Meet Our Judges

Andrea Isbester
Chief Strategy Officer
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
President
No Fixed Address inc.

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.

Cam Landell
President, Partner & Strategist
Wasserman

Cam is a brand-focused, performance-driven digital marketer and brand strategist with a natural ability to make good stuff happen. He was part of the original Wasserman over 20 years ago and has returned as President, Partner, and Strategist. Before rejoining Wasserman, Cam led and grew several agencies on the West Coast. He has a remarkable track record of delivering impactful results for blue chip clients and has a knack for exploring communications opportunities at all levels of organizations. Cam works tirelessly to unearth breakthrough strategies that elevate the creative connections between brands and their key audiences.

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.

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.

John Rocco
VP and Head of Global Brand Management
Scotiabank

Mine has been a journey of learning: I’ve had the good fortune to work through some of the most transformative eras of marketing. Through leadership roles at Scotiabank, Target, Loblaws, Indigo, and others, my career has been shaped by driving inspiring teams toward massive brand transformations. I’ve seen amazing things happen when we combine data science and technology with the art of marketing and storytelling. 

The craft of storytelling and building emotional connections with customers is what gets me on the train every morning. 

When not “branding,” I spend every moment with my brilliant wife, our two sons and our non-hunting hunting dogs. I am a tortured non-published author who will one day finish that book. I am also a lifetime student currently embarking on a journey to a PhD in Marketing,  mainly so my friends have to call me Dr. J.

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
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.

Rafik Belmesk
CSO
Dentsu Creative

Rafik has held strategic roles in brand, customer engagement, digital, and social change strategy in various markets across North America and APAC. This cross-disciplinary path has shaped his media-neutral approach to communications and its impact on businesses.

In the last few years, he has applied his approach to local and international brands such as Coca-Cola, Vitaminwater, Intel, Fido, VW, Audi, Intuit, McDonald’s, SingTel, Unilever, Amnesty International and WWF.  He has an uncanny ability to get to the heart of a client’s issue in an instant, to present it with clarity, and to inspire refreshing ideas around him.

Rafik is a self-proclaimed advertising nerd and brings the same level of enthusiasm and optimism to every mandate. His work has been recognized at effectiveness and creative award shows both locally and internationally.

A big champion of creative innovation, he co-founded the Tomorrow Awards, an advertising award show that rewards future-shaping advertising (which was acquired by the New York Art Directors Club), as well as Young Glory, a global education program for young creatives, which has a cult following in places like Australia, Portugal, Singapore, and Hungary.

Prior to Dentsu, Rafik held roles TAXI, Ogilvy Singapore, Edelman and LG2.

Katherine
Bond-Debicki
CMO
KFC

Katherine serves as the Chief Marketing Officer for KFC Canada. In her role, she oversees allomnichannel marketing planning, communications, corporate reputation  and innovation development for the Canadian business unit and is responsible for brand health and profitable revenue growth.

Katherine kick started her career in Ireland, working for Procter & Gamble across its Baby, Fabric and Home Care portfolios. She made the leap to the land of the golden fried good stuff, joining the KFC UKI business where she worked for a number of years before transferring to KFC Canada. Over her time at KFC, she has had incredible opportunities to champion a move to omnichannel retail, a dedication to redefining Finger Lickin’ Good for today’s generation across food, planet and people initiatives, and championing a return of brand building marketing.

Katherine is a believer in foresight and the power of marketing to influence organizational change. Outside of the office, she is an avid traveler, a culinary enthusiast (although she has mastered the eating more than the cooking) and a mom of two.

Josh Budd
CCO
Citizen Relations

Josh joined Citizen Relations as its first Chief Creative Officer in 2021, the same year he was ranked as one the World’s Most Awarded Creatives by The Drum. One year later, he was named Creative Professional of the Year at the North American Sabres. During his time in both creative advertising and PR, Josh’s work has been recognized from Cannes to the Clios, and twice named to Fast Company’s World Changing Ideas. He's an active industry participant as a juror, panelist, and has worked with the next generation of creative talent at the Miami Ad School. After stints in Los Angeles and Vancouver, Josh lives in Toronto with his wife (who also works in PR) and their two children. He loves comedy, NBA basketball, and pretending he’s knowledgeable about wine.

Graham Candy
CSO
Angry Butterfly

Graham did his PhD in Cultural Anthropology at the University of Toronto, examining how trust is built in online games. He has 10+ years marketing and research experience and has led insights/strategy at two 100+ person agencies. He is also a grand prix winner at the Canadian Magazine awards, a cited academic author, and an invited speaker at UC Berkeley.

