Fractional Executives are professionals who have decided to offer their advice and skills to organizations on a for-hire basis. These executives have typically served a number of years in a business environment in roles such as Chairman, Owner, CxO, SVP, VP or Director . Their skills may be focused in one discipline or could be more broad based, depending on the role(s) they have served.
Fractional Executives may offer their services as an independent consultant or through a company that offers these types of services. They may also be known as Interim Executive, Contract Executive, Part-time Executive, Temporary Executive, Fractional Business Executive, On-Demand Executive or Executive-as-a-Service.
Fractional Executives are not employees of a company or organization. Instead they offer their services to many, which gives them exposure to different cultures and management styles. Fractional Executives may have diverse perspectives if they serve many customers, their perspectives may also be further enhanced if they served multiple industries. Fractional Executives may be hired on a project basis, for a certain period of time or in some cases on retainer.
Advantages of hiring such professionals is their experience and that they don't require a full-time position. While Fractional Executives are highly skilled within their area(s) of expertise they may require time to get acclimated to new industries.
A couple of examples of specifically names Fractional Executives are Fractional CIO and Fractional CMO (http://www.heinzmarketing.com/2015/07/what-is-a-fractional-cmo/).