Meet Our Judges

Andre Louis
President
The&Partnership

André is an accomplished strategic thinker and passionate advocate of the power of creativity to better brands, businesses and the world we live in.

With a broad base of international experience spanning a range of industries, André is a quick study and loves learning the dynamics of new categories. He prides himself on his ability to make small things big, and big things simple.

His collaborative nature and management skills have equipped him to lead teams and organizations recognized for delivering progressive solutions to the most challenging marketing situations.

Lisa Mack
Vice President, Brand Marketing
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.

Matt Ball
Head of Strategy
VMLY&R

Nadia Beale
President
MSL Group

I oversee MSL's (Publicis Groupe’s PR agency) daily operations and led its transformation into one of Canada’s most respected communications agencies. With a track record of uninterrupted growth at the company over several years, I have demonstrated how earned media, social media and influencer marketing can enrich a business and its reputation; and contribute to tangible growth.

My passion for pushing the boundaries of PR and elevating it into a true strategic advantage for brands has put me at the forefront of some of this country’s most innovative and iconic campaigns from organizations like P&G, Walmart, WKKC (formerly Kelloggs), Amazon and Indigo. 

As a deeply committed community advocate, I launched our community giving practice—MSL Cares—that brings our team together to back to local causes while volunteering our time as a collective.

Simon Cazelais
Director, Global Marketing Strategy & Innovation
BRP

Simon Cazelais is Vice-President of Global Brand Strategy and Innovation at BRP. He manages a global portfolio of brands such as Ski-Doo, Sea-Doo, Can-Am, and Lynx, overseeing Global CX Strategy, Brand Strategy and Consumer Engagement. In 2019, he launched the BRP’s commercial innovation lab, BRP-X, and its first incubated venture, Uncharted Society, a global powersports adventure service.

He has been working in the field of marketing and communication for over 15 years. For nearly a decade he worked at Bleublancrouge, one of the largest Canadian independent advertising agency, where he held the role of VP Strategy and Development and of President and Partner. During his 9 years at Bleublancrouge, he supported companies in their strategic development, growth and transformation. In 2018 he became Head of Growth and Business Development at Lune Rouge Venture Fund before joining BRP in April 2019.

Simon has also taught the performance of sponsorship programs at HEC Montreal as well as at the University of Montreal for several years in his capacity.

His work has been recognized on numerous occasions such as the Cassies, Media Innovation Awards, WARC Effectiveness Award, Shopper Marketing Awards, Prix Idéa, Festival of Media Global, Créa, Boomerang, Marketing Awards, and Cannes Lions. In 2017, he won the prestigious Marketer on the Rise award from the American Marketing Association. Since 2018, he sits on the Board of Directors of Collège Notre-Dame.

Fanny Chabot
Brand Strategy Consultant
Independent

AJ Jones
CSO
McCann

AJ is first and foremost a fan of creative problem solving and the power of advertising. In a
career that has involved working in multiple markets in Europe and North America, AJ has had
the good fortune of working on some of the world’s most famous brands and elevating some
hidden gems previously unknown. Having judged both creative and effectiveness shows across
a number of regions AJ is well dialled in to identifying great work. AJ sits on McCann
Worldgroup’s Global Strategic Leadership Council and since joining McCann Canada AJ has
helped bring the agency to 3 rd in the Strategy Agency of the Year.

Laura Kim
Chief Strategy Officer
Edelman

As Chief Strategy Officer of Edelman Canada, Laura brings a unique, powerful style of strategy to every aspect of the business. Her background in cognitive psychology, extensive experience in global brand transformation, and constant integration of strategy and creative delivers disproportionate growth for her clients.  

Throughout her career in the US and Canada, Laura has consistently created change at scale: building research and strategy at SapientNitro; co-creating the innovation group at Leo Burnett Chicago; and growing category-leading brands such as Unilever, Tencent, McDonald's, Tim Hortons, Pfizer, and Allstate. Laura’s work has been recognized at Cannes, D&AD, The One Show, Jay Chiat Awards, Clio Awards, Effie Awards, and more.

Michelle Lee
Freelance Strategist and Principal
Uncommon Sense

Michelle is a seasoned marketing strategy leader with a proven track record of delivering effective business results and disruptive insights for brands across a broad range of industries. She has worked at multi-national agencies including Ogilvy & Edelman as well as boutique/independent shops including Rethink and ?WhatIf! Innovation. In 2021, Michelle founded Uncommon Sense, a strategic consultancy that brings together brand and digital strategy, research, innovation and behavioural science in order to deliver an uncommon perspective that makes awfully good sense.

