Kathryn Barbe

Strategic product marketing leader with 20+ years of experience across healthcare, medical devices, manufacturing and distribution. Combines product lifecycle and portfolio management with commercialization, go-to-market planning, pricing, competitive intelligence and sales enablement. Trusted cross-functional partner to sales, engineering, operations, clinical stakeholders and Regulatory Affairs, with a record of translating complex product information into market-ready programs and practical customer solutions.

• Forecasting
• SAP

1. Marketing Strategy & Product Analytics Consultant

   Independent

   janv. 2024 to Aujourd’hui

   Ontario

   • Advise organizations on commercialization strategy, market analysis, performance reporting and executive decision support. • Develop KPI dashboards and actionable insights that connect marketing activity with sales and business priorities.

2. Product Marketing Manager

   Excelitas Technologies

   janv. 2015 to janv. 2024

   • Supported 26 international distributors with commercialization programs, product positioning, technical marketing and sales enablement. • Partnered with engineering, manufacturing and sales teams to plan and execute global product launches across complex technical portfolios. • Created global catalogues, application-focused collateral, competitive resources and executive dashboards to support customer and channel decisions. • Developed an EV-battery UV-curing application note and a five-video X-Cite XYLIS campaign, translating technical capabilities into market-facing content.

3. Bilingual Marketing Manager

   Deb Group (now SC Johnson)

   janv. 2012 to janv. 2014

   • Led Canadian healthcare marketing, commercialization and sales-support initiatives, including collateral, digital content and customer communications. • Worked with Regulatory Affairs to ensure product claims and healthcare marketing communications met Health Canada requirements. • Identified and escalated an unsupported competitor claim of exclusive Health Canada approval; collaborated with Marketing Communications and Regulatory Affairs, contributing to its removal from the competitor’s website. • Investigated product-dispensing performance concerns, documented findings for senior leadership and helped support corrective product decisions.

4. Marketing & Sales Support Manager

   EastRock Inc.

   janv. 2011 to janv. 2012

   • Supported marketing, pricing, proposals and business development for industrial equipment, working closely with sales and customers. • Coordinated a complex Montréal trade-show installation involving large industrial equipment and significant logistical requirements.

5. Marketing Specialist | Product Portfolio Manager

   Ecolab

   janv. 2007 to janv. 2011

   • Managed a portfolio of 5,000+ SKUs supporting healthcare, institutional and foodservice customers. • Supported commercialization of the Keystone product family and launch materials for approximately 800 sales representatives across Canada and the United States. • Partnered with R&D, sales, supply chain and operations on product launches, pricing, forecasting, profitability analysis, tenders, recalls and customer requirements. • Presented a business case that initiated packaging and formulation standardization, contributing to manufacturing and warehouse efficiencies. • Advocated for early GS1 product-data integration to improve product information accuracy and downstream commercial processes. • Supported hospital and healthcare customers during the 2009 H1N1 pandemic, responding to increased demand for hand sanitizers and infection-prevention products.

6. Product Coordinator – Spine, Trauma & External Fixation

   Zimmer (Zimmer Biomet)

   janv. 1999 to janv. 2007

   • Supported national medical-device portfolios across the product lifecycle, including launches, pricing, tenders, inventory coordination, surgeon education, orthopaedic cadaver workshops and field-sales support. • Managed a physician-ordered, temperature-controlled viscosupplementation knee-injection product, coordinating product availability, specialized handling requirements, customer support and sales education. • Developed a distributor reference binder that provided quick answers to common product and process questions, saving time and strengthening sales and marketing effectiveness. • Served as a cross-functional link among sales representatives, hospitals, surgeons and internal teams, and helped resolve customer and order-processing issues during a major system upgrade. • Selected to provide after-hours and weekend emergency implant pager support, coordinating time-sensitive product access for hospitals and surgical teams.

1. Athabasca University

   Bachelor of Management

   In Progress – 6 credits

2. Cambrian College

   Business Administration & Human Resources