Consulting company Differly is adding experience and vision as Bridgehead alumni Tracey Clark and Kate Burnett join the team.
Launched in 2018 by founder and CEO Isabelle Perreault, Ottawa-based Differly specializes in “growth innovation,” helping mid-market organizations optimize their operations and strategies for a changing business landscape.
“Everything’s related to the unprecedented pace of change that we’re seeing,” Perreault said in an interview with OBJ. “We see organizations unable to keep up with the pace of change. How are these markets going to continually innovate? That is the problem that I set out to solve.”
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As part of her career, Perrault spent eight years with the Ottawa Senators, helping to shape digital strategy. At Differly, she counts the Senators among her clients.
According to Perreault, both Clark and Burnett are joining Differly as independent consultants, bringing with them years of experience that clients will be able to leverage.
Clark, founder of Ottawa-based Bridgehead Coffee, spent 21 years with that company before leaving in 2021 for a position at Shorefast in Newfoundland. Over the past year, she has been working as an independent consultant.
“They were looking, I think, for the type of environment that Differly provides and they both bring unique skills,” said Perreault.
Clark said she’s looking forward to providing strategic advisory and executive leadership services.
“I’m excited,” said Clark. “One of the things about trying to grow the business that we did (at Bridgehead) is that we lived a lot of what Isabelle’s trying to bring to other firms. Sometimes founders need help understanding their intent. So honouring the founder’s intent and tuning the strategy. That’s what I hope to get at.”
Perreault added, “Tracey’s been an entrepreneur for years. We’re still exploring together, but I can easily say (she brings) pure strategic planning, pure visioning. Tracey’s an immensely gifted facilitator.”
While Clark was the visionary at Bridgehead, Perreault said Burnett brought those visions to life.
Burnett joined Bridgehead in 2017 and became chief operations officer for the company. In 2020, she took over as president, before leaving this past spring.
“She is the person with that operational discipline,” said Perreault. “Once you’ve got that idea, how do you bring that to reality? How do you actually operationalize that? I think that’s a unique skill set. We’re not pie in the sky, in terms of helping you innovate. You need to fly the plane and she’s the kind of person who helps you do that.”
Clark and Burnett became involved with Differly in their Bridgehead days. Burnett said in an email to OBJ that she was excited to join the company as a consultant.
“I was humbled when Isabelle asked me to join them,” she said. “I’m passionate about bringing my experience running companies in the impact and social enterprise space to Differly’s clients, who are looking for support with both strategy and operational discipline to achieve their goals.”