Lisa Mazurkewich
Head of Marketing
Subway

Lisa Mazurkewich is a strategic marketing professional with leadership experience building iconic brands and delivering outstanding performance. Mazurkewich is passionate about coupling consumer understanding with strategic, creative and digital capabilities to deliver integrated campaigns and new product innovation. Her brand history includes Ulta Beauty, Starbucks, Bacardi, TJX, Fire & Flower and P&G. Since joining Subway Canada in August of 2022, Mazurkewich has made positive, lasting impacts, including executing hugely successful brand campaigns such as "Subway Series" and "Eat Fresh Refresh."

Julian Morgan
Partner, Head of Strategy
Rethink

Bob Park
Chief Brand Officer
GE Appliances

Bob Park is the Chief Brand Officer for GE, Café, Monogram and Haier Appliances in Canada. In addition to corporate communications and branding, his responsibility encompasses strategy, public relations, digital, advertising, promotions, and E-Commerce initiatives. Drawing on more than 15 years of B2B/B2C sales and marketing experience, including leadership roles with globally recognized home electronics and computer brands, he is a proponent of digital innovation as well as a retail execution strategist. Bob has been recognized for championing women's equity initiatives as well as spearheading corporate involvement with Canada Soccer. Bob also serves the Canadian marketing community on the Strategy Magazine CMO Council and CMO Council Global Advisory Board.

Ryan Roberts
SVP, Group Strategy Director
Leo Burnett

Ryan Roberts oversees strategy at Leo Burnett Toronto as SVP, Group Strategy Director. Previously, Ryan held strategy positions at McCann, CP+B, and Zig, He also led global brand strategy while client-side at Scotiabank.

Throughout his career, Ryan’s work has contributed to numerous awards including at the Effies, Ogilvy Awards, CMAs and Marketing Awards. Ryan regularly participants in industry events and award shows, and he volunteers his time working with students.

Ryan studied advertising at Mohawk College and law at the University of Ottawa.

Ben Seaton
CEO
UM

Ben brings a wealth of experience to his pivotal role as CEO of UM Canada, with over 18 years in the industry and significant client-side expertise. As EVP Client Business Partner, Ben drove successful new business acquisitions for UM and managed critical clients in Canada. His talent and passion earned him and his team multiple awards, recognizing the exceptional work and results created in partnership with his clients. Before joining UM, Ben held various client-side positions at major brands, including Nike, Coca-Cola, and Anheuser-Busch InBev.

Ya Shan Waley
Chief Marketing & Communications Officer
North York General Hospital Foundation

Ya Shan is a seasoned marketing and communications leader with over 20 years of experience in the private and non-profit sectors.  She is currently Chief Marketing & Communications Officer at North York General Hospital Foundation, supporting the #1 community academic hospital in Canada and one of the top 100 in the world, where she leads all marketing, communications, branding, and donor experience. Prior to her current role, Ya Shan was Senior Director, Marketing & Communications at True Patriot Love Foundation, one of Canada’s most respected military charities that provides support to serving members of the Canadian Armed Forces, Veterans, and their families. Ya Shan also spent over a decade in progressive marketing and communications positions at TELUS, one of the country’s largest telecommunications companies. This included roles leading the company’s largest charitable partnerships, managing strategic communications for senior leaders, and developing large-scale national marketing campaigns for the company’s award-winning brand.

Iain Beauchamp
Marketing & Strategy Leader
Freelance

Amy Bi
Global Vice President, Brand
DECIEM

Marie-Lou Blais
Communication Director
Decathlon

Dustin Brown
Chief Strategy Officer
Elemental

What started as a passion for people has blossomed into 16 year career as an advertising
leader. Dustin began his career on the Client Services side of the business working his way up
to Head of Client Services at Elemental, leading brands like Scene+, Baffin, Starbucks and
Campari Canada. From there, Dustin’s role expanded to include leading new business and
revenue efforts at the agency helping grow the agency in both head count and agency fees. For
the last 5 years, Dustin has taken on the role of Chief Strategy Officer and was ranked as one of the Top 40 Strategists in the country. Dustin brings his expertise to a host of amazing clients,
including; Meridian Credit Union, Canada Life, Riviana (Minute Rice, Tilda, Olivieri), Momentum
Financial Services, Baffin, Barilla, Oceana Canada and more.

