I set the operating structure for a portfolio spanning 13 regulated brands, several disciplines, and competing delivery demands.
IPG Health · Portfolio Operating Model
Challenge
The portfolio grew faster than the structure meant to manage it. Staffing decisions, financial oversight, quality review, and risk escalation were each handled differently from one account to the next. Leadership could not see capacity across the portfolio, compare priorities between brands, or intervene before a delivery problem reached a client.
Action
I built one operating model covering intake, prioritization, staffing reviews, delivery checkpoints, financial oversight, quality ownership, and escalation criteria. The Portfolio Charter and Investment Map became the single view program managers worked from: commitments, accountable owners, decision rights, and investment boundaries in one place rather than a separate answer per account. Recurring portfolio reviews gave leadership somewhere to resolve resource conflicts and delivery risk at portfolio level instead of brand by brand. The mandate, its investment boundary, and its decision rights were approved before the model went into use, so the structure carried authority rather than agreement alone.
Result
The model carried a $51 million portfolio across 13 regulated healthcare brands while the organization grew from roughly five people to more than 60. Portfolio-level control stayed visible through that growth: leadership kept a current view of staffing, delivery health, and escalation as more brands came under the same structure. Sanofi tested it against a deadline that could not move: $24 million of work scoped, and twelve junior and senior staff trained within six months so the account was ready before vaccine season.
