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Best Fractional COO Services in Houston
Top Outsourced COO Services & Fractional Chief Operating Officers (COOs) in Houston
Houston is a city that knows how to build. From energy to healthcare, education to logistics, this city’s business backbone has always been about getting things done—often without fanfare, but always with results.
Houston’s operational ecosystem is evolving fast. More startups are scaling. More nonprofits are serving complex needs. And more founders, boards, and executive teams are finding themselves in the same situation: we need structure, but we’re not ready for (or don’t want) a full-time COO.
That’s where fractional COOs come in.
At Digital Reference, we’ve been tracking the quiet rise of this model across North America—and Houston is fast becoming a city to watch. This list is our curated spotlight on the fractional COOs making real impact in Houston right now.
Our Methodology - How We Selected the Best Interim, Outsourced, and Fractional COO Services in Houston
This list was curated using a framework aligned with Digital Reference’s values. Each professional featured:
- Is actively offering fractional, interim, or part-time COO services
- Is based in or serves organizations in Houston
- Has public-facing platforms such as websites or LinkedIn profiles for accessibility and transparency
- Has a demonstrated history of operational leadership, systems design, or executive advisory
- Aligns with Digital Reference’s focus on radical transparency, verified work, and reputation-based storytelling
These leaders span sectors—from SaaS and consulting to people ops and purpose-driven ventures. Most importantly, they bring executional clarity to complex organizations.
Meet The Best Fractional COO & Outsourced COO Services in Houston
Sina Tazehzad
Sina Tazehzad brings a founder’s perspective to operational leadership, helping companies running on EOS build scalable systems, optimize cross-functional collaboration, and improve operational visibility. Based in Houston, he specializes in real estate and construction industries.
Highlights:
🏢 EOS implementation, leadership alignment, and operational metrics
📑 Scalable systems for real estate and construction companies
💬 Fractional leadership plus business owner coaching
Sina enables founders to move from reactive operations to data-driven, accountable growth while maintaining strategic focus and positive team dynamics.
Sue Ellen Burch
Founder, Brydge Advisors
Sue Ellen Burch is a former executive leader turned fractional COO who helps founder-led and mid-sized companies scale with clarity, purpose, and structure. She brings hands-on experience from her own family business and applies it to building lean, human-centered operations.
Highlights:
🏢 Organizational structure, leadership alignment, and accountability
📑 Human-centered processes that scale
💬 Operational guidance for growth-stage companies
Sue Ellen enables leadership teams to unlock growth by implementing clear systems, aligning people with strategy, and fostering operational confidence.
Chris Beasley
Chris Beasley provides high-performance operational leadership to fast-moving organizations, helping founders move from “everything on me” to “ops-enabled growth.” Based in Houston, he specializes in SaaS, fintech, and B2B startups.
Highlights:
🏢 Strategy execution, structure, and team alignment
📑 Data- and results-driven operational improvement
💬 Scaling startups through operational clarity
Chris enables teams to translate vision into action while building sustainable processes for long-term growth.
Selle Evans
Founder, The Fractional COO
Selle Evans leads The Fractional COO, providing embedded operational leadership for mission-led businesses, minority-owned firms, and high-potential startups in Houston. Her focus is helping organizations scale without losing culture or purpose.
Highlights:
🏢 Fractional and project-based COO support
📑 Equity-aligned, sustainable growth strategies
💬 Combines strategic vision with operational execution
Selle enables organizations to implement structure and scale thoughtfully while preserving their core mission and values.
Michelle Fremuth
Founder, OrgEx Consulting
Michelle Fremuth provides fractional COO services that prioritize human-centered operations. She works with nonprofits, education-focused organizations, and small businesses across Texas to create systems that are values-aligned and executable.
Highlights:
🏢 Process mapping, change management, and system design
📑 Operations for education nonprofits and social enterprises
💬 Empathetic, calm, and strategic leadership
Michelle enables organizations to implement systems that support both people and mission, making operational change sustainable and meaningful.
Penny Garza
Founder, The Penny Magic
Penny Garza is a fractional COO and transformation partner who helps founder-led organizations move from operational chaos to structured growth. She specializes in process design, organizational restructuring, and leadership coaching.
Highlights:
🏢 Process design, org restructuring, and team coaching
📑 Operational clarity for small businesses and nonprofits
💬 Strategic thinker with hands-on execution
Penny enables leaders to implement practical systems that balance structure with creativity and drive lasting organizational change.
Aarion Smith
Aarion Smith supports education organizations, nonprofits, and early-stage startups with human-centered operational design. He combines strategy, coaching, and system implementation to help mission-driven organizations thrive.
Highlights:
🏢 Operational audits, team coaching, and implementation
📑 Systems design for hybrid teams and education orgs
💬 Strategy-infused operations with emotional intelligence
Aarion enables organizations to translate vision into actionable systems while fostering alignment, accountability, and team resilience.
Terra Fontenot-Beard
Founder, Fontenot Solutions
Terra Fontenot-Beard delivers fractional COO services focused on operational rewiring for small businesses and impact-driven organizations. She combines coaching, DEI-aligned strategies, and on-the-ground execution.
Highlights:
🏢 Operational strategy, people systems, and process redesign
📑 Coaching and hands-on execution for small businesses
💬 Community-focused leadership with sector expertise
Terra enables organizations to scale operations thoughtfully, integrating culture, people, and process for long-term impact.
