CR Meyer For Mark

Construction: A 90-Day CTO Plan

Mark, here’s your new Director of IT’s first 90 days. What to fix first, where AI pays off soonest, and what the hire should own.

If the Director of IT seat can stay open another quarter, ignore this. If it can’t, the next two minutes are worth it.

What we noticed

Industrial construction since 1888, with 2,000+ skilled union tradespeople you employ yourselves and a Top 10 ENR industrial contractor ranking.

Your Director of IT posting went up on October 22, and it asks one person to run the IT staff, every office and job site, physical access, cybersecurity and disaster recovery at once.

Your own product CR Meyer self-performs every critical trade, with one team accountable from scoping to outcome, and that promise has to hold on every job site network and device the crews carry. crmeyer.com
Your data Feasibility work already draws on past projects and a wealth of related data, which is the raw material for any reporting an IT lead builds. Project lifecycle page
Your team A leadership team of licensed engineers and project sponsors, with a CFO who came from restructuring and a Vice President of Electrical running controls work. No technology leader is named. Meet the team page
Your footprint Offices across the Upper Midwest, the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, the South and the Mid-Atlantic, plus a pipe fabrication facility, all of which an IT lead has to keep connected. Locations page

Seen in your stack: HubSpot · Google Tag Manager · Google Analytics · online safety orientation · electronic access control

What your posting asks for

“Direct and oversee the daily operations of the Information Technology (IT) Department, including supervision and development of IT staff, prioritization of projects and support tickets, deployment of technology assets, monitoring of system performance, and maintenance of cybersecurity measures.”
“Ensure reliable internet connectivity and communications services across all company locations, including project sites, minimizing downtime and supporting uninterrupted business operations.”
“Manage technology systems related to physical security and facility access, including electronic access control systems, key fobs, and associated security technologies.”
“Assess organizational technology needs, identify opportunities for improvement, and provide recommendations to senior leadership regarding technology strategy, infrastructure investments, and emerging solutions.”
“Develop and maintain disaster recovery, business continuity, and system backup strategies to protect company data and minimize operational disruptions.”
“Manage relationships with technology vendors, service providers, and consultants, including contract administration, performance monitoring, and cost controls.”

From your Director of IT posting, posted October 22, 2026.

What changes for your new Director of IT

Your new Director of IT starts with a plan: what to fix first across the offices and job sites, where AI saves your project teams time soonest, and a clear line between what they own and what a fractional lead can carry while they settle in.

Your new Director of IT’s first 90 days

Three phases, each item with the reason it’s there and where that came from.

Days 1 to 30

Learn the offices and the job sites

1
Inventory every device, server, phone system and copier
Your posting puts all of it under one owner. Nothing can be planned or replaced until the list exists.
Source: Director of IT posting
2
Map connectivity at each office and the job sites
Project sites are named in the posting, and a site that loses connection stops the crew that is waiting on drawings and safety paperwork.
Source: Director of IT posting
3
Rank the open support tickets and list the recurring ones
Prioritizing projects and tickets is the first duty in the posting. The repeat tickets show where to fix the cause.
Source: Director of IT posting
4
Check what is actually backed up and test one restore
Your posting asks for disaster recovery and backup strategy. A tested restore turns the plan into fact.
Source: Director of IT posting

Days 31 to 60

Secure and standardize

5
Review who has access to which door, system and key fob
Physical access and cybersecurity sit in the same job. One access list covers both.
Source: Director of IT posting
6
Set one hardware standard and one refresh cycle
A standard device and a replacement schedule cut the support load across offices and sites.
Source: Director of IT posting
7
Audit software licenses and who administers them
The posting asks for licensing and user administration of every application, and unused licenses are the quickest cost to recover.
Source: Director of IT posting
8
Run an incident drill for a site outage
Your posting expects after-hours response, so the first real incident should not be the first test.
Source: Director of IT posting

Days 61 to 90

Write the technology plan

9
Write the technology strategy for senior leadership
The posting asks for recommendations on strategy, infrastructure investments and emerging solutions. This is that document, with a cost and an order.
Source: Director of IT posting
10
Review every vendor contract against what you get
Contract administration, performance and cost controls are named duties, and renewals are the cheapest time to renegotiate.
Source: Director of IT posting
11
Decide what the IT team looks like next year
The posting includes supervising and developing IT staff, so the plan has to say who is hired, trained or contracted.
Source: Director of IT posting

Where AI pays off soonest

Workflows from your own business, in the order they save your team time.

