Noah M. Kenney
Digital 520 / Principal-led consulting

Technology and AI advisory for complex organizations.

Noah M. Kenney advises boards and executive teams on AI strategy, governance, privacy, security, and technology leadership, then works with the teams responsible for implementation.

From executive strategy through implementation.

Digital 520 works directly with leadership and the people responsible for delivery. Each engagement connects executive decisions to operating ownership, technical design, controls, and evidence.

Consulting services

Three core service areas, led personally by Noah and available independently or as part of a broader transformation.

AI & Data Strategy

Decide where AI belongs in the enterprise, which opportunities warrant investment, and what must be true before deployment.

  • Executive AI roadmap
  • Use-case and investment portfolio
  • Data and model operating model
  • Board and leadership workshops
Full service details

Privacy, Security & Governance

Build controls that technical teams can implement, assurance functions can test, and leadership can defend.

  • AI governance programs
  • Risk, impact and readiness assessments
  • Policy-to-control translation
  • Incident and assurance design
Full service details

Fractional Executive Leadership

Add experienced technology leadership during a transformation, executive transition, critical build, or period of rapid growth.

  • Fractional CTO and CAIO
  • Board and executive advisory
  • Vendor and architecture decisions
  • Program recovery and transition
Full service details
Service 01

AI & Data Strategy

For executive teams deciding where to invest in AI and what operating conditions are required.

The work begins by separating genuine enterprise opportunities from novelty, vendor pressure, and scattered experimentation. Together, we create a portfolio that reflects the organization’s economics, risk tolerance, data reality, and ability to execute.

The engagement produces a defined set of decisions: which capabilities to build, buy, delay, or reject; which leaders own them; what must be true before launch; and how value will be measured after deployment.

Portfolio and roadmap

Use-case discovery, prioritization, sequencing, investment cases, capability gaps, and the multi-quarter plan.

Operating model

Decision rights, ownership, intake, evaluation, vendor governance, data readiness, and executive reporting.

Product and platform strategy

Architecture decisions, build-versus-buy analysis, model and provider selection, and deployment tradeoffs.

Executive alignment

Board education, leadership workshops, risk framing, and a common language across technical and nontechnical teams.

Typical outputExecutive roadmap and governed use-case portfolio
Often paired withGovernance program design or fractional CAIO leadership
Best fitOrganizations moving from exploration into accountable adoption
Service 02

Privacy, Security & Governance

For organizations building implementable AI, privacy, and security controls.

We translate obligations from law, policy, contracts, security standards, and internal principles into controls that can be assigned, implemented, evidenced, tested, and improved. The work spans AI governance, privacy engineering, cybersecurity oversight, third-party risk, and assurance.

Programs are designed around the systems and teams that already exist. Where a new committee, workflow, or artifact adds value, we build it. If it adds friction without strengthening accountability, we leave it out.

Governance architecture

Charters, decision rights, risk tiers, intake and approval workflows, model inventories, and escalation routes.

Readiness and impact

EU AI Act readiness, NIST AI RMF alignment, ISO/IEC 42001 preparation, PIAs, DPIAs, and algorithmic impact assessments.

Policy operationalization

Converting policy into technical requirements, owner-specific controls, evidence standards, and review cadences.

Assurance and response

Monitoring, testing, incident planning, exception handling, vendor oversight, and executive reporting.

Typical outputOperational governance program with controls and evidence model
Often paired withRisk assessment, policy rewrite, or implementation support
Best fitRegulated or high-trust organizations deploying consequential systems
Service 03

Fractional Executive Leadership

For organizations that need interim executive technology leadership during a defined transition or initiative.

Fractional roles place Noah inside the operating rhythm of the organization: leadership meetings, architecture reviews, board preparation, vendor decisions, program recovery, team development, and written accountability.

The mandate is always explicit. It may be to lead an AI program, modernize the technology function, stabilize delivery, prepare the organization for a permanent executive, or carry a complex initiative across the line.

Fractional CTO

Technology strategy, architecture, security posture, vendor decisions, team leadership, and modernization.

Fractional CAIO

AI portfolio ownership, governance, executive alignment, adoption, and value realization.

Transformation lead

Program recovery, operating-model change, platform migration, procurement, and cross-functional delivery.

Executive advisor

Direct advice to founders, boards, CIOs, legal leaders, privacy officers, and security executives.

Typical cadenceWeekly leadership presence with written decisions and work products
Typical horizonFocused mandate, retained engagement, or transition period
Best fitLeadership gaps, critical builds, growth, or high-stakes change
Consulting philosophy

How Noah works

Principal-led

No account-manager handoff. Noah remains responsible for the analysis, decisions, deliverables, and executive communication.

Evidence before recommendation

Recommendations are grounded in the systems, data, constraints, obligations, and incentives actually present.

Strategy with an owner

Every roadmap names the decision rights, operating cadence, evidence, and accountable leaders required to execute it.

Capability transferred

Teams receive the judgment, working materials, and operating model required to continue the work internally.

Client perspective

What clients say

Client testimonial
“The team has shown professionalism, consistency, versatility, development tracking and adaptability. It was probably the single best decision we made for our organization.”
“Noah and his team were great to work with. They were extremely responsive to any requests or inquiries. I would highly recommend Noah and his team!”
Client testimonial
“Noah worked some magic in about two hours on something I had worked on periodically for months.”
Client testimonial
“Noah is knowledgeable, conscientious, and very creative! He takes time to put his heart into each individualized project, and gets things done in a very timely manner. Excellence and professionalism at its finest!”
Client testimonial
“Noah and his team are knowledgeable and accessible. Easy to work with. Tremendous results.”
Client testimonial
“Noah and his team are highly efficient, knowledgeable, and responsive. They are incredible problem solvers, and have been nothing short of miracle-workers for our team.”
Client testimonial

Selected client work

Representative, anonymized examples. Client names and sensitive details remain confidential.

Governance · Regulated AI

AI governance program design

Designed the intake, risk classification, approval, inventory, and executive-reporting structure needed to move from informal AI review to an accountable operating capability.

From policy document to owned workflow.
Technology leadership · Nonprofit

CRM migration and workflow automation

Led technology governance and the migration of more than 110,000 records into a modern CRM while automating reporting and operational workflows.

Less manual work; clearer stewardship.
AI systems · Product

Real-time transcription performance

Directed the technical work behind a transcription platform, reducing inference latency from approximately three seconds to roughly one hundred milliseconds.

A product constraint turned into a competitive capability.
Engagement model

Engagement process

Discover

Assessment

Stakeholder interviews, document review, system context, constraints, and risk analysis.

Scope

Scope and outcomes

A written scope covering outcomes, decision rights, cadence, and deliverables.

Deliver

Implementation

Executive advice, implementation support, and documented work products.

Transfer

Handoff and adoption

Controls, playbooks, training, and operating ownership for the internal team.

Discuss a consulting engagement

Book a discovery call