Ursa Major Stratégie-Conseil

A trusted sounding board for your decisions

A strategic advisor who serves as a trusted sounding board and mentor to SME leaders.

Manuel Fresnais · Adm.A., EMBA

My experience now informs my strategic advisory work with SME leaders.

Leading a business taught me the importance of checking impressions against facts and connecting financial, people and operational issues. A specialist may clarify one part of a problem; the decision often requires considering the whole.

I created Ursa Major to offer a direct, ongoing and independent relationship. As an advisor and mentor, I help you examine priorities, challenge assumptions and work through your thinking. I support your judgment without making the decision for you.

I combine leadership experience, which gives me a cross-functional view of the business, with an EMBA from UQAM, the Chartered Administrator designation (Adm.A.) and the experience gained by serving on several boards of directors. I approach each situation with a rigorous analytical method: I separate facts from assumptions, make the reasoning traceable and provide a clear recommendation. I sell no software, financing or third-party service. My recommendations remain focused on your situation.

More than fifteen years leading a small or mid-sized business
Chartered Administrator (Adm.A.), a member in good standing of the Ordre des administrateurs agréés du Québec since 2019.
EMBA, Université du Québec à Montréal
Experience serving on several boards of directors

Governance experience

Alongside my work as a business leader, I have served in governance roles across a wide range of organizations.

I served as Commissioner of the Commission des champs de bataille nationaux from 2013 to 2022 and as Board Chair of the Salon Carrière Formation de Québec from 2022 to 2024. I have also chaired other boards of directors.

I currently serve on the board of the Club musical de Québec, as well as its Strategic Planning Committee and Development Committee.

These roles have given me a perspective beyond day-to-day management, with a focus on strategy, governance, development, balancing priorities and the organization’s long-term future.

Selected governance roles

Club musical de Québec — Board member; Strategic Planning Committee; Development Committee
Salon Carrière Formation de Québec — Board Chair, 2022–2024
Commission des champs de bataille nationaux — Commissioner, 2013–2022
CPE Monsieur Grosse-Bedaine — Vice-Chair, then Board Chair, 2014–2016
Alliance BCGMF de Beauport — Board Chair, 2012–2014

Ursa Major

The name Ursa Major

Find your bearings. Set a direction. Move the business forward. Ursa Major takes its name from the Great Bear, a reference for navigation. That idea supports practical work: clarifying priorities, weighing decisions and following their effects over time. The SME leader retains responsibility for decisions and implementation.

Point north.

How I work

What you can expect

A direct relationship

You speak with the person doing the work. There is no intermediary team and no hand-off.

Deliberately limited capacity

Ursa Major works with a small number of SME leaders at a time, so that each relationship gets the time it requires.

Published boundaries

What I do and do not do is written on the Approach page, and it does not change from one client to the next.

Independent recommendations

I sell no software, financing or third-party service.

The next step

Talk with Manuel

If a decision concerns you right now, an hour is enough to go through it together and see whether I can help.

Request an initial conversation

60 minutes, at no cost and with no obligation.