Stephanie Goyette
Head of Marketing and Strategy, Taste Elevation
Kraft Heinz Company

Stephanie Goyette has 21 Years of CPG experience at Kraft Heinz Canada.   She has spearheaded various organizational roles from sales, shopper marketing, corporate scale promotions, marketing and strategy roles.  Stephanie is currently Head of Marketing and Strategy, Taste Elevation at Kraft Heinz Canada, which encompasses  all sauces, spreads and cheese portfolio including beloved brands Heinz, Kraft, Philadelphia, Kraft Peanut Butter Bears and more.  In addition she is involved within various D&I corporate events and acting as Kraft Heinz Canada and North American Coffee Employee Engagement Lead.  She received the 2022 Star Women in Grocery Award from Canadian Grocer Magazine, 2019 Kraft Heinz Canada Business employee of the year, 2018 Brand Innovators Women to Watch in Brand Marketing.

Ryan Hughes
CSO & Head of Client Success, Humanity
Humanity

Over almost two-decades of actionable insight-driven thinking, Ryan has developed an innovative approach to behaviour-led strategic planning that has seen him working for agencies, start-ups, political campaigns, global brands and being the recipient of multiple national marketing awards. 

Des Jones
Chief Strategy Officer
TBWA

Des has worked in strategic roles in advertising and marketing for the last 21 years in multiple
sectors but with a strong focus on financial services, retail, telcoms and automotive. His strategic approach focuses on meeting the tangible needs of businesses and uncovering creative opportunities. He believes that marketing strategy is not a purist, academic discipline but more a mixture of the practical and the inspirational. Done right he says “it has the power to drive beautifully, creative solutions and deliver disruptive levels of growth.”

Shereen Ladha
Vice President, Creative Strategy Lead
Hill & Knowlton

Shereen Ladha is an award-winning strategist with experience working on global brands like Google, IKEA, and Adidas, and a graduate of the MBA program at the Schulich School of Business. Shereen embodies the combination of creative and strategy in her new role at Hill & Knowlton and outside of it - she is also a professional dance artist and the director of popular YouTube channel, dancewithSL, named by Google as one of Youtube’s Canadian Stars on the rise. Shereen was a finalist on Canada’s Got Talent and has produced installations with Nuit Blanche and the Toronto International Film Festival. 

Catherine Laporte
Senior Vice President Marketing & Consumer Expierance
RONA

Catherine Laporte is a marketing and e-commerce expert who is known for her leadership, creativity, and business acumen. She joined RONA in 2018 as Divisional Vice-President, E-

Commerce. She was appointed Vice-President, Marketing in 2019 and promoted to Senior Vice-President, Marketing and Customer Experience in February 2024. In this role, she oversees the development of the RONA and Réno-Dépôt brands, while actively participating in the rollout of the new RONA+ banner, which demonstrates the company’s renewed commitment to the iconic RONA brand.

Catherine first made her mark at the ALDO Group where she tested the launching the Little Burgundy and Locale brands and contributed to the development of the Call It Spring brand in North America and internationally. Before joining RONA, she was Vice-President, Marketing and E-Commerce at DAVIDsTEA, where she worked to create a customer-focused centre of excellence. Catherine is a graduate of the John Molson School of Business and is actively involved in the Montréal community as a board member of the Fondation petits trésors. In addition, she is a sponsor for the RONA’s LGBTQ2+ BRG, member of the board for Éducaloi, and chair of the board for the RONA Foundation since February 2024.

Jennifer Lo
Vice President Marketing
Irving Products

Jennifer Lo is Vice President Marketing at Irving Consumer Products and a member of the Executive Leadership Team.  She leads a team of diverse marketers to support the North American tissue business including Canada’s iconic brand, Royale.  She joined Irving in 2022 and previously spent 18 years in various sales and marketing roles at Procter & Gamble in Canada and the United States. 

Andrew Mushing
Senior Manager Media and Marketing Excellence
Hershey

Andrew is Senior Manager of Media and Marketing Excellence for Hershey

Thomas Newitt
VP Marketing
A&W

Tom joined A&W in 2012 as it began a new strategy and Tom has led the Marketing and Communications team in repositioning the brand successfully as the leader in great tasting natural food for burger lovers in Canada.

Originally from the UK, Tom holds a BA Degree in Human Science from Oxford University and has held various marketing positions with Reckitt Benckiser and Kellogg's in the UK. Tom moved with his young family to Vancouver in 2007 and joined Nature's Path Organic Foods where he was Director of Brand Management and Research before joining A&W in 2012.

