Founder and Principal, Intology
Richard Keenlyside
Richard Keenlyside is the founder of Intology, an independent UK consultancy established in 2011, and a board-level technology executive with 34 years' experience as a CIO, CTO, CISO, Transformation Director and Programme Director. He leads Intology's fractional and interim technology leadership and technology due diligence work.
He works with UK boards, private equity sponsors and their portfolio companies, and mid-market businesses, stepping into complex situations, setting a defensible plan and leading it through to a measurable outcome.
- 34 years
- board-level technology leadership
- 36 countries
- programme, integration and carve-out work
- £1bn+
- cumulative transformation, ERP, cloud and integration programme value
- £1.7bn
- enterprise value of the largest private equity transaction he has led technology diligence on
Career
Richard's career has run from the engine room to the boardroom. He started in hands-on technical engineering, moved through enterprise architecture, and held substantive CIO, CTO, Transformation Director and Programme Director roles in global retail, FMCG, manufacturing and private equity backed businesses, including IT Director at J Sainsbury PLC.
He has served on executive committees, reported to chief executives, sat opposite private equity sponsors, and led multi-year transformation programmes of more than £100m from the board through to the delivery floor.
He founded Intology in 2011. Intology has since delivered more than 100 programmes for over 50 clients.
What he leads at Intology
Richard leads Intology's engagements where one accountable, board-level technology executive is the answer:
- Fractional and interim CIO: senior technology leadership one to three days a week, or full-time for a fixed term
- Technology due diligence: independent, buy-side and sell-side, for private equity sponsors and corporate acquirers
- Technology red-flag review: a fixed-fee read on a target before capital is committed
- IT strategy and programme leadership for boards that need a plan they can fund and someone accountable for delivering it
Every engagement follows the Embedded Change Model: senior people inside the delivery line, accountable for outcomes, with capability transferred and a designed exit.
Board and advisory roles
Richard is a member of the Endava Technology Advisory Council.
He takes on a small number of non-executive and advisory board roles each year where the brief is technology, AI, cyber security, M&A integration or transformation oversight at board level, typically one to two days a month with a clear remit and a defined term.
How he works
Three principles run through every engagement.
Pragmatism
Solutions sized to the organisation, its maturity and its commercial reality. The right answer is the one the business can absorb.
Transparency
Plain English from the server room to the boardroom. Risks, trade-offs and assumptions on the table early, in writing.
Capability
Internal teams that outlast the engagement. The objective is a business that is stronger and less dependent, not more.
Frequently asked questions
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