model governance
IN
DPDPIN
Data protection obligations
What your auditor or regulator actually receives
AI system inventory with named owners per system
Risk assessments mapped to the applicable framework's control set
Governance forum minutes and decision records
Policy set with version history and review dates
Control test results, including AI security testing
Conformity or readiness documentation, dated and traceable
Our engagements are covered by NDA. These success stories are anonymised by sector.
18 // EVIDENCE
The evidence
Success stories are anonymised by sector and covered by NDA. Each is published only with client permission.
Story Index
01
Story 01Financial services
From unmanaged AI tools to a governed portfolio, with named owners.
Staff had adopted AI across the business with no inventory, no policy and no record of what customer data was involved. We built the inventory, established governance and named ownership, and gave the board a complete picture for the first time. Some tools were retired, others re-scoped, and the rest now run under documented ownership.
🚩[Client quote to supply, with written permission]
🚩[Name]🚩[Role], [Organisation]
“🚩 Approval pending
🚩[Second client quote, with written permission]
🚩[Name]🚩[Role], [Organisation]
04
Steve's credentials
ASD-endorsed IRAP AssessorCISSPCISM
19 // TERMS
The commercial terms, up front
01
The 90-day milestone is the initial commitment. After that there's no minimum term and no annual lock-in.
02
Stated in the engagement letter, not buried in it. The same notice applies to us. At the day-90 gate, no notice is required at all.
03
Everything we build is yours: the inventory, the framework, the policy set and the evidence. If you hire a permanent Chief AI Officer, we brief them and help you interview.
04
Named executives in the proposal, a fixed monthly fee and no change orders for work inside the agreed scope. Where additional delivery capacity is required, we extend capability through our strategic partnership network, including our delivery partner Cyber Arista. We disclose that in writing before you sign.
20 // INDEPENDENCE
Where we draw the line
0AI products or licences sold
0AI vendor partnerships or commissions
100%of recommendations with no financial interest
We don't sell AI. No models, no platforms, no licences, no referral fees. We hold no vendor partnerships, and we'll tell you when a tool you already own is good enough.
We don't build the models. No fine-tuning, no pipeline engineering, no MLOps. We decide what gets built and hold whoever builds it to standard: your team, your integrator, or our delivery partner Cyber Arista, disclosed in writing.
We prepare you for certification. We don't certify our own work. ISO/IEC 42001 certification comes from an independent certification body. Where independence matters, assessment and advisory roles are separated.
We provide governance architecture, not legal advice. Where your obligations turn on the interpretation of a specific jurisdiction's law, we work alongside your counsel.
And governance is designed to help, not obstruct. If our framework slows your teams down, we've built it wrong and we'll fix it. Controls that get bypassed aren't controls.
Need broader enterprise security leadership? Our vCISO service provides accountable security strategy, risk, compliance and board leadership. AI risk and cyber risk are one board conversation, so we provide both executives, cross-briefed under one contract and one governance architecture.
One governance architectureAI risk and cyber risk sit under the same board conversation and the same framework.
Cross-briefed, one contractBoth executives briefed together, so the two aren't governed in separate silos.
We lead your AI agenda because AI governance and AI security are one problem. ISO/IEC 42001 uses the same management-system structure as ISO/IEC 27001. Our founder is an ISO/IEC 27001 Lead Auditor. Where the EU AI Act applies, high-risk systems must meet cybersecurity requirements.
AI has a strategy. Who owns it?
If AI is already being used across your organisation, the next question is accountability. Cybersecurity Link provides named, fractional AI executive leadership across strategy, governance, risk, security and board reporting.
A senior executive replies, usually within one business day. We'll assess whether a vCAIO is the right model, and tell you if a different approach would be better.
Tell us what's happening
For the champion
Making the case internally?
A short brief: the accountability gap, the options, what each costs, and the questions your executive team will ask. Written to be forwarded.
For the board
Sitting on the board?
Who's accountable for AI? A 🚩[N]-page briefing for boards. No technical knowledge assumed.
For the CFO
Funding this?
One page: what AI governance costs, what ungoverned AI costs, and how to measure whether it worked.