Lindsay Cook
VP, Control Brand, Social Media COE and Loyalty Marketing
Loblaw

Lindsay Cook is the Vice President of Divisional Marketing and Social Media with Loblaw Companies Ltd. She brings with her 16 years of strategic marketing and communications experience in the competitive retailing market having championed fashion, beauty, home and food brands and banners. She began her career at Loblaw in 2007 quickly advancing to more senior levels of responsibility within the organization. Lindsay oversaw the launch of four Joe Fresh standalone stores in New York City, later moving to New York to oversee enterprise-level marketing for the global brand including international launches and developing partnerships in untapped regions such as South Korea and the Middle East. Most recently Lindsay returned to the food side of the Loblaw business to assume her current role, leading marketing for the Loblaw conventional group of grocery stores as well as leading Social Media strategy and content for the enterprise.

Julian Franklin
President
Franklin Management Group

Julian Franklin is a Canadian Marketing Hall of Fame member, and business leader with 20+ years client and agency experience in consumer-packaged goods and sports industries. His expertise includes strategic planning, communications, and marketing. His career is distinguished by marketing leadership roles in Canada and the U.S. where he perennially achieved successful business results. Julian has worked for industry leading organizations Toronto Blue Jays, Weston Foods, and Kraft Heinz, where he was North American lead for Kraft Hockeyville. As Managing Director for Geometry Global, he was responsible for leading high-performance teams and creating retail marketing programs for Unilever, GSK, Tim Horton’s and Danone.
Currently he is President, Franklin Management Group Inc. (FMG), a strategic planning, sponsorship and activation consultancy for blue chip clients Danone, Clorox, Kids Help Phone, Kruger, Amazon, Lerners Law Group, and Dairy Farmers of Ontario. Julian’s corporate governance experience is extensive, currently sitting as President, University of Ottawa Alumni Council(Toronto Chapter), and Board of Director/Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Chair - Sponsorship Marketing Council of Canada. He is also a Founding Member of POCAM(People of Colour in Advertising & Marketing), an association that advocates the inclusion and advancement of Black, Indigenous, & People of Colour(BIPOC) within Marketing.

Jesse Gilbert
VP, Strategy
FCB Toronto

As a student of Philosophy and Art History, Jesse has always been fascinated by how different people see the world and how creativity can express or even shape these perspectives. With minimal interest in academia and the 2008 recession decimating the market for freelance philosophers, he decided to channel these interests into a career in strategy.

While Jesse has maintained a focus on brand strategy for the past decade, he's never shied away from the opportunity to get niche, which has allowed him to gain experience leading strategy across mass, digital, CRM and shopper marketing roles. With award winning campaigns and experience working across consumer goods, retail, pharma, auto and QSR, Jesse takes pride in helping ensure every consumer experience is designed to give creative the greatest possible meaning and impact.

Jenn Harper
Founder and CEO
Cheekbone Beauty

An award-winning social entrepreneur, Jenn Harper is the founder and CEO of Cheekbone Beauty Cosmetics INC. Cheekbone Beauty aims to help every Indigenous person see and feel their value in the world while developing sustainable colour cosmetics that won’t end up in a landfill.  

Jenn Harper is an Anishinaabe woman and is a member of the Northwest Angle #33 First Nation in Kenora, ON. Throughout her life, Jenn has struggled with accepting her Indigenous roots. She was estranged from her Indigenous family for much of her child and adult life. After learning about her grandmother’s experience in residential school, she understood how her family was affected by generational trauma.  Harper has been making a name for herself in the beauty industry for a number of years but gained popularity quickly after appearing on CBC’s hit show, Dragon’s Den in 2019. Since her appearance on the show, Jenn has been featured as Chatelaine’s “Woman of the Year in 2019”, Canadian Business’s “2022 New Innovator’s List”, and Entrepreneur Magazine’s “100 Women of Influence in 2022” list. 

She continues to be deeply involved in all aspects of Cheekbone Beauty operations, including product innovation with the Cheekbone Beauty chemist and sustainability experts to reimagine beauty products, starting with raw ingredients all the way to how all products are packaged. As part of its sustainability mission, Cheekbone Beauty is associated with organizations such as Pact Collective, 1% for the Planet, and B.Corp. These partnerships show the brand’s commitment to both people and planet. 

By early 2023, Cheekbone Beauty will be available in 50 Sephora stores across Canada as a Sephora Clean and Planet Positive brand. It will also be available in 600 JCPenney stores across the United States. 

Giving back to the Indigenous community is critical to Cheekbone Beauty’s mission. To date, Cheekbone Beauty has contributed upwards of $200,000 in product, monetary, and project-focused donations to the organizations across North America and will continue to do so.