1 Safety paperwork and orientation answered on the phone
You run an online safety orientation and keep safety data sheets searchable. An assistant on those documents answers a crew member’s question on site instead of waiting for the office.
Source: Safety page
2 Pre-project planning documents drafted from past projects
Hazard assessments and permit plans repeat across facilities. Drafts from your own past plans cut the hours before your engineers review.
Source: Working in active facilities page
3 Feasibility estimates started from your own project history
Your feasibility studies already lean on past experience and related data. An assistant on that history proposes a first scope and budget range before a person builds one.
Source: Project lifecycle page
4 IT ticket triage and first answers
The posting’s first duty is prioritizing support tickets. A first pass that routes and answers the routine ones leaves the IT staff the hard ones.
Source: Director of IT posting

What the hire owns, and what a fractional lead covers

Your Director of IT owns

The IT staff, the help desk and the support queue
Hardware, software and licenses across every office and site
Cybersecurity, access control and disaster recovery
Vendors, contracts and the IT budget
The relationship with senior leadership on technology priorities

A fractional lead covers

Where AI pays off in estimating, safety and project documents, and what gets built first
The technology roadmap and the order of investments
Data, security and vendor choices for any new tools
This 90-day plan, run alongside the hire until it’s theirs

Your first 90 days of tech leadership, planned

The plan above is yours either way.

Email Kash

We build a handful of these a month, for founders hiring now.

90 days

from the first day to a written roadmap

What to fix first, with the reason
Where AI pays off soonest
What the hire owns and what a fractional lead covers
A roadmap your team can run

Who’s building it

Kash Badami was Chief Architect of a national health information network and closed the CMS deal behind Healthcare.gov’s data infrastructure. He runs his own company on AI today.

Chief Architectof a national health information network for HHS, aligning 23 federal agencies

$27MCMS deal that became core Healthcare.gov data infrastructure

“he was singularly responsible for the company’s single largest customer by revenue - the Center for Medicare & Medicaid within the US Department of Health and Human Services.”

RLRobert Liebowitz, worked with Kash on MarkLogic’s Public Sector team; now First Ascent VenturesLinkedIn recommendation, April 2026
“Kash and I built ERT Credit together in 2021. He took my MVP and turned it into a SaaS that hit $10M ARR in twelve months.”

Jordan Anderson, CEO, PayStreetgobridgehead.ai/about

CR Meyer sales playbook, in brief

CR Meyer is an industrial contractor in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, in business since 1888, with 2,000+ skilled union tradespeople employed directly.crmeyer.com, About CR Meyer

Its Director of IT posting asks one leader to run the IT staff, hardware, software, connectivity across job sites, physical access, cybersecurity and disaster recovery.Director of IT posting

The first 90 days: inventory what exists, map connectivity at every site, test a restore, secure access, then write the technology strategy for senior leadership.Director of IT posting

AI pays off soonest in safety questions answered on site, pre-project planning drafts, first-pass estimates from past projects and IT ticket triage.Safety page, Working in active facilities page, Project lifecycle page, Director of IT posting

Prepared by Kash Badami at Bridgehead · November 9, 2026 · Every source

Questions

Why a fractional lead instead of waiting for the full-time Director of IT?

You don’t have to choose. The hire owns the product and the team; a fractional lead covers the AI and software side and runs this plan until it’s theirs, so nothing waits on the search.

What does it cost?

The first engagement is a fixed price, quoted on a call once we’ve seen what you need. After that there’s an optional monthly retainer, and you can stop at any point.

Will it get in the way of the Director of IT we hire?

No. The line between what they own and what a fractional lead covers is on this page, and the plan is handed to them to run.

Where does our data live, and is it secure?

In your own accounts. Nothing runs on our side, and every tool or vendor we suggest is reviewed with you before anyone connects it.

Is this only about AI?

No. AI is one part. Most of the first 90 days is the work your posting describes, and the AI items are the ones that save your team time soonest.