Meet Our Judges

Andrea Isbester
CSO
Publicis

As the Chief Strategy Officer at Publicis, Andrea brings over twenty years of experience on both the agency and client side of the business, dedicated entirely to strategic planning. Her passion is for the creative and ensuring the work, works.

Having worked on a true breadth and depth of clients and businesses, Andrea quickly gets up to speed and has an innate pragmatism that lets her simplify the complicated. She sees the big picture and recognizes the big ideas. She is the definition of collaborative, inspiring all to get to the heart of the business challenge. Her experience includes Canadian Tire, Tim Hortons, Heineken, P&G, Pepsi, Unilever and Visa and Sun Life Financial.

Trinh Tham
CMO: Strategy, E-Commerce, Digital & Revenue

Trinh Tham is a seasoned business leader with a passion for creating value for customers and delivering impactful results, and thrives at the intersection of culture and business.  She is an accomplished brand strategist who has proven expertise in strategic planning, brand building, digital innovation, optimizing customer experience, creating loyalty, P&L management, operational excellence and breakthrough content & creative. 

As the SVP Revenue & Digital Strategy at Universal Music Canada, she drove value across fan touch points to build audience engagement and an unparalleled experience for artists and retail brands. She oversaw the growth of major revenue channels including music streaming, retail, E-Commerce, and label partnerships by leveraging digital marketing, music strategy and consumer insights.

As Chief Marketing Officer for Harry Rosen, Canada’s most iconic luxury menswear retailer,  she oversaw marketing and e-Commerce for a portfolio of banners including Harry Rosen, Final Cut and The Outlet by Harry Rosen.  She was responsible for reinventing how Harry Rosen connects with clients and drove business growth through brand strategies, integrated marketing, product marketing, insights & analytics, loyalty program, digital innovation, PR, store marketing and E-Commerce experience.

She held various roles at Sobeys Inc. including Interim Senior Vice President of Marketing, where she led large-scale business & digital transformation and the development of brand, loyalty, promo and partnership strategies for all banner and private label brands.  As VP Integrated Marketing at Tim Hortons, she led the brand through Canada 150 and numerous product innovations including the latte category.  In the role of Head of Marketing for Entertainment Brands at Bell Media, she launched CraveTV, digital products and popular TV series and sporting events including Game of Thrones and Super Bowl.  She served in senior marketing and merchandising roles at Loblaw Companies Limited where she launched PC Black Label, repositioned private label brands including President’s Choice and No Name, led retail banner brand initiatives for Loblaws, Real Canadian Superstore and No Frills, innovated in multi-cultural marketing, and managed a $2B P&L for Grocery & General Merchandise. 

Trinh is committed to: improving diversity, equity & inclusion, sharing the importance of physical & mental health and promoting continuous learning.  She is honoured to serve on boards of the Canadian Marketing Association, Canadian Women in Sport and Herzing College.

Shane Cameron
CSO
Omnicom Media Group

During his career in marketing,  Shane has worked on the creative agency side, at one of the first, high volume, e-commerce companies in the world, as well as having helped bring a start-up to being publicly traded on the NASDAQ. This cross-section of experience and contribution has led to his commentary being featured in publications such as The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, MSNBC, and Strategy Magazine.

With a dedication towards designing innovative communication platforms, Shane works with clients to think differently with the express purpose of driving better brand and business results.  By combining creative planning ambition with OMG’s advanced data and digital capabilities - Shane has been fortunate enough to have brought award winning/globally recognized to work into the world that has created a measurable improvement in business performance across dozens of clients.

Jay Chaney
Partner, Chief Strategy Officer
Broken Heart Love Affair

Jay has been Canada’s top planner on the Creative Report Card for years in a row and listed as one of the 4 top Planners in the world in 2018, according to AdAge. He is known for pushing the limits of advertising and redefining the strategy and planning role.

Before founding Broken Heart Love Affair, Jay has contributed to several internationally game-changing and award-winning campaigns including SickKids VS, Honey Nut Cheerios ‘Bring Back the Bees’, and McDonald’s ‘Our Food Your Questions’ ­– which set a global standard for transparency in advertising.

A renowned challenger, Jay began his career in the pure play digital world and has successfully connected the online and offline ad worlds, bringing a fresh perspective on what’s happening and, perhaps more importantly, why. Jay has been Chair of the Strategy Program at  Miami Ad School. Prior to founding Broken Heart Love Affair, Jay was CMO at KOHO and served in strategy roles at Cossette, Lg2, Tribal DDB, Critical Mass, and Blast Radius.

Tiffeny Chung
Head of Marketing
Samsung Canada

An agile, business-minded marketing executive, Tiffeny is a creative leader with a track record of driving consistent growth and innovation across the robust Mobile eXperience Division at Samsung Canada. Throughout her career, Tiffeny has consistently delivered strong, award-winning campaigns backed by exceptional results.

