Kari Watson

Kari Watson joined Red Sky Partners in 2025 as an Advisor, providing strategic communications counsel to clients navigating high-stakes business and clinical milestones. She has spent nearly 30 years advising life sciences organizations at every stage, from pre-clinical startups to commercial-stage companies, hospital systems, and nonprofits. Her particular expertise lies at the intersection of communications and business strategy, translating scientific and clinical complexity into narratives that build credibility with investors, partners, and patients, and aligning communications strategy with the broader business objectives of a company navigating change.

In addition to her work at Red Sky, Kari continues to lead Owl’s Head Strategies, LLC, the communications advisory practice she founded in 2024 to support emerging and growth-stage biotech companies. Earlier in her career, Kari co-founded MacDougall Advisors in 2002 and helped build it into one of the country’s leading life sciences communications agencies. As leader of the firm’s public relations practice, she served as trusted strategic counsel to more than 75 companies and executive teams on matters including clinical trial initiations and outcomes, crisis response, corporate positioning, emerging company launches, IPO preparation, M&A transactions, and scientific publications. She helped grow the agency from the ground up to a team of more than 30, shaping its culture and vision, driving business development, and leading senior-level recruitment along the way.

Kari is a mentor to communications professionals entering the life sciences industry and remains active in the MacDougall alumni network, which continues to serve as a resource for her clients.

Kari has a BA in Art History from Williams College, complemented by pre-medical coursework — a combination that continues to inform her approach to pairing scientific rigor with compelling storytelling.