CRAIG M. TOOHEY
business management consultant & fractional manager
helping ecologically-conscious small businesses maximize their impact
helping ecologically-conscious small businesses maximize their impact
Across 15 years in the North American energy-efficient construction industry, I have been compelled by a singular mission: to improve our relationship with the natural world by developing and promoting reliable alternatives to the status quo. But my experience as an analyst, project manager, and sales director has taught me that the most successful climate solutions need more than just a good idea—they need strong customer relationships and resilient organizational bones.
My focus is not on startups or heavily investor-led bets on game-changing technologies.
It is on building business literacy, culture, operational efficiency, and lasting impact for passionate leaders who want to create tangible organic growth for a business that exists in a dynamic, beneficial relationship to their community, their place, and today's broader environmental and social challenges.
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I am a father of two, a musician, a cyclist, a maker of things, and an environmentalist, living outside of Lyon, France since 2020 when the nature of work experienced a fundamental change that allowed me to start something new.
I had spent most of that year somewhat (happily) stranded in Mexico after my now wife and I had the impeccable timing of starting a year of traveling at the beginning of February 2020, only to have our plans slightly derailed. This was a time of personal growth for me where I had the chance to explore a variety of personal passions, from fabricating musical instruments, to learning about and practicing permaculture, studying earthen plasters at Mexico's leading natural building school, and visiting a variety of experimental projects and leaders in sustainable living, agro-forestry, and ecological building across the southern US and Mexico.
In August of 2020, I started a relationship with a custom home prefabrication business in British Columbia, Canada, that wanted to take 5 years of early business traction to the next level. Having worked the previous 5 years as the business development director for a Brooklyn, NY-based building materials importer specializing in Passive House and other high-performance and carbon-storing building principles, I was able to combine industry expertise and personal networks with a passion for the same values that drove the owners, and jumped right in.
From 2020 to today I've worked to help this company look and feel like a lasting, viable business by focusing on bringing rigor to their sales effort, defining their company identity, improving financial and inventory management, purchasing and developing their second-generation facility with the help of grants and other financing, and a variety of other initiatives.
In 2026, I decided to open up my consulting practice to other clients in order to broaden my experience and take the next step in my career. My life experience has been truly international, and so it was time for my work to continue to build upon this life experience. Born in Montreal, raised in New York and Sydney (Australia), educated at McGill University in Montreal, living in Seattle, traveling across the US to green building conferences, visiting prefabrication shops and CLT manufacturers in Austria, Switzerland, & Germany, living in France - all of these experiences have taught me that the challenges we face as humans are shared: to create connection, to feel purpose, to be present and have integrity, and to create a better world for our children. Fluent in French and English, my aim is to bridge the gap between North America and Europe by continuing to promote the cross-cultural learning opportunities that have defined our societies for the past 400 years.
Some people find purpose by becoming a doctor, or helping the homeless. My purpose comes from creating the structures that allow people to vote with their values - businesses that offer another way to do things - too often at the margins, but oh-so-necessary to move the tide forward nonetheless. Our shared responsibility in protecting biodiversity and protecting our humanity isn't just quixotic. It's existential. My purpose is a duty. If you feel the same, let's work together to create a more just, more beautiful world.
I went to business school, but I was a bit of a misfit. Looking around me, I saw smart people chasing high-paying jobs for prestige and personal gain more than for a more holistic purpose. I couldn't do it. I was fascinated by what I learned about some business leaders changing the world through entrepreneurship, but in studying business strategy, most of my colleagues were becoming consultants a the big 4 consulting firms. I tried to walk that walk, but I quickly learned that I didn't fit in. I wanted to change the world, to fight for the environment by building businesses focused on environmental sustainability - not to tell CEOs what to do with fancy powerpoint presentations and then walk away with a check and zero responsibility for what happened next. I wanted to get my hands dirty and help businesses not just with strategy but with execution.
By far the most impactful concept I learned about in business school was a model of ecology applied to organizational development called Panarchy. Panarchy's infinity loop-style chart shows how ecosystems - and organizations - go from levels of low connectedness and potential (the entrepreneur's domain) through to a level of high connectedness and potential (the manager's domain) as the system grows, but that every system goes through shocks that require the system be dismantled and reorganized to meet changing realities.