With a deep understanding of integrated, digital, and emerging marketing technologies, Tiffeny excels at collaborating with cross-functional teams, retailers, and channel partners to amplify the Samsung Canada business strategy across consumer and business-to-business channels. Among the top two per cent of employees to have received the Samsung President’s Excellence Award for her outstanding contributions to the business, she is a deeply engaged team leader who has spearheaded many firsts at Samsung Canada.

As a devoted early adopter and tech advocate, Tiffeny aims to inspire Canadians to do more of what they love with technology.

Dino Demopoulos
Chief Strategy Officer
GUT

Priyanka Goswami
EVP, Head of Experience + Connections
No Fixed Address

Priyanka has spent almost 20 years in the ad business delivering best in class customer experiences. She has been a strong partner in the digital transformation journey of a range of brands over the years including BMW, Sobeys, Suncor, HP, ecobee, Mars, to name a few. 

Her superpower is meticulously dissecting the customer journey – digging deep into the soul of the customer and unlocking moments of connection, barriers, channels and more. Most recently, Priyanka leads the Experience + Connections team at NFA – responsible for bringing brand platforms to life across the full media ecosystem – owned, paid, and earned, fuelled by ongoing measurement and analytics. 

She is committed to tangible output and action. If there’s a plan, there’s progress. Priyanka is a strong partner to her team and clients and believes that great work is founded on relationships. It’s all about the people – learning together and enjoying the ride. 

Under her leadership, various brands were recognized for creating award–winning work, including Cannes, The One Show, Effie, and CMAs.

When she's not working, she's spending time with her two little girls – a source of all her inspiration and exhaustion!

Elisabeth Jamot
VP, Head of Strategy
Sid Lee

Over the past 17 years, Elisabeth has worked in Strategic Planning utilizing a holistic approach, covering the spectrum of business, brand, digital, social and content. She's now a brand building specialist who believes in the power of branding and thinks big ideas drive activation plans. Elisabeth has been working successfully for both big international businesses and small local companies on campaigns that have been rewarded for their business results and creative value. Originally from Paris, she is a traveler who spent six months in Berlin, two years in London before finally arriving in Montreal in September of 2015. Elisabeth worked at DDB, BETC and TAXI before choosing Sid Lee in 2017.

Lisa Mack
VP, Brand
Telus

As Vice-President, Brand, at TELUS, Lisa leads the integrated brand and marketing efforts across the organization, including brand strategy and marketing, social media, consumer insights and creative services. With the mission to make TELUS one of the world’s most trusted brands, Lisa and her team are strategically focused on continually driving business growth, positioning TELUS as a global technology powerhouse, and reinforcing TELUS’ leadership in social capitalism.

Lisa is a dynamic leader and creative thinker with over 15 years of experience leading brand, marketing communications, and digital transformations for well-known Canadian brands. Lisa joined TELUS in 2014 to help build innovative end-to-end digital experiences for the B2B segment. Using data to drive creative and impactful brand experiences, Lisa led the Marketing Communications & Customer Insights portfolio for TELUS mobility’s three brands TELUS, Koodo and Public. Prior to joining TELUS Lisa held management positions at Publicis Canada, where she was responsible for leading key strategic accounts including Rogers Communications, Canada Post, PayPal and others.

Lisa is an active member of the Canadian marketing community, is Chair of the Canadian Marketing Association’s Creativity Council, and an annual judge of the CMA Awards spanning multiple disciplines, and has spoken at a variety of industry events and is regularly featured in a variety of industry publications and podcasts, such as Strategy Magazine and Marketing News Canada. Lisa lives in Toronto with her husband and two children.

Lance Martin
Chief Creative Officer
DonerNorth

Lance is an agency veteran with over 30 years of experience in the industry. At DonerNorth his focus is on creating ideas that get down to business (aka memorable work that actually sells products). Before that he was integral in the creation of iconic Canadian work for clients like MINI, Nike, Viagra, and Canadian Tire. His work has been recognized by The Marketing Awards, D&AD, Cannes, the One Show, and more.

Subtej Nijjar
CSO
Cossette

With 20+ years in the business, Subtej (Sub) has an unparalleled track record as one of Canada’s leading strategic minds, helping household brands such as Domino’s, IKEA, Best Buy, Molson Coors, Unilever, and American Express innovate and strengthen their business positioning and value. 

A true innovator, Sub served as CMO at Shiftsmart where he contributed to building the company’s brand and communications B2B and B2C strategy. Working in partnership with the company’s newly formed leadership team, he also helped Shiftsmart grow its customer base to two million users. Prior to Shiftsmart, Sub was key in launching Coinberry as the company’s first-ever CMO, and he served as President of Mosaic North America, driving multiple lines of business for some of the top Fortune 500 companies in North America. 

