Est. 2005

Chief Strategy Officer · Canada · Global perspective

September 2026 edition

Andrew Whitmore

Making the choices that shape the next enterprise.

Leading article

Making the choices that shape the next enterprise.

By Andrew Whitmore · Chief Strategy Officer

I help leadership teams make choices about the future of the enterprise. My work connects portfolio direction, growth opportunities and strategic partnerships with the operating and capital decisions needed to act.

I am interested in the assumptions that make an option attractive, the evidence that could challenge it and the capabilities the organisation would need to pursue it. Strategy becomes practical when those questions are shared by the people responsible for execution.

I bring structure to uncertainty without pretending to remove it. My role is to improve the quality of the choice, clarify what must be learned and keep attention on the decisions that shape the next chapter.

Continued on the profile page →

From the desk of Andrew

Strategy should make a consequential choice clearer. I examine assumptions, alternatives and capability demands, then help the organisation connect its chosen direction with capital, ownership and a disciplined plan to learn.

— Andrew Whitmore

In this edition

Dispatches from practice

Case 01

Portfolio strategy

A portfolio review had become a debate about individual business plans. I developed a common view of market attractiveness, enterprise fit and capability requirements so the leadership team could compare strategic options. The discussion shifted toward the choices that mattered across the portfolio rather than defending each existing allocation.

Case 02

Strategic options

A growth opportunity depended on assumptions the organisation had not tested. We separated the reversible steps from the commitments that would be difficult to unwind, defined learning milestones and considered partnership options. The resulting recommendation connected ambition with an explicit plan to reduce uncertainty.

Case 03

Strategy execution

Strategic priorities were being added without changing budgets or leadership attention. I worked with business-unit leaders and finance to connect the chosen priorities to resource decisions, named owners and review milestones. The strategy review became a place to address trade-offs and dependencies rather than restate the ambition.

The full record of leadership work →

Appointments

Meridian ConsolidatedIndependent Director · 2022 — Present

The Futures Policy InstituteFellow and Advisory Board Member · 2019 — Present

Honours

Strategy Leader of the YearCapital & Governance Quarterly · 2024

Deal of the Year — PartnershipThe Corporate Development Awards · 2022

As reported in

Capital & Governance Quarterly“Making the portfolio choices most boards postpone” · 2025

The Boardroom Review“Scenarios the board can actually use” · 2024

The Leadership Ledger podcast“Episode 115 — Strategy is a choice, not a deck” · 2023

The record

Chief Strategy OfficerAldermoor Group · 2020 — Present

Vice President, Corporate StrategyFairhaven Holdings · 2016 — 2020

PartnerAshworth & Lyle Strategy Advisers · 2010 — 2017

Corporate Development ManagerMeridian Consolidated · 2005 — 2010

Letters to the editor

“Turned our strategy from an annual document into a set of decisions we actually made.”
Olivia Grant, Chair, Meridian Consolidated
“Thinks in decades and acts in quarters. Exactly what a board needs.”
Suresh Pillai, Group Chief Executive

An invitation

Correspondence welcome.

Andrew welcomes conversations with boards, chairs, search advisers and editors.

Open to
  • Board appointments
  • Advisory roles
  • Speaking invitations
Write to Andrew

office@andrewwhitmore.example