Strategic Positioning — Healthcare & Regulated Markets
Where ideas
misbehave
“You are advised to submit without further delay, for if I bring my army into your land, I will destroy your farms, slay your people, and raze your city.”
— Philip II of Macedon, to the Spartans.
Their reply:
Sometimes one word is enough to redefine the terms of engagement.
Manifesto
Les Incorrigibles isn’t built for comfort.
My work exists to pressure-test strategy from inside the systems that shape decisions, reputations, and outcomes. And it starts with what the room has stopped questioning.
I stand with challenger brands, underestimated teams, and agencies navigating asymmetrical power and change the conditions of the play. Because advantages don’t always lie where we expect them.
This is not for everyone. It’s for those willing to interrogate their own thinking and earn something that actually holds.
Incorrigible, by design.
About
My work has taken me from Montreal and Toronto to Beijing and Shanghai — in cultures that don’t share the same assumptions about power, consensus, or risk, and where languages colour narratives. I learned to operate where there is no common ground.
For over twenty years, I’ve operated across global corporations, agencies, and startups, in healthcare, life sciences, aerospace, and in the venture capital ecosystem. My work spans strategy, positioning, and communications, built to withstand scrutiny, even where conditions are unfavorable. The stakes might be similar across sectors. But the terrain is not.
Complex systems hide their vulnerabilities. I find them.
Master’s in International Relations — Queen’s University / Outstanding Freelancer of the Year — WCFA 2023 / Contributor, Barcelona Principles 4.0 — AMEC 2025
Selectively open to board and advisory roles in life sciences and mission-driven organizations.
“The work landed. So did the thinking behind it.” — Director, Communications, Healthcare
“She doesn’t tell you what you want to hear. She tells you what you need to know. That’s rare.” — VP, Brand Strategy, Regulated Markets
“I’ve worked with a lot of consultants. Catherine is the one I call when the situation is genuinely difficult.” — Senior Director, Marketing, Life Sciences
Mandates
Fractional
The if at the table
01
Pharma & Life Sciences — Brand Side
A senior strategic lead embedded in the team, owning the work and its impact. I operate through the full product cycle: prelaunch, in-cycle, and through loss of exclusivity in pharma and at the moments in life sciences when visibility arrives ahead of the plan. Positioning, narrative architecture, internal stakeholder engagement.
Red herring’s enemy.
02
Agency Strategy — Embedded
Great agency work and great client-side experience don’t often share the same table. I bridge that gap, not as a critic but as a multiplier. I know how the work reads from the other side, and I know how to make it stronger before it gets there.
A sparring partner. In your corner.
Additional Mandates.
These mandates extend to regulated and complex sectors outside of healthcare where there is no margin for a narrative that doesn’t hold.
03
Strategic Positioning & Validation
I assess the competitive landscape and attune positioning accordingly. The work is built to withstand commercial, legal, and regulatory pressure and tested against stakeholder input and market conditions before execution begins.
04
High-Stakes Mandates
Launches. Repositioning. Issue management. Major announcements. The moments where ambiguity compounds risk and there is no runway. This is where I operate: when clarity is the deliverable, not the starting point.
05
Agency — Outside Read
I step in to provide episodic depth for agencies facing a specific decision point: a pitch that needs sharpening, a brief that doesn’t add up, a direction that requires an outside read before commitment. A fresh perspective. And no preconceived ideas.
06
Venture & Growth
This is inflection point work. For founders whose narrative needs to hold under investor scrutiny, and for capital that needs to articulate portfolio value clearly. Because a narrative lands once.
When I Come In
A pivotal launch is approaching and the positioning isn’t ready. Someone needs to own the strategic direction before execution begins.
The scope is defined. The mandate is complex, the market unfamiliar, and the language isn’t one the team speaks. The margin for misstep is zero.
The organization is navigating a major announcement. The corporate response, the commercial implications, and the stakeholder narrative all need to hold at once. That requires more than communications.
A crucial client presentation is days away. The competitive assessment needs to be completed before the tactical plan can land where it should, to give the teams the bearings they need to finish strong.
The market window is open but won’t stay that way. The brand plan exists only on paper. What’s needed is someone to make it land.
Reserved
I reserve a share of my capacity for selective pro bono engagements with organizations in sectors beyond the commercial practice, operating without structural advantage and without the resources that usually come with it.
Standards do not change. Selection is deliberate and values based.