With over 25 years of experience in marketing, sales leadership, business strategy, and management consulting, Colleen Burns is a seasoned executive with a proven track record of driving change and rapid revenue growth in the global life sciences, medical device and diagnostics, and healthcare technology sectors.
Colleen holds a Master’s degree in Organizational Behavior and Leadership, complementing her extensive expertise in marketing and business strategy. She has successfully led companies of all sizes, from startups to established enterprises, to achieve their growth objectives. Colleen is renowned for her ability to influence behavior among diverse stakeholders, including B2B, healthcare professionals, patients, investors, and employees.
Colleen’s approach combines strategic big-picture thinking with operational excellence, a customer-centric mindset, and a commitment to purpose-driven impact. Her inspirational and empathetic leadership style not only catalyzes productivity but also enhances workforce engagement, reflecting her genuine desire to help others grow and succeed.
Colleen’s remarkable career includes her current role as the Chief Marketing & Growth Officer at CBM Group, where she builds Go-to-Market (GTM) teams and accelerates commercial growth strategies. She serves as a Fractional Chief Marketing Officer (CMOx), offering organizations flexible and scalable leadership to maximize growth while minimizing costs. Colleen translates the CEO’s vision into strategic marketing plans, providing leadership, strategy, KPIs, hiring excellence, and partner management to drive faster growth. Her expertise spans early and established life sciences, medical device and diagnostics, healthcare technology, private equity, and venture capital firms.
Key areas of focus in her engagements include creating growth marketing and content strategies, building and training effective GTM teams, crafting innovative advertising and PR programs for product launches, preparing campaigns to position companies for IPOs and mergers, optimizing sales pipelines, increasing conversion frequency, and generating new revenue streams through strategic product innovation and acquisition.
Colleen’s commitment to helping others extend beyond her professional role. As the Global Chair for the Healthcare Businesswomen’s Association (HBA) for 8 years, she led programming efforts for over 1000 women participating in the flagship HBA mentoring program across the US and Europe. Her role involved overseeing recruitment, communications, matching processes, events, program execution, and outcomes, showcasing her dedication to fostering leadership and growth in the healthcare industry.
Throughout her career, Colleen has held key positions at renowned organizations such as Veeva Systems, Syneos Health, IMS Health, Abbott, Boston Scientific, and Dorland Global, where she consistently demonstrated exceptional leadership, strategic vision, and the ability to drive sales and business growth. Colleen’s strong commitment to professional development is reflected in her academic achievements, including a Bachelor’s degree in History and Sociology from the University of Notre Dame, a Master’s degree in Organizational Psychology from Columbia University, and participation in the Healthcare Management Development Program at The Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth and the Women in Leadership program at Harvard Business School.
Colleen Burns is a respected leader who combines her strategic prowess with a deep understanding of the healthcare and life sciences industries. Her exceptional skills in marketing, leadership, and business strategy, combined with her commitment to helping others succeed, make her a remarkable executive in the healthcare and life sciences sector.
Character: Colleen Burns is a dedicated and empathetic leader with a genuine desire to help others succeed in the healthcare and life sciences industry.
Knowledge: With over 25 years of experience and a Master’s degree in Organizational Behavior and Leadership, Colleen possesses a deep and diverse knowledge base in marketing, sales, and business strategy.
Strategic: Colleen excels in combining strategic thinking with operational excellence to drive rapid revenue growth and change in global healthcare and life sciences companies.
Communication: Colleen’s effective communication and leadership skills have played a pivotal role in her success, fostering engagement and productivity in her teams and within the industry.