Gregory Niellez
Gregory Niellez provides strategic operational leadership for organizations at inflection points. With experience across industries, he helps teams implement strategy, measure performance, and create clarity through structured processes.
Highlights:
🏢 Systems alignment, strategy implementation, and process design
📑 Performance measurement and operational cadence
💬 Analytical, people-aware approach to leadership
Gregory enables organizations to navigate change confidently, ensuring teams are aligned, systems are clear, and performance goals are met.
Why Fractional Leadership Is Booming in Houston
Let’s talk about context for a second.
Hiring full-time in Houston’s leadership market can be tough—especially for orgs in education, health, social enterprise, and founder-led startups. There’s no shortage of talent, but finding the right fit, at the right moment, without blowing your runway or overcommitting headcount, is a real challenge.
Fractional COOs offer a different path.
They bring real operational experience—often from industries like energy, consulting, education, and tech—into high-growth, high-need organizations on a flexible, embedded basis. They’re not slide-deck consultants. They’re builders, stabilizers, and strategic operators who move alongside your team.
Houston: A City That Moves Quietly, But Builds Boldly
We say this a lot at Digital Reference: just because you’re not loud about your leadership doesn’t mean you’re not leading. And in Houston, that couldn’t be more true.
The city’s fractional COO community is full of quiet builders, thoughtful collaborators, and no-nonsense operators helping orgs scale in ways that feel sustainable. These aren’t short-term fixes—they’re long-term partners.
Whether you’re building an edtech product in Midtown, scaling a nonprofit in Third Ward, or running a bootstrapped logistics firm on the east side, these operators are helping teams get unstuck, get aligned, and get moving.
A Note from Digital Reference - Finding the Right Fractional COO for Your Needs
At Digital Reference, we’re trying to create a different kind of talent ecosystem—one that makes room for the operational middle, where titles don’t always tell the truth, but outcomes do.
Our job is to surface the people doing the real work—fractional or otherwise—and make them visible. We’re here for founders who want clarity, teams who need systems, and COOs who care more about impact than ego.
If you want more insight into what a fractional COO can do, check out:
- What to Look for When Hiring an fCOO
- Outsourced COO Services in the USA
- Replacing the Resume - Digital Reference’s Aspirational Target
We’ll be updating this list over time—so if you know a Houston operator we should include, send them our way.
Check Out Our Local Directories of Fractional COO, Outsourced COO Services & Interim COOs by City
Ann Arbor, MI - Part-Time COOs & Fractional COO Services
Ann Arbor startups and research-driven firms are turning to fractional ops leaders for precision execution and growth strategy.
Atlanta, GA - Part-Time COOs & Fractional COO Services
In a city that blends enterprise and startup energy, Atlanta companies lean on COOs who can unify vision and operations.
Boston, MA - Part-Time COOs & Fractional COO Services
From biotech to B2B SaaS, Boston’s ops leaders bring structure and speed to innovation-heavy teams.
Chicago, IL - Part-Time COOs & Fractional COO Services
COOs in the Windy City are helping companies align their back-end systems with bold front-end goals.
Denver, CO - Part-Time COOs & Fractional COO Services
Denver’s scale-ups are calling in fractional execs to professionalize their operations without slowing their culture.
Detroit, MI - Part-Time COOs & Fractional COO Services
With roots in manufacturing and momentum in mobility, Detroit companies rely on fractional COOs for systems that scale.
Houston, Texas - Part-Time COOs & Fractional COO Services
Houston’s operational ecosystem is evolving fast. More startups are scaling. More nonprofits are serving complex needs.
London, United Kingdom - Part-Time COOs & Fractional COO Services
Fractional COO Services are sky-rocketing in popularity in London as labor costs go up and time to market is accelerating.
Los Angeles, CA - Part-Time COOs & Fractional COO Services
In LA, creative industries meet tech—and fractional COOs bring the operational clarity these hybrid teams need.
Philadelphia, PA - Part-Time COOs & Fractional COO Services
Fractional COO Services in Philly are ensuring East Coast startups and high growth companies have the right structure to survive.
Phoenix, AZ - Part-Time COOs & Fractional COO Services
Phoenix-based COOs help founders transition from hustle to structured scale with systems that grow.
San Francisco, CA - Part-Time COOs & Fractional COO Services
Bay Area COOs are stepping in to help tech companies streamline, automate, and stabilize post-funding growth.
Seattle, WA - Part-Time COOs & Fractional COO Services
In Seattle’s product-driven landscape, ops leaders drive alignment between engineering, GTM, and finance.
Sydney, Australia - Part-Time COOs & Fractional COO Services
Home to Canva, growing base of purpose-led enterprises, and increasing demand for agile executive leadership, Sydney has become a hotbed for operational talent that doesn’t require a full-time seat.
Toronto, Canada - Part-Time COOs & Fractional COO Services
Toronto doesn’t just build startups—it builds systems. It’s a city where public meets private, where the startup ecosystem is growing alongside government programs, universities, and a rising impact economy. But for all its innovation, hiring executive talent in Toronto has always come with nuance.
Washington, DC (DMV Area) - Part-Time COOs & Fractional COO Services
DC-area operators bring rigor and regulatory awareness—perfect for mission-driven orgs and gov-adjacent teams.
And if you’re a fractional COO who wants to be part of this evolving conversation? You’re already in the right place.
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