In recent years, I've started hearing more and more calls for "de-growth" ("decroissance" was coined in the 1970s by Andre Gorz in France). While I'm not an advocate for endless economic growth without incorporating environmental and social externalities, I challenge this notion that growth is bad. Every ecosystem goes through cycles of growth and rebirth, as explained by Panarchy. It's the systems that are best adapted to this cycle of renewal that succeed in perpetuating their existence, as humanity has.
So - for businesses that want to grow, know they need some help, but can't necessarily afford high-cost executives, how can we move beyond the allergy to a "consultant" coming in to tell you how they think you should run your business? I believe that in today's world of accelerating change and instability, the idea of fractional management is having its moment. Why? Because managing change is what allows businesses to stay viable, and to manage change you need to to devise, build, execute, and adapt your business systems to suit the challenges you face.
Small businesses can't always afford to hire a full-time General Manager, Operations Manager, Sales Manager, Marketing Manager, CFO, CSO, COO, or other key management personnel, but in order to grow, they often need the work that one of these positions provide. Where consulting relies on there being someone already within the organization to execute the strategy and changes recommended by the consultant, bringing in part-time help from a Fractional Operations Manager, Fractional Business Development Manager, or other key management role can:
provide a better frame for expected financial commitments and results
let owners and existing staff maintain focus on existing business process continuity
act as a bridge for defining what a new role can bring to a growing organization, as well as mapping the timing and milestones for bringing in more full-time support
allow specific challenges to be addressed with confidence in the project management and execution of proposed solutions
bring outside perspectives to hard-to-see issues and potential solutions the organization faces
Fractional management engagements can be big or small, long or short, continuous or periodic. Understanding your organization by executing key functions rather than simply providing research and benchmarks to tell you where to go is, I believe, a powerful way to build strong business fundamentals, from how to hire and keep good people, to how to understand, track, and improve cash management, among many other things. It is in moments of change that solutions that once worked also must be reassessed, eliminated, and adapted so that organizations can remain competitive, relevant, and continue to do their best work.
Too much management advice defines the end goal first and fails to ask the right questions and identify the most appropriate solutions. If your goal is a car, you can spend time and money designing the chassis, the engine, and the interior. But by the time the car is finished, you might realize you didn't need a car at all - you just needed to get from point A to point B comfortably and safely.
I use an iterative approach taken from what's known in software development as "agile development" but what we can just call "the bicycle model".
We identify your most pressing challenge—whether it’s a bottleneck in sales or a lack of clarity in HR. Instead of an overhaul, we build a "skateboard." It’s the simplest, most functional version of a solution. It gets us moving immediately and allows us to test our assumptions without a massive capital investment.
Once we’re moving, we see what’s missing. Maybe we need more stability or a bit more speed. We add "handlebars." We refine the process, automate a few tasks, and gather feedback from your team. We are learning how to balance while we are already in motion.
Finally, we add the pedals and the gears. We arrive at a "bicycle"—a highly efficient, human-powered machine that is perfectly suited to your terrain. Because we built it iteratively, your team actually knows how to maintain it. It isn't a "black box" solution dropped in by an outsider; it’s a system that grew organically from your company’s unique culture.
Modifying your pricing strategy to improve profitability while remaining competitive?
Structuring the products and services you provide?
Communicating more actively and consistently with your customers?
Finding and attracting smart, hard-working, competent people?
Expanding to a new market? Exploring regulatory risks?
Applying for grants to help with an expansion of your activities?
Implementing software to keep track of your customers, human resources, assets, or quality control?
Automating business processes to limit user input?
Quantifying and communicating the environmental benefits of your products or services to customers?
Changing your organization's relationship with the natural world?
Have you already tried an online service that promised you results, but your needs weren't fulfilled? What if someone took control of this within your organization and ensured the task was completed beyond your expectations?
Book a time with me to discuss your vision and what success might look like for you.