The Firm. The Practice. The Person.
Aeolus was founded in September 2021 with a conviction that had been building over twenty years of technology leadership: the companies that most need strategic IT guidance are the ones least served by the options available to them. Growing businesses — scaling past $5M, preparing for their first acquisition, or ready to move IT from reactive management to real leadership — routinely make technology decisions that cost them money, time, or valuation because the advice they receive comes from vendors whose incentives run counter to the client’s interests.
Aeolus was built to be the independent alternative. A fractional CIO practice where the advisor’s interest and the client’s interest are aligned from the first conversation. One monthly fee. Month-to-month terms. Direct access to senior technology leadership — the same person, every engagement, for as long as the relationship serves the business.
Three years in, Aeolus has served clients across technology, finance, healthcare, manufacturing, and media — with 11 completed M&A transactions, a curated vendor Marketplace, and a growing library of original insights that reflect what experienced technology leadership actually looks like in practice.
MANAGING PARTNER Van Murray
Founded Aeolus: September 2021
Fractional CIO since: September 2022
Education: NC State University, BS Electrical Engineering
Recognition: TBJ Top 40 Under 40, 2017
Certificate: Private Pilot
Van Murray is the Managing Partner of Aeolus, a role he has held since the firm’s founding in September 2021. He also serves clients as a Fractional CIO, a practice he formalized in September 2022.
Van’s career spans 25+ years at the intersection of technology leadership, entrepreneurship, and corporate development. He holds a BS in Electrical Engineering from North Carolina State University, earned recognition as a Triangle Business Journal Top 40 Under 40 honoree in 2017, and holds a private pilot certificate — a credential that reflects the methodical, checklist-driven judgment he brings to every technology engagement.
Van began his career in 2000 at GlaxoWellcome, building enterprise IT foundations in one of the world’s leading pharmaceutical organizations. He moved to the North Carolina Department of Transportation in 2001, then joined Mi-Co in 2002 as an early-stage Implementation Engineer — one of the founding team at the mobile data collection software startup in Research Triangle Park, NC (now an Ideagen company).
In 2005, Van joined Cherokee Investment Partners as Head of Information Technology, where he served as a founding member of a shared-service entity and built the technology infrastructure for one of the region’s leading private equity firms.
In 2010, Van founded Accent Plus — one of the earliest Google Cloud and Microsoft partners in the market. Accent Plus was acquired by NeoNova Network Services (now NRTC) in 2012. Van served as Director from March 2012, rising to Vice President in April 2015.
In February 2016, Van and his team spun out of NRTC to launch NeoCloud, later acquired by AppDirect. In September 2018, Van co-founded AppSmart — the foundation for what is now AppDirect — and served as Co-CEO. He transitioned to VP of Cloud Services in January 2020.
In September 2021, Van founded Aeolus. Since then, he has served as Managing Partner and Fractional CIO for clients across industries, completing 11 M&A transactions on the technology side and building the firm into a trusted fractional CIO practice for growth-stage companies.
How Aeolus Approaches Technology Leadership
Top-Down, Always.
Every engagement begins at the strategy layer. Aeolus maps the technology environment to where the business is going, then builds the roadmap that connects IT decisions to revenue, growth, and transaction readiness. The infrastructure follows the strategy — consistently, and in that order.
Independent, by Design.
Aeolus earns a single monthly fee from clients. Every vendor recommendation is evaluated on fit for the business — full stop. The Marketplace exists to make those relationships visible: clients see what’s available, Aeolus sources it, and the economics favor the client at every step.
Personal, by Choice.
The model is built around one relationship. Clients have direct access to senior IT leadership — responsive to business events, proactive rather than reactive, available by name rather than by ticket number. When the business changes, the advisor who knows it well is already on the line.
Built for the Long Term.
Aeolus applies a continuous improvement philosophy — Kaizen — to every technology environment: deliberate, compounding improvements that build the infrastructure the business will need in three years, calibrated to the reality it operates in today. The goal is always a technology organization that runs faster, costs less, and holds up under scrutiny.
Meet the Firm Behind the Practice.
A discovery call takes 30 minutes. Aeolus will ask direct questions and give direct answers — including an honest assessment of whether there’s a fit.