Executive security leadership, when you need it.
Interim CISO coverage, board advisory, and senior security counsel for organizations in financial services, healthcare, legal, and technology – delivered by founders who have built, scaled, and sold security businesses.
Three moments where senior security leadership matters – fast.
Our work tends to start at one of these inflection points. If you recognize yours, the conversation moves quickly.
Your security leader just left.
The CISO, Head of Security, or VP of Security has departed. The audit cycle, the board reporting commitment, the insurance renewal questionnaire, the customer security review – none of it pauses. We provide interim coverage so the program holds while you take the time to find the right permanent hire.
A permanent search is in flight.
The role is posted. The search firm is engaged. A senior hire of this kind typically takes six to nine months. We bridge the gap – running the program, owning board reporting, and handing over cleanly when your permanent leader joins.
An audit, renewal, or board ask exceeds capacity.
A failed cyber insurance questionnaire. A board demanding a security maturity plan. An audit finding that needs a credible response. A post-incident review requiring senior accountability. We step in on a defined scope, deliver, and exit.
Senior security leadership, on the shape your business needs.
Patchly Advisory is delivered directly by the co-founders of Patchly AI Corp. We work primarily with Microsoft-heavy environments – Microsoft 365, Intune, Defender, Entra – where our operational depth turns advice into action. The shape of the engagement adapts to the trigger; the seniority of the work does not.
Board reporting and risk articulation. Security strategy and roadmap. Cyber insurance renewal preparation. Vendor and M&A diligence. Regulatory exposure assessment for SOC 2, HIPAA, GLBA, and state-level data protection regimes. The work senior leadership expects from a CISO without needing them in the building five days a week.
Program ownership during transitions. Audit and questionnaire response. Incident response leadership. Tabletop exercises with executive teams and boards. Policy framework reviews. The day-to-day governance that keeps the program credible to insurers, customers, and regulators.
When the situation calls for it, we drive remediation directly – coordinating with internal IT, MSPs, and tooling vendors to close specific exposures. Patch and vulnerability management is the operational core of Patchly’s product, and the advisory practice can hand off into that capability when the scope justifies it.
Two founders. Two decades each. One advisory practice.
Andrew and Frank worked together at Ekco, the PE-backed European MSP and MSSP, before co-founding Patchly AI Corp in September 2025. Patchly Advisory is delivered personally by them – no junior staff, no body-shop layer. If you engage Patchly Advisory, you get the principals.
Andrew Howard
Executive Chairman, Co-Founder
Andrew is a security executive who has built and led managed security businesses at scale across North America and Europe. He brings the strategic, geopolitical, and operational perspective of someone who has run security at the CEO level for some of the industry’s most demanding clients.
- Former Chief Executive Officer, Kudelski Security – global managed security services provider
- Former President, Ekco – PE-backed European MSP and MSSP
- Co-Founder and CEO, Lockchain.ai – AI-powered blockchain risk management
- Twice appointed to the World Economic Forum’s Global Futures Council on Cybersecurity
- Featured by Bloomberg and NBC on AI, cybersecurity, and emerging risk
- MSP and MSSP advisory for private equity – AWH Strategy
- BS and MS in Computer Science, MBA – Georgia Institute of Technology
- Based in Atlanta, Georgia
Frank Renehan
Chief Executive Officer, Co-Founder
Frank is an operator who has built, scaled, and exited a security business. He combines the institutional rigor of a Big Four consulting career with the day-to-day reality of running a security practice through hyper-growth and acquisition. He leads Patchly’s commercial engagements and most direct client work.
- Co-Founder and Statutory Director, Kontex Security – grew the business from six to eighty staff, quintupled revenues, exited to Ekco
- Former Director of Revenue Operations, Ekco Group – the European MSP and MSSP formed from Kontex Security, Ward Solutions and Caveo Information Systems
- Six years at PwC Advisory in Dublin – financial services and regulated industries
- Deep operational expertise in Microsoft 365 security posture
- Active vCISO across financial services, legal, and healthcare
- BComm, Management Information Systems – University College Dublin
- Originally from Ireland. Based in St. Petersburg, Florida
Three engagement shapes. Always principal-led.
We size the engagement to the trigger. Most relationships start with a short diagnostic and move into a retainer if the work is durable.
Diagnostic sprint
Two weeks. We assess the current posture – anchored by a live vulnerability and patch baseline of your environment, not a paper review – prioritize the gaps, and produce a board-ready remediation plan. The output is enough to act on alone, and enough to scope a longer engagement if the work warrants it.
Monthly retainer
Two or three days a week of senior security leadership, on a rolling basis. Board reporting, program ownership, audit response, vendor and incident escalation. Typical engagements run three to six months.
Joint engagement
When the situation requires both founders – material M&A diligence, post-incident board response, high-stakes regulatory engagement – we run as a pair. Frank operationally, Andrew strategically and externally.
Industries we serve
What we don’t do
- We do not place permanent CISOs – we are not a search firm.
- We do not resell security tools.
- We do not provide staff augmentation or body-shop resourcing.
- We do not take engagements where the brand or independence of the work would be compromised.
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