Welcome
A point of view grounded in courage, elevated by creativity.
A widely published poet and painter, Cathy has gone piranha fishing in the Amazon, survived a 150km bike ride with a night of camping at the Jack Daniel's distillery, and was married in Rome with a Papal Blessing. Yet she considers her greatest challenge to be helping pioneer the Purpose movement.
Overview
For more than twenty-five years, she has helped shape BCGBrightHouse's culture, brand, processes, and products, with a focus on manufacturing, agriculture, mining, security and defense, and finance.
After serving as Chief Creative Officer and President of North America for a decade, and Managing Director for twenty-six years, Cathy became a Senior Advisor, balancing her ongoing work creating change and impact with more time devoted to her life as an author and artist.
Published work and
current projects
The Conversation Turns to Wide-Mouth Jars, a collection of poems featuring the complementary voices of Beth Gylys, Jennifer Wheelock, and Cathy in organic conversation came out in 2022.
Cathy's new poetry collection, Bloody with Plums, is forthcoming from Kelsay Books in late 2026 or early 2027.
Keynotes, conversations, and events
Cathy Carlisi brings together creative insight, leadership experience, and purpose-driven thinking in talks that engage, challenge, and inspire audiences.
In addition to poetry readings, Cathy is an experienced public speaker on topics including purpose-driven performance, personal purpose, corporate culture, and branding.
She has spoken to audiences ranging from a few thousand in Tokyo to a few dozen in Fortune 100 C-suites.
Her TEDxEmory talk, Personal Purpose: Love the Meaning of Your Life, offers a clear introduction to her perspective on purpose and impact.
Courses, mentorship, and learning experiences
Cathy loves to share her knowledge and experience with students of all ages and backgrounds.
She has taught Marketing 401 at Emory University's Goizueta School of Business.
She has also guest taught and lectured widely, including; McGill University's Desautels Faculty of Management, University of Colorado, Boulder, McCombs School of Business-The University of Texas, Austin, Miami Ad School, and Sewanee-The University of the South.
Strategic guidance and advisory work
Shortly after BCGBrightHouse was founded in 1995, Cathy began crafting seminal Purpose work.
In her twenty-six years, she has helped develop BCGBrightHouse's processes, products, and people into a premier creative, Purpose-focused consultancy.
Cathy was instrumental in BCG's acquisition of BrightHouse in 2015, and her focus today is on helping BCGBrightHouse + BCG bring together incisive strategy and creative thinking to bring brands to life for employees, customers, and communities around the globe.
Sample Recent Work
Led a recruiter branding initiative for a major agricultural player, helping them go from tractors to tech in the eyes of talent and building their top of funnel by 4X.
Led a team in branding a major event for a multi-national governmental entity to drive leadership adoption of strategic initiatives.
Led a Purpose articulation, activation, and branding initiative that helped a major manufacturer acquire a competitor.
Led investor day work that crafted a clear and compelling story for the C-suite of a tech-focused industrial company. Materials included films, scripts, coaching, and day-of experience design.
Led a culture change initiative for a US government agency that included moving to a mindset of agility and efficiency.