Cyrus Irani
Director of Digital Strategy
Go RVing

With a diverse background of 20+ years in advertising, digital product design, creative direction and all things web, Cyrus leads the Go RVing Canada digital team as the Director of Digital Strategy. 

In his 10 years with Go RVing Canada, Cyrus has gained experience in all facets of building a brand from the ground up - first as a consultant and now leading digital strategic initiatives, interactive content development and paid media across both official languages. Alongside forward thinking agency teams that helped redefine consumer perception of the brand he guided stakeholders through a transformation that redefined both the digital and content ecosystems and catapulted the RV lifestyle forward as a desirable and dynamic lifestyle option. 

At the forefront is a unique approach to the data driven creation of authentic and lifestyle advocate focused content storytelling that speaks to the many diverse audiences that are attracted to this popular lifestyle. 

Fresh off the launch of an existing new creative campaign, “You Are Out There”, the newest evolution of the award winning "Wildhood" campaign, Go RVing Canada is constantly at work to better understand what motivates Canadians to get back to nature, and to consider RVing as a leading choice to help you get outside and explore.

AJ Jones
CSO
McCann Canada

Having spent a decade working in multiple markets in Europe and North America AJ has developed industry recognised work, helped international brands play a meaningful role in people’s lives and held teaching positions at two UK Universities. 

Schooled at McCann UK, before a stint as CSO for McCann Bucharest AJ was responsible for the regional strategic development of mega-brands such as KFC and Coca-Cola and finding a place in culture for local players.

AJ loves finding the intersections of brands and culture and has a track record of delivering both creatively awarded and commercially successful campaigns. As CSO for McCann Canada AJ is focused on delivering powerful ideas that have a real impact across Canada and beyond. AJ’s input has helped McCann Canada pick up awards in non-traditional and social creative categories, as well as being globally recognised for Effectiveness.

Kieran Miles
CSO
EssenceMediacom

Kieran Miles is a strategic leader with almost 20 years’ experience in growing brands and delivering results. He brings a wealth of diverse knowledge, having worked both client- and agency-side, in roles spanning every aspect of communications – from media to content strategy, to creative and public relations. Kieran joined EssenceMediacom in 2015, where he is responsible for the agency’s strategic product.

Nithya Ramachandran
President, CSO
T1

Nithya believes in the power of a great story. And for brands, that means helping them understand that the true hero of the story is their audience. She believes that brands have to be passionate, purposeful and human. She’s excited about working with brands, organizations and individuals that are ready to be bold; and who want to not only want to stand apart but stand with purpose and intention.

In her current role as President & CSO at T1, Nithya spends her days thinking about the intersection of what audiences want, business objectives, and brand stories. All while building a culture that focuses on unleashing the potential of people, breaking down every preconceived notion that the agency world may have held.

Nithya’s career has taken her across the marketing communications spectrum, in a broad array of categories (from energy and CPG to cannabis and tech, and everything in between), and around the world. 

Some fun facts, she: 

• Sits on the Board of Directors for AIESEC in Canada, and takes pride in mentoring brilliant women of colour. 

• Now calls Toronto home, but she has worked in Spain, the UK and India, and grew up in Alberta. 

• Has a Bachelor of Commerce in international business and strategic management from the University of Alberta.

Mike Rumble
CSO, Partner
Epitaph

Mike is the founder and Chief Strategy Officer of Epitaph, one of Canada’s leading independent media agencies. Since launching Epitaph in 2018, the agency has grown to nearly 50 specialists representing over 25 brands including Co-operators, Kids Help Phone, EQ Bank, Away Travel, SiriusXM, Asahi and St. Michael's Foundation.

Prior to launching Epitaph, Mike was CSO at Cossette Media, responsible for overseeing media strategy, specifically for TELUS, before spending two years as CSO at Starcom, running the TD Bank media business. 

Understanding that great media strategy is a true balance of methodology and psychology, Mike is a strong believer that creative and media, working hand in hand, is the most powerful tool in driving meaningful connections and business results.

Kevin Yates
CEO & President
16x9

An accomplished entrepreneur, strategist and management consultant, Kevin has an exceptional track record of results driven achievements for his C-suite clients in private equity, advertising agencies, management consulting as well several  Fortune 500 companies.

With a strong ability for taking complicated dynamics into synthesized insights, Kevin’s true skill is to challenge convention with a fresh innovative style through a creative and strategic thought process that inspires companies to realize new opportunities for their brands.

With North American and Global experience, Kevin has an impressive scorecard in helping clients drive 'strategy to action' that drives high performance business outcomes that can be monetized.