Testimonials

In Their Own Words…

Enrique Godreau III, Managing Director, Voyager Capital

Christine Thompson is an executive-​​level strate­gic marketer extra­or­di­naire. Since 1992, my scope of engage­ments and collab­o­ra­tions with Chris has ranged from start-​​ups with business plans still warm from the printer to multi-​​billion-​​dollar market cap compa­nies striving for even greater success. Her insights and strate­gic approach are consis­tently valuable, always stage-​​appropriate, and remark­ably actionable.

Shivonne Byrne, Director, Global Executive Programs, Microsoft

I’ve worked with Chris for many years, and most recently when she ran a 3-​​year market­ing strategy and “vision­ing” exercise for the Enterprise Marketing group — part of the $20 billion Enterprise and Partner Group division here at Microsoft. It was a complex and challeng­ing assign­ment, and as expected, Chris navigated her way through all with her excep­tional intel­lect and strate­gic planning skills. The output was exactly what we were looking for — a vision­ing roadmap for the Enterprise Marketing team.

Brian Donaldson, VP, Microsoft Solutions & Ecosystem, OpenText

I rely on Christine for break­through thinking when navigat­ing those inevitable changes in product or market strategy. She brings a wealth of knowl­edge and experi­ence, and uses real-​​world, battle-​​tested thinking tools to help solve the diffi­cult business or market­ing issues I face. Christine devel­oped a strate­gic planning approach to get our people, process and strate­gies aligned — and — our manage­ment team execut­ing at a high level.

Lisa Wellman, VP, Publishing, Entertainment & New Media Markets, Apple (then)

Chris brings a clarity of thought and expres­sion that makes working with her a pleasure and adds huge value. In fact, she delivers more value in her proposal than many vendors do in their final deliverables.

Karl Siebrecht, CEO, AdReady; then: President, Atlas (aQuan­tive, acquired by Microsoft)

I’ve turned to Informing Arts for strategy help at several critical junctures in Atlas’ evolu­tion. Christine has been invalu­able to me and my team, helping us crystal­lize business strategy and ‘brand DNA.’ Even while we were preoc­cu­pied with game-​​changing M&A negoti­a­tions, we trusted her discre­tion and level-​​headed approach to keep us on point. There are few other consul­tants I would have trusted with my most impor­tant customers at such a time.

Saqib Rasool, CEO, Conceivian

Christine has been an invalu­able source of wisdom. She has looked far right and far left, from all the way to the top and all the way to the bottom of our company and people. She has master­fully made us develop a strategy, that I have no doubt will serve us for decades to come. Without her, I could not have made progress. She is incred­i­bly intel­li­gent, an intent listener, devoted to work and integrity; and a seasoned and mature strate­gist. Watching Christine at work is observ­ing the work of a master in the business domain. And for that I hold a deep grati­tude and respect for her. I consider Christine our truly trusted advisor.

Hatsy Thompson, Consultant, Lucid Communication

During the 15 years I’ve known Christine Thompson, she’s been my manager, colleague, client, and coach. In all these capac­i­ties, I’ve been impressed by how clearly she thinks, how effec­tively she frames problems, how skill­fully she hears under­neath what’s being said, how unwaver­ingly she sees things through, and how warmly she works with all kinds of people. If you need someone to guide you steadily and effec­tively through complex market­ing situa­tions, I can’t think of anyone I’d recom­mend more highly than Chris.

Debbie Woo, Senior Marketing Manager, Atlas

Chris worked with me in 2007 as a consul­tant for an audit of our company brand. I felt immedi­ately comfort­able working with Chris, and felt we had chosen the right partner for the project. Chris demon­strated a strong grasp of our industry (having worked on previous projects with our execu­tive team) and solid experi­ence with strate­gic brand position­ing. She asked the right questions to help us ensure that we were under­tak­ing the steps that would give us the deliv­er­ables that we needed to launch our market­ing commu­ni­ca­tions efforts. Right up front, she helped provide struc­ture and process around our endeavor.

Chris was a workhorse through­out the three-​​month project — inter­view­ing our execu­tives as well as senior managers from our top client compa­nies, synthe­siz­ing infor­ma­tion into under­stand­able and usable form, and facil­i­tat­ing execu­tive team meetings and helping drive the group to consen­sus. She was never afraid to ask tough questions. She pushed us to consider whether we were meeting not only our short-​​term needs, but our long-​​term goals. She kept us focused on the big picture and future impli­ca­tions of our decisions.

In the end, working with Chris helped us succeed in estab­lish­ing not only a brand position, but also a vision for the company. The rigor she brought to the process gives us the confi­dence to move ahead with no reser­va­tions or questions about who we are.

Personally, it was an incred­i­ble learning experi­ence. I was the junior member on this high-​​profile project team, and Chris was not only my partner, but also my coach. She provided guidance and encour­age­ment through­out, and her sense of humor helped to smooth out some of the bumps and frustra­tions that we encountered.

Villette Nolon, President & CEO, HomeSavvi; Board member, Seraph Capital Forum

Chris Thompson is an outstand­ing strate­gist who immedi­ately trans­lates business objec­tives into high-​​impact action. She is a clear commu­ni­ca­tor, efficient in her work style and a pleasure to work with.

Tony Rojas, President, Two Degrees, and former co-​​CEO, Corbis

Christine is a jack-​​of-​​all trades, she facil­i­tates strate­gic planning, conducts focus group sessions with customers and employ­ees, doubles as a “ghost writer” for your strate­gic plan, and more.

She tells you what you don’t want to hear. In strate­gic planning sessions, the people inside our company may have a shared perspec­tive, but our clients may have a completely differ­ent perspec­tive. She will always speak up if she believes you need to hear something that you and your team are missing.

Having worked with Christine for over a decade, I’m confi­dent in knowing what she brings to the table — the value is tangible, and the leaders get why.