Fractional COOs in Houston Making Things Happen in 2025

Houston Interim Chief Operating Officers to Know

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.

In 2025, 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.

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.

Our methodology for building this list is simple: we look for Houston-based leaders doing real work in real companies, right now. We verify geography, engagement model (fractional/interim), and track record of working with growing organizations—especially those in the education and social good sectors we care most about.

The Fractional COOs to Know in Houston

Selle Evans

Founder, The Fractional COO

Selle Evans leads The Fractional COO, a Houston-based firm offering embedded leadership to companies that need to go from idea to execution—fast. Her team focuses on mission-led businesses, minority-owned firms, and high-potential startups that need structure and scale without losing soul.

Why choose Selle:

• Offers both fractional and project-based COO support
  
  
• Strong commitment to equity, access, and sustainable growth
  
  
• Combines strategic vision with on-the-ground operational leadership
  
  

Michelle Fremuth

Founder, OrgEx Consulting

Michelle Fremuth runs OrgEx Consulting, a firm that helps businesses and nonprofits design better internal systems. Her specialty? Making operations human. She’s worked with organizations across Texas to create systems that are people-centered, values-aligned, and actually executable.

Why choose Michelle:

• Expert in process mapping, change management, and implementation
  
  
• Great fit for education nonprofits and social enterprises
  
  
• Brings a calm, empathetic leadership style into complex orgs
  
  

Penny Garza

Founder, The Penny Magic

Penny Garza isn’t just a fractional COO—she’s a transformation partner. At The Penny Magic, she supports small businesses and founder-led orgs that are ready to grow but stuck in operational chaos. She specializes in process design, org restructuring, and leadership coaching, often stepping into teams in moments of reinvention.

Why choose Penny:

• Known for bringing structure without stifling creativity
  
  
• Deep operational experience in small business and nonprofit spaces
  
  
• Strategic thinker with tactical energy and follow-through
  
  

Chris Beasley

Chris Beasley is a high-performance operator who brings discipline to fast-moving organizations. His background spans both corporate and startup environments, and he’s especially skilled in aligning strategy, structure, and team execution. Based in Houston, Chris works with organizations ready to grow intentionally.

Why choose Chris:

• Great for scaling SaaS, fintech, or B2B startups
  
  
• Helps founders transition from “everything on me” to “ops-enabled growth”
  
  
• Brings a data- and results-driven lens to team performance
  
  

Aarion Smith

Aarion is a fractional COO and leadership advisor who supports education orgs, nonprofits, and early-stage startups with clarity and systems thinking. With a strong background in learning and development, she brings a human-centered approach to operations—especially in mission-driven spaces.

Why choose Aarion:

• Specializes in ops for education organizations and hybrid teams
  
  
• Offers operational audits, team coaching, and implementation support
  
  
• Known for blending strategy with emotional intelligence
  
  

Terra Fontenot-Beard

Founder, Fontenot Solutions

Terra brings structure and scale to organizations that need more than just a systems overhaul. Through Fontenot Solutions, she works with small businesses and impact-focused orgs to rewire their internal operations—from people to process to planning.

Why choose Terra:

• Experienced in DEI-aligned operational strategy
  
  
• Combines coaching with on-the-ground execution
  
  
• Strong community ties and sector fluency across education and workforce
  
  

Sue Ellen Burch

Sue Ellen is a seasoned COO turned fractional leader with a track record of building accountable, efficient teams. She’s known for working with mid-sized orgs that need to tighten systems and scale people practices—especially in sectors like education, health, and professional services.

Why choose Sue Ellen:

• Strong background in HR and people operations
  
  
• Helps orgs design repeatable, human-friendly processes
  
  
• Excellent fit for growing orgs at operational breaking points
  
  

Sina Tazehzad

Sina Tazehzad brings a startup founder’s lens to operational leadership. Based in Houston, he works with early- to mid-stage tech companies to build scalable systems, optimize cross-functional collaboration, and improve operational visibility through metrics and dashboards.

Why choose Sina:

• Ideal for data-driven teams and founder-led startups
  
  
• Skilled in product ops, go-to-market planning, and team scaling
  
  
• Offers fractional leadership plus founder coaching
  
  

Gregory Niellez

Gregory is a strategic and steady presence in organizations navigating change. With experience across industries, he focuses on strategy implementation, performance measurement, and process design. He’s often called in during inflection points—when teams need clarity, systems, and a new cadence.

Why choose Gregory:

• Strong experience in systems alignment and measurement
  
  
• Great fit for orgs looking to operationalize strategy
  
  
• Brings an analytical but people-aware approach to leadership
  
  

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

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.

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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