Michael Boanta
About
Hi, I'm Michael Boanta.
I'm a Fractional CIO and COO for mid-market SMBs — the kind of companies doing $10M to $100M in revenue, where the business has outgrown its systems, its processes, or both.
I help leadership teams get honest about what's broken, build a plan to fix it, and then actually execute it. Discovery, roadmap, hands-on oversight. No theater, no template decks. Just a senior pair of hands accountable for the outcome.
Background
I started inside operations — running the kind of messy, fast-growing businesses that taught me what systems actually have to do for a living. Spreadsheets, late nights, and the slow realization that the technology you pick is what your team lives with for a decade.
From there I moved into enterprise IT leadership. I've served as VP of IT at Lehman Brothers during their mortgage acquisition consolidation, Enterprise Architect and Program Manager at H&R Block / Option One Mortgage, VP of IT at Nationstar Mortgage, and SVP of IT Planning at Finance of America — a Blackstone portfolio company. Along the way I've also led global programs at HP and built managed services infrastructure for lending companies across the country.
In 2006 I founded Boanta & Associates — a California-based technology consulting and managed services firm that grew to $4.5M in annual revenue before the 2008 financial crisis took down most of its clients with it. I rebuilt from there.
Today I work as a Fractional CIO and COO — bringing enterprise-grade thinking to growing SMBs that can't afford a full-time senior leader but need one.
At a glance
Experience
25+ years across IT leadership, operations, and digital transformation
Certifications
PMP (PMI #66602), MCSE, MCT, ITIL, Citrix CCA
Industries
Financial services, lending, manufacturing, distribution, automotive, professional services
How I work
Direct, not diplomatic
You're paying me for a clear point of view, not a hedge. If something isn't working, I'll say so — and tell you what to do about it.
Outcomes over outputs
A 60-page deliverable that doesn't move a number is a failure. Every engagement is measured against the business outcome we agreed on at the start.
Simple beats clever
The right answer is usually the boring one your team can actually run. I build for adoption, not for the slide.
When I'm not working
You'll find me on a tennis court, on my motorcycle, biking along the coast, or walking the beach in Clearwater. I'm unusually handy for someone who spends most of his time in boardrooms — I can fix most mechanical and electrical things, and I have the tools to prove it.
I'm social by nature. I gather with neighbors and friends, attend church, and travel regularly to be with family. The best business relationships I've built started as human ones first. That's not an accident.
