Hurst AdvisorsLLC

From hands-on engineering to leading technology organizations.

Portrait of Walter Hurst

Walter Hurst

Founder, Hurst Advisors LLC

I have led technology organizations for more than 25 years, from founding a venture-backed software company to running technology for a business at the center of U.S. banking.

Most recently I was CTO of Certos, the fraud and identity business of Early Warning Services, the bank-owned company behind Zelle. I ran the 200+ staff business unit engineering organization, guided a 30-year-old platform through steady modernization under quarterly OCC exams, and earned board funding for a multiyear transformation.

Today I build with AI hands-on and mentor engineering teams adopting it. What motivates me is helping leaders and teams reach their potential and deliver value to their customers.

Making Leaders Successful
  • Chief Product Officers and product leaders looking for a technical counterpart on customer value
  • Chief Technology Officers and VPs of Engineering who want a sounding board
  • Chief Information Officers or other executives leveraging AI for software development
3B+ Inquiriesannual volume for the fraud and identity products owned as Certos CTO
20× TPVpayment growth at Boku, $500M to $10B, while VP of Data and Security
200+ Stafftechnology org guided through two major transformations to establish product ownership
99.9%availability reached across a dozen products, tracked against SLOs
Where I focus

How I help.

01

Interim CTO while recruiting for a vacancy

Steady technology leadership while you search, and a clear hand-off to the person you hire.

Read more 02

Smooth growth transition for a CTO whose mandate is expanding

A sounding board and a second set of hands as the CTO takes on a larger organization.

Read more 03

Navigate the move to a business unit or product aligned structure

Design the target structure and lead the transition without stalling delivery.

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Tell me about the outcome you're after.

Whether it's a team that has slowed down, an AI plan that needs direction or a board asking hard questions, it starts with a conversation.

Start a conversation