In 2012, Sub founded the integrated creative agency Union, leading the agency through eight years of significant growth. Before founding Union, he led the Canadian operations of CP+B, first in the dual role of EVP, Group Director Cultural and Business Insights, and later as agency President. 

Sub has been celebrated as an industry visionary from the very beginning of his career. In 2005, he was recognized as one of Marketing Magazine’s “Ones to Watch,” an award that celebrates Canada’s brightest minds under the age of 30. Since then, he has used his experience and business insight to help his agencies win over 175 creative awards and honours, including multiple Cannes Lions, One Show Pencils, and a Grand Effie. He has also served as a juror for multiple award shows, including the Effie Awards, the Marketing Awards and the Media Innovation Awards.

Nicole Pekerman
VP, Marketing
GoodLife Fitness

Nicole Pekerman is a marketer with a passion for growing brands and businesses while building strong, successful teams. She’s known in the industry for pushing for remarkable amplification to drive results.

Nicole is an accomplished marketer, mother and entrepreneur who has worked on some of the biggest brands in Canada. Currently Nicole is the VP, Marketing at Goodlife Fitness, the largest group of fitness club chains in Canada and the fourth largest overall in the world.

Prior to her role at Goodlife Fitness, Nicole developed and successfully exited a fitness app, Paid Workout. She spent the majority of her career in Tier 1 CPG and QSR as VP, Marketing at Tim Hortons, Head of Marketing, Weston Foods and Kraft Heinz where she spent over 12 years starting as a product assistant and working up the ranks on some of the best global and local brands including Philadelphia Cream Cheese, KD, Kraft Peanut Butter, and Delissio.

Pascal Routhier
Partner, Head of Strategy
Rethink

During his 15 years as a curious marketer, Pascal has engaged with several disciplines, including product development, sales, consumer research, branding, and communications. In parallel to his role at Rethink, he also teaches marcom at Université de Montréal’s business school, where he tries to demystify a fast-evolving discipline to students who all use ad-blockers. He has advised brands such as A&W, Érable du Québec, Décathlon, and Loto-Québec, and has been consistently recognized in Strategy Magazine's Creative Report Card.

Min Ryuck
SVP, Strategy
Performance Art

Min is a multi-disciplinary marketing strategist with 20 years of both client and agency side experience. Currently the SVP of Strategy at Performance Art, she is passionate about solving complex business challenges through the intersection of creativity, design, comms, data and technology. As a result, she has a proven record of driving meaningful change for brands like Toyota, TELUS, Canon, Unilever, Microsoft and McDonalds.

While Min has received numerous awards and recognition over her career, she is most proud of the resilience of her 5 year old daughter. She also sits on the board of the APG of Canada, helping to foster talent and growth within the planning community.

Christine Smith
Director, Marketing
Hyundai Canada

As the director of marketing for Hyundai Auto Canada Corp. (HACC), Christine Smith leads a team of 20 marketing and PR professionals along with Hyundai Canada’s extended team of agencies and partners. Christine has a proven track record of building high-performing, cross-functional teams, aimed at solving the challenges brands face today in the increasingly complex and fragmented marketing landscape. With a background in digital, direct and CRM marketing, Smith understands how effective marketing and communications plans can solve current business challenges.

Christine believes in the power of creative and media to come together and drive real business impact and is proud to lead the talented and dedicated marketing team at Hyundai.

Prior to joining Hyundai Canada in 2021, Smith was Senior Vice President of Hyundai Canada’s marketing agency of record, Innocean Worldwide, where she led the Hyundai account for four years. 

Christine has over 20 years of marketing experience with more than 15 years of experience in leading integrated agency teams and delivering award-winning marketing and communications campaigns. Prior to joining Hyundai Smith held a number of progressive roles at BBDO in New York and Toronto, and across a number of categories including CPG, automotive, telecommunications and technology.

Jensen Tsoi
Agency Partner, Vice President Creative
Dyversity Communications

Born in Hong Kong, Jensen moved to the United Kingdom, aged 3. He honed his craft in London, achieving a BA(Hons) Degree in Graphic Design from the London College of Communication.

After a spell working in London for design hot-shops on accounts such as Laura Ashley, Marks & Spencer and Toshiba, he moved to Hong Kong, taking up senior roles with Alan Chan Design, Batey Ads, FCB and Leo Burnett. During his time in Asia, he worked on regional accounts such as Microsoft, Reebok, Cathay Pacific, Standard Chartered Bank and Mandarin Hotels, winning numerous national and international awards along the way, including a One Show Gold for his work on Levi’s.

After landing in Canada, Jensen joined Dyversity Communications. As VP Creative, he plays a major role on accounts such as Bell Canada, Canada Post and RBC Royal Bank, helping Dyversity maintain its position as a leading multicultural agency.