I have spent my career on the business side of technology.
Every role I have held has followed the same pattern. I came in for technology and soon found myself involved in pricing, market entry, organizational structure, and vendor decisions. When you understand a company's data and systems, you see things the P&L does not always show — where the business is leaking, where the growth is stuck, where the next play is hiding.
That pattern is what my work is built around.
Twenty-five years in technology and operating leadership.
I built ERP software before I ever implemented one.
Nearly nine years at Epicor as Director of Software Development, owning product development strategy for enterprise application suites. That means I understand ERP platforms at the architecture level, not just the sales demo. When a vendor says something cannot be done, I can distinguish a genuine technical constraint from a commercial assumption that deserves to be challenged.
Then I ran IT for a multinational manufacturer for ten years.
Chief Information Officer at a multinational industrial manufacturer with operations across North America and Europe. Multiple subsidiaries, multiple ERP platforms, budgets from $500K to $5M+. Setting strategy, leading implementations, managing vendors, building teams, presenting to the board. I led IT through a successful 9x exit of the operating divisions. That tenure is where most of my operating instincts come from.
Then I ran a business.
Most recently I joined a beverage-sector manufacturer as Vice President of IT, moved into Chief of Staff to the CEO, and relocated to Barcelona as General Manager to stand up their European entity. Standing up the legal entity, hiring the team, leasing the facility, building out the UK and EU distribution network. I mention it because it changed how I think about technology leadership. It is not a silo. It is a business function, and the person making your technology decisions should understand the rest of the business just as well.
Independent since 2017.
Since 2017 I have maintained an independent practice built around direct, retained relationships. My longest client relationship has continued for more than eight years, scaling up and down as the company's needs have changed.
Selected engagements.
Names withheld under confidentiality agreements. Paul Fichter of Taphandles is the exception, as his testimonial identifies that engagement directly.
Eight-year advisory retainer
My longest client relationship, and the clearest evidence of how I prefer to work. IT strategy, ERP management, cybersecurity, team development and board reporting, including a full migration to a cloud-based IT environment that removed on-premise infrastructure entirely, cut annual operating cost, and enabled a remote-first model before anyone was forced into one.
It has scaled up and down as needs changed, from a couple of days a month to intensive project phases and back again. We are still working together because the work keeps earning its place.
ERP selection and negotiation
Negotiated a new ERP implementation end to end — software licensing together with the full implementation services scope. Nine years building ERP software at Epicor meant I understood how these deals are constructed and where costs could be removed without weakening the scope. Approximately $500,000 came out of the total before signature, and the scope held afterwards.
Health insurance administrator
Walked into an IT operation running twelve concurrent initiatives with no project discipline and no visibility into status or risk. Established a Project Management Office, brought structure to prioritization, and gave leadership a dashboard they could actually use to make decisions. Nine months, as Interim Head of IT.
Confectionery manufacturer
The company promoted someone from Finance into an IT director role. She was smart but had never managed vendors, led a technology project, or presented IT strategy to leadership. I mentored her through the transition, and within six months she was running the function independently. That is the work I am most proud of, because it outlasts me.
Working style.
Business first
I start by understanding your goals, your competitive pressures, and what is coming in the next twelve to twenty-four months. Every other decision follows from that. If the conversation is not anchored to where the business is headed, it is the wrong conversation.
Direct
I tell you what I think. If a vendor is overselling, you will hear it. If a timeline is unrealistic, I will say so before you find out the hard way. If this is not the right fit for your situation, I will tell you in the first conversation and save us both the time.
Present when it matters
Board preparation, operating reviews, vendor negotiations, integration meetings, and go-lives. I work remotely and come on-site for the moments that benefit from having me in the room. Clients work with me directly, so context and decisions are never handed off.
Build your people, not dependence on me
The goal from day one is to become unnecessary. If you have leaders in place, I am there to make them better. Mentoring, coaching, codifying what we build together. The engagement ends when the business does not need me any more.
How I am set up.
I work under my own name. Clients contract with Sanu Chacko as an individual, and I invoice them directly. There is no firm behind me, no staff, and no subcontracting — when you engage me, you get me.
I have deliberately kept the practice small so that every client works directly with me and receives my personal attention.
- Practice name
- Sanu Chacko
- Structure
- Independent, self-employed
- Employees
- None — the work is done by me
- Base
- Seattle, Washington, USA
The rest of it.
Home base is Seattle. I spend my time watching my daughters grow into confident young women, walking and hiking with my German Shepherd, and volunteering with the US Navy and US Coast Guard through the Seattle Council of the Navy League of the United States, supporting morale among the enlisted men and women who serve.
If this sounds relevant, get in touch.
I work with a limited number of clients and consider new relationships selectively.