Kitson Human Capital Solutions
Fractional CHRO Services
Adding rocket fuel to your investments by enhancing the performance of your current team and injecting your portfolio with the elite players needed to realize your objectives
We provide the private equity, venture capital, family office, and business building community with the human resources executive strategy needed to unlock value creation plans from diligence through exit
Right People, wrong seats
Too often in the lower middle market human capital doesn't get the attention it deserves in the due diligence process. In smaller platform companies with less than a few hundred people this leaves your operating team such as your CFO, COO, and executive leadership team buried in HR tasks they were not hired to handle nor are they inclined or equipped to manage effectively. This leads to missed deliverables in the day job, lawsuits, huge third-party recruiting fees, and stalled value creation. A fractional CHRO can remove these obstacles and get your business to exit faster and on target.
Talent is often overlooked during due diligence.
Executives (CFO, COO) are buried in HR tasks, leading to:
Missed operational goals
Lawsuits
High third-party recruiting costs
Stalled value creation
Fractional CHRO Solution:
Quickly realigns people to the right roles.
Frees up key executives from HR distractions.
Professionalizes HR without hiring a full-time CHRO.
Accelerates readiness for exit by reducing risk and operational friction.
The fractional model
Agility is the name of the game in portfolio companies. Too often these platforms load up on FTEs during growth mode and when EBITDA targets get missed the fat gets trimmed in key roles you cannot afford to cut. To keep costs down investors are prone to adding lower cost, earlier career professionals with high upside and a smaller impact on the balance sheet. With the fractional model you get C level talent that flexes to the immediate need each month without having to bloat your payroll - while being treated as an add back without hurting valuation. My fractional network can quickly plug holes as they appear affordably. Need direct hire help? We can help there too.
EBITDA shortfalls cause hasty payroll cuts.
Overinvestment in FTEs early in growth creates inflexibility.
Difficulty staffing critical roles affordably and quickly.
Fractional CHRO Solution:
Provides agile, on-demand HR leadership without bloating payroll.
Gives access to senior-level talent on a flexible, low-cost basis.
Maintains valuation by offering strategic add-back justification.
Taps into a fractional network to fill gaps rapidly and affordably.
small investment, monster roi - the fractional CHRO operating partner
Every investment firm should have a fractional CHRO on their bench. Too often an executive recruiter gets added as private equity firms grow to mitigate headhunting fees while talent inside of portcos goes neglected. With newer investment firms or those with lower assets under management there may be no human capital support whatsoever. By adding a CHRO as an operating partner you can have the right professional on call to distribute across your investments and prospects on an as needed basis without breaking the bank.
No HR infrastructure in newer or smaller AUM firms.
Costly executive recruiter reliance.
Talent within portcos is neglected as the fund scales.
Fractional CHRO Solution:
Offers on-call human capital expertise at a fraction of the cost.
Distributes HR support across multiple portfolio companies efficiently.
Becomes a scalable operating partner without full-time overhead.
Mitigates future value erosion caused by ignored people issues.
Our human capital audit
You don't know what you do no not know when it comes to the risks living inside your business. If your value creation plan consists of a buy-and-build you may be scooping up multi-state businesses at a breakneck pace in an ever-evolving employment law landscape. There are often huge disconnects between the talent and business strategies in fast growing organizations if a people strategy exists at all. With our low cost 90-day assessments we come in and quickly assess the human capital gaps inside your portfolio companies while providing sensible action plans to help you address them. Ongoing support to execute on those plans is provided to keep your investment on track.
Human capital risk is invisible until it's too late.
Buy-and-build strategies outpace HR integration.
Legal exposure and execution gaps are common in fast-growing orgs.
Fractional CHRO Solution:
Conducts fast, low-cost 90-day assessments across portcos.
Identifies hidden HR and compliance risks early.
Aligns people strategies with business strategies.
Provides actionable, ongoing execution support to protect and grow value.
Cultural Architects
Financial engineering will always have its place in the investment ecosystem. But it's how you engineer the culture that determines what that multiple will look like upon exit. An investment thesis cannot be tested in a broken culture where employee engagement is circling the drain. Too many sponsors are out there creating Frankensteins with their platforms and add-ons. They slap a bunch of cultures together and try to stitch the thing together long enough to make it through the holding period. What you are left with is the monster you would expect. Being intentional about the culture you are creating, how you fold businesses into it, and support it through the RIGHT talent management strategies is absolutely mission critical to landing your investment objectives.
Lack of cultural alignment across platform and add-on acquisitions leads to disengagement.
"Frankenstein" organizations are formed when sponsors slap disparate cultures together without strategy.
Broken culture undermines investment thesis and jeopardizes exit multiples.
Fractional CHRO Solution:
Intentionally engineers culture to support the investment thesis.
Ensures cultural integration across add-ons and platforms during the hold period.
Boosts employee engagement and alignment, which directly impacts performance and exit value.
Uses talent strategy as a lever for sustainable, integrated growth — not a patchwork of people problems.
Advisors and Coaches
An HR executive is usually the last piece added to your executive leadership team. When you are trying to 4x it in 3 - 5 years it should be the first. Your ELT needs a human capital resource on speed dial when trying the navigate through the coming storm to keep the ship from sinking. A fractional CHRO can be added to your ELT on a part-time basis to keep your business moving in the right direction when the waters inevitably become turbulent. As an advisor I provide mentoring and coaching to leadership teams to keep them from crashing into obstacles that are undoubtedly hiding in plain sight.
HR is typically an afterthought on the Executive Leadership Team (ELT), despite aggressive growth targets (e.g., 4x in 3–5 years).
Leadership lacks real-time HR guidance during turbulent periods.
Teams crash into avoidable human capital issues that derail progress.
Fractional CHRO Solution:
Joins the ELT early to provide strategic HR guidance without the cost of a full-time exec.
Acts as an advisor and coach to leadership — helping them steer through organizational complexity, people issues, and blind spots.
Offers proactive insight before issues escalate, keeping the business on track for scale and exit.
Joe Kitson
Founder and Chief Executive Officer
Joe’s passion is to help investors and business owners achieve their goals by surrounding them with elite talent. Joe brings over 20 years of HR experience to the table and has worked in large, complex, publicly traded companies with over $10 billion in annual revenue such as Advance Auto Parts but has always gravitated toward start-ups and private equity-backed brands. Those investment firms include E&A Companies in Indianapolis and larger PE groups with billions in assets such as Riverside Company and Cerberus based in New York City.
Most recently, Joe served as the Chief Human Resources Officer for Lighthouse Autism Center in the healthcare space. Having spent most of his career helping to guide rapid human capital growth in small businesses, Joe got the itch himself, and Kitson Human Capital Solutions was born. Joe holds a bachelor's degree from Western Michigan University where he majored in Human Resources and a Master of Human Resources and Industrial Relations from one of the top HR programs in the country at the University of Illinois. He brings his dynamic expertise and leverages it to build scalable talent solutions quickly in businesses ripe for professionalization and exponential growth.
When Joe is not trying to solve the talent conundrums of the world, he is an avid adventurer, outdoors enthusiast, bourbon aficionado, and enjoys spending time with his children. He is not your stereotypical HR professional and brings a refreshing approach that resonates with leaders. We believe in authenticity and creating psychologically safe environments where people can come and bring their true selves to work.
Our Mission
People are the only true competitive advantage. Period. Not financial engineering. Not technology or AI. Or marketing positioning. Having scalable human capital solutions that allow your business to secure and inspire the top talent in the marketplace is the difference between winning and losing. The rest takes care of itself. Are you ready to transform your investment and hit that exit multiple you had in mind?