Doug Potwin
Principal
Stirring Strategies

Currently the principal at Stirring Strategies, Doug is a strategist’s Strategist with over twenty-five years of experience at some of Canada’s top agencies. He is a minimalist at heart, which is reflected in his mantra: Strategy is about making choices. Throughout his career he’s helped clients in a range of categories make the right choices; the insights he’s mined have informed work that has won many awards in Canada and beyond, while driving those businesses forward. 

Sammy Rifai
Chief Strategy Officer
Initiative

Sammy is an award-winning strategist with over a decade of experience in media and creative disciplines. His unique ability to bring actionable cultural insights that inspire creative thinking and a deep-rooted understanding of consumer behaviour has helped drive transformational results for his clients. 

Tammy Sadinsky
Chief Marketing Officer

Rebecca Stutley
Senior Vice President Brand, Storytelling & Communications
Kids Help Phone

Rebecca Stutley is the Senior Vice President, Brand, Storytelling and Communications at Kids Help Phone. She joined the organization in 2018.

For over 20 years, Rebecca has honed her craft in agencies and as a client across a range of categories and brands from homegrown to global. She has a proven track record of building emotionally relevant and resonant creative platforms that people connect with and respond to. Her contributions have led to award-winning work for brands such as TD and IKEA, and most recently for Kids Help Phone.

At KHP, Rebecca leads a cross-functional team of storytellers who develop and deploy service outreach strategies, revenue generating campaigns, internal and strategic communications, immersive and empowering content and personalized recognition of generous donors from coast to coast to coast.

As a passionate collaborator, Rebecca spearheaded Kids Help Phone’s brand transformation in 2022. KHP’s new identity and creative platform reflect the organization as a space where young people can Feel Out Loud by freeing themselves from any issue, question or worry that weighs them down.

As a mother to two sons, Rebecca is personally driven to enrich the lives of all youth in Canada by normalizing conversations about mental health and destigmatizing help-seeking behaviours. As a storyteller, she’s humbled by the opportunity to make meaningful social impact through such a beloved and important brand.

Maxine Thomas
Chief Strategy Officer
Zulu Alpha Kilo

Maxine has spent her career in some of Canada’s most admired advertising agencies. Prior to Zulu, she was a partner and Head of Strategy at Rethink and spent 16 years as a partner at TAXI. Her combination of business vision and an inspiring way with words has significantly contributed to some of the best-known and most effective brand campaigns of the past two decades. Maxine’s two favourite things are a business problem and a blank sheet of paper. 

Ian Westworth
SVP Head of Strategy & Effectiveness
Grey Canada/TANK Worldwide

Regardless of the strategic challenge at hand, Ian believes the solution should be based on a deep understanding of the truth, facts and human behaviour that helps us understand a client’s business, brand, consumer, and broader cultural trends. He believes strategy should make the complex simple. And it should not live in an ivory tower, it must be inspiring, clear, and actionable. He is relentless in the pursuit of developing insightful strategies that inspire big ideas, build brand fame, and drive real business results. Over the course of his 25-year career, Ian has honed his craft at world-class agencies in Canada and the US including BBDO, Grip Limited, Leo Burnett, BBH, JWT, and for the past 8-years he’s held the role of Head of Strategy and Effectiveness at Grey. And he’s applied his craft to help build great brands including Volvo, Labatt, Kellogg’s, Guinness, Bell, Honda, Nintendo, Special Olympics, Wrigley, and many more.

Agatha Wronecka
VP, Marketing Communications
Walmart

Agatha Wronecka is Vice President, Marketing Communications at Walmart Canada. She joined
Walmart in 2021 and is responsible for communication strategy and advertising throughout the
omni-channel experience, including in-store, e-commerce and private brands. She drives the
company’s efforts in strengthening the Walmart brand, generating demand and building
customer loyalty.

Agatha has 20 years of business leadership experience in retail marketing and advertising, with
expertise in crafting innovative brand strategies that resonate with consumers and drive
business growth. Agatha began her career agency side, where she honed her skills
crafting compelling narratives and impactful campaigns for top tier brands across retail, CPG,
health and financial sectors. She is dedicated to fusing data-driven insights with creative
ingenuity to drive transformative initiatives in a rapidly changing consumer landscape. 
Before joining Walmart, Agatha served as AVP, Marketing at Canadian Tire Corporation and
prior to that, held business and strategic leadership positions at a number of Canadian
advertising agencies, including Taxi, TBWA/Juniper Park and Leo Burnett.