Tom Trounce

Fractional COO, Chief of Staff

I am a senior executive with 25 years’ experience spanning AI strategy, strategic partnerships, operations, and customer experience across global retail, analytics, and frontier technology. Chief Practices Officer at Fractal, building the OpenAI and Anthropic partnerships from zero when frontier AI was a leap into the unknown; previously head of operations of a 400-person firm through acquisition and post-merger integration. I am at my best building support with boards or trustees, resolving ambiguity, known for translating complex ideas into organisational momentum. I have always been a problem solver, which I love because it has always taken me into new industries, while relying on the skills and knowledge I have gained over my whole career. I love to learn from subject matter experts and empower them to do their best work, resulting in supportive, accountable teams. We are living through a period of profound change in what we build for our collective future and the values we promote in the way we show up at work. I am now focused only on those projects which leave real positive, sustainable benefit for our world.

Key Highlights

Chief Operating Officer leading the integration of a 400-person firm with a distinct identity into a 4,500-person global organisation. Accountable for retaining client business and stabilisation throughout a complex multi-geography programme.
Chief Practice Officer, Head of Partnerships for OpenAI and Anthropic developed a market leading position and new operating model in an ambiguous AI landscape at a large and respected technology services organisation
Secured investment from boards across portfolio companies to accelerate mutual growth through shared value and shared responsibility partnership agreements
Established the deployment success pattern for Agentic Systems in highly regulated, high-risk industries such as Healthcare and Financial Services, ensuring Responsible AI principles.
Owned and scaled Customer Experience and Digital Marketing strategy at a $9BN pharmacy and $2BN retailer, driving new customer acquisition, brand amplification and content throughout all commerce and care touchpoints
Built a non-profit community business and a humanitarian supply chain in conflict zones and safe passage of refuge seekers

A few WAYS TO ENGAGE...

01

Customer, guest and donor marketing

As a fractional Head of Marketing, I have built the martech stack, the teams, the content and process to achieve 12% growth on $100m+ budgets. I will:

Launch product and brand
Resolve underperformance in marketing teams
Implement martech for better RAOS and CX

STRATEGY · CRM · BRAND · CONTENT · DIGITAL

02

AI Transformation

In organizations transitioning to a core AI offering or using AI to extend and grow their capability , I

Build teams, capacity and strategy
Sense check if and where AI makes sense
Build a framework for measuring and managing impact

GOVERNANCE · ADOPTION · PRODUCT

03

Strategic Partnership Executive

Organizations looking to fill in gaps, extend their capabilities or grow rapidly often need partnerships. Success relies upon the details, where I

Develop shared commitments and governance
Work with teams to gain commitment and best practice
Develop market positioning, GTM and execution roadmaps

COMMERCIAL · FP&A · KPI-FOCUSED LEADERSHIP · MERGERS

Uniquely DIFFERENT

Partnership Activation

Active relationships with both OpenAI and Anthropic. The insights transfer directly to your organisation.

Marketing P&L + AI Strategy

Owned $60M to $80M marketing budgets while defining AI strategy, a unique combination of responsibility

COO + AI Operations

COO discipline combined with AI operations, together. AI is only successful when designed around operational adoption

Values Credibility

Built a medicine supply chain for doctors in Ukraine during the first months of 2022 invasion. Built a non-profit arts foundations in 2025. Real, values driven action.

humankindx.org →

HOW THE ENGAGEMENT WORKS

Fractional engagements run from 15 to 50 hours per month.

Embedded in your team rather than sitting outside it. Scope and structure are agreed at the outset and reviewed regularly. Most engagements begin at $15k per month. Flex up for critical sprints, flex down between them.

FROM THE JOURNAL

C-suite depth and experience, sized for transition moments or time-boxed scope.

Emerging businesses, non-profits and PBOs frequently need the judgment of a C-suite executive for a limited body of work that does not require a full-time hire to run it.

The work is constant, but the hours are not full-time. A $20M to $100M business genuinely needs COO judgment, but a full-time hire is over-provisioned.
Some work genuinely has an arc. AI transformations, integrations, pre-acquisition and merger preparation, expanding commercial partnerships. Fractional fits work that has a beginning and an end without forcing a permanent reshape of the org chart.
Speed to seat. A permanent search is six to nine months. A fractional exec is in seat in two weeks.

Read the full piece →

Organisations we have worked with.

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Culture Rising has been instrumental in helping our startup define its core values and aspiring culture from the start by leveraging their expertise and knowledge around the importance of getting the right value-system and culture in place to drive positive and lasting results. By assessing direct feedback from our company team members and setting up a structure for measuring leadership’s ability to deliver on our values, Culture Rising has become a key partner in Sifter’s future.

Andrew Parkinson
Managing Partner, Sifter SP, Inc.

NEXT STEP

A 20-minute conversation is enough to know.

No pitch, no deck. An honest conversation about where you are and whether this is the right kind of help. If it is not, you will hear that too.