Stephen Small, BA & MA

Senior Principal, London

Stephen, a Senior Principal in the London office, has 24 years’ experience in brand and commercial strategic consulting, marketing and communications. Previous positions include Principal in the Strategy Consulting team at IQVIA and Head of Commercial Strategy for Consulting at McCann Health.

He has led a wide range of brand and commercial strategy projects, including opportunity assessment and prioritisation, market research / stakeholder insight, patient journeys, situation analysis, market landscaping, competitive wargames / scenario planning, differentiation, positioning, segmentation, brand planning, key message development, launch planning and market development strategy.

Stephen has experience in a wide range of therapeutic areas, such as respiratory, immunology, CV/diabetes, pain, neurology, rare disease and oncology. He also has a DPhil in Modern History and a 1st class BA (Hons) in Politics, Philosophy & Economics from Oxford University (UK), as well as an MA in History from the University of Michigan (US).

What do you consider your strengths?

I hope I bring high-quality strategic thinking to any challenge and always try to ground that thinking on deep understanding of landscapes or stakeholders to reveal genuine insight. I’m a clear, logical thinker that can identify the key issues, and I have the experience to understand their implications for clients. I also have strong workshop facilitation skills developed over many years of workshop design and delivery for leading Pharma clients.

I like to bring clarity and simplicity to complex problems. Good strategy is about focus. It’s about understanding the key barriers and drivers for success and using them to define a clear plan that everyone can agree on and execute. Clarity and simplicity also mean concise and precise communication of the strategy, avoiding jargon and ambiguity.

George Gu, MD & MBA, Deallus Principal and Head of China, Shanghai

Background and experience

24 years in the pharmaceutical and healthcare industry
Core expertise in brand and commercial strategy
Broad experience in marketing and communications
Experience working with most of the leading Pharma companies

Life outside of work

I spend time with the family. I like going out for a pint with friends and try to delay decrepitude by going out on my bike with them. I read novels and dabble with writing them. I enjoy taking the dog for a walk. I listen to classical music, and, inexplicably, I’m a season ticket holder at Goodison Park.