Meet Our Judges

Jeffrey Da Silva
Former EVP, ECD
Sid Lee

Jeffrey has spent his career at some of the top creative agencies in Canada and the United States, where he led global campaigns and teams that were named to the Advertising Age A-list, Creativity’s “Innovators of the year” and the Forbes Top 10 Ad Agency list. For over a decade, he led the Toronto office of Sid Lee, growing the agency’s reputation on the global stage. He was also the key driver of the Sid Lee Collective, the agency’s creative incubator with an emphasis on cultural and political initiatives designed to disrupt, engage and provoke. Jeffrey’s work has been recognized internationally, and garnered him multiple awards at Cannes, D&AD, Clios, One Show and Art Directors’ Club.

Lisa Reid
Country Lead
Procter & Gamble

An insights-driven marketer who identifies, integrates and pursues growth opportunities and
emerging trends in the Beauty industry, Lisa Reid is the Country Leader of Beauty Care at
Proctor & Gamble Canada, the largest global consumer goods company. Known for building strong relationships with partners and teams, Lisa has extensive experience across many of
P&G’s iconic brands, such as Pantene, Head & Shoulders, Herbal Essences, Aussie, Gold Series, Old Spice, Secret, Gillette, Ivory, and Olay.

As a transformational leader focused on consumer diversity and behaviours to promote industry
change, Lisa’s innovative approach to marketing has evolved from finding commonalities among
the Canadian population to one that is focused on representation and serving consumers from a
diversity standpoint. She is passionate about leveraging insights to deepen P&G’s
understanding of these underserved consumers and what makes them unique. Under her
leadership, iconic brands, such as Pantene, Gold Series, and Secret, launched ground-breaking
marketing campaigns that embraced diversity, challenged stereotypes, and encouraged
equality.

Thanks to Lisa’s tireless efforts in this space, P&G has been able to reach new consumers by becoming an inclusive beauty brand that better reflects the diversity of the Canadian population.

With 15 years of experience at the consumer-packaged goods giant, Lisa has built a reputation
as an agile business leader with an entrepreneurial mindset driving groundbreaking double-digit
category growth. She espouses a holistic, consumer-centric approach to P&G’s Beauty
business, recognizing that to drive growth, P&G needs to evolve with consumers and their
evolving needs. This laser focus on the Canadian consumer has shaped highly successful
marketing campaigns, bold media placement choices and retail selling strategies.

As a leader who continuously pushes the boundaries of innovation, Lisa championed and
pioneered influencer marketing in Canada. She was at the forefront of many ground-breaking
campaigns before any of the competitors and continues to be a champion of evolving the
practice to bring about greater transparency and business impact.

Before joining P&G, Lisa spent five years at AIM Trimark Investments in a range of Operations
roles, developing from the ground up a deep understanding of the role of ‘service’ in the brand
experience. Known for her ability to drive growth, Lisa played an instrumental role in expanding
the company’s digital presence to serve and educate customers.

Zachary Bautista
Creative Director
Rethink

Zachary Bautista is a Partner, Creative Director at Rethink, ranked #1 Global Independent Agency & Network of The Year at Cannes 2024. 

From art school dropout to one of the most consistently recognized creatives in Canada, his work has been awarded at every major international award show from Cannes to Clios with acclaim from figures like Jimmy Fallon and Drew Barrymore, and headlines on publications like CNN and FastCompany.

Zachary was ranked the #1 Art Director back-to-back-to-back in Strategy Magazine’s Creative Report Card for 2022, 2023, and 2024. He was among AdAge’s 40 Under 40 and last year, along with his writing partner Geoff Baillie, were named AdAge's Creative Team of the Year. You can find his work on a billboard near you or in the 6th Edition of Hey Whipple Squeeze This along with Pearson’s Fundamentals of Marketing Textbook.

In addition to his impassioned dedication as an industry mentor, Zach is a recurring instructor at Miami Ad School in Toronto. In his role as teacher he has elevated the talents of up-and-coming art directors and copywriters. His approach to his students is teaching peers to become future co-workers.

Zach spends most of his money on sports memorabilia. He spends most of his time making money to afford sports memorabilia.

Sarah Broomfield
Director of Marketing, Snacks
Campbell

Since joining Campbells in 2014, Sarah has held leadership positions across both the Marketing and Sales teams, and is currently overseeing the commercial planning, marketing and innovation for the total Snacking portfolio. With 17 years of experience in the CPG industry, Sarah's previous work experience includes Marketing roles at companies such as Weight Watchers and PepsiCo.

Alyssa Buetikofer
VP, Chief Marketing Officer
McDonald's

Alyssa joined McDonald’s Restaurants of Canada as Chief Marketing Officer in 2021. She was promoted to the Canadian Executive Team after ten years with the brand’s global head office in Chicago.

Throughout her career, Alyssa has earned a reputation as a strategic marketing visionary who is hyper-focused on business growth and always has the interests of guests top of mind. She is a courageous leader known for her ability to build strong relationships, influence through transparent and genuine communication, and inspire high-performing teams.

Joining McDonald’s in 2011, she quickly ascended the ranks; taking on a diverse range of responsibilities across U.S. and global marketing including digital marketing, media, calendar, category strategy & content. Prior to joining Team Canada, she held the role of Senior Director, U.S. Marketing Brand & Content, where she built brand love and drove sales growth through creative campaigns and promotions. Prior to joining the organization in an internal role, Alyssa spent seven years at OMD, where she was responsible for media strategy for McDonald’s, as well as Quaker Foods

Ari Elkouby
CCO
VML

Ari Elkouby is a Chief Creative Officer at VML Canada where he creatively oversees a diverse portfolio of clients across North America including Mazda Canada.

His twodecades of industry experience has seen him work across a broad spectrum of clients on bothsides of the border including stops at Zulu Alpha Kilo, Proximity, FCB and Fallon Worldwide.

His work has appeared in industry publications including AdAge, Campaign Magazine, the Most
Contagious List as well as Fast Company and The New York Times. His work has garnered him
accolades including multiple Cannes Lions, Webby Awards, Communication Arts, One Show pencils and Clio Awards.

He helps his client’s messages breakthrough with omni-channel thinking and integration of
innovative technology. Ari is fiercely collaborative and regularly contributes thought leadership pieces to various publications on industry trends as well as sits on numerous international jury panels including Cannes Lions Direct in 2022 and sits on the board of directors of White Ribbon Canada.

Byron Ells
VP, Marketing and Digital Experience
Empire

Byron is an entrepreneurial digital and marketing business leader with extensive experience in customer-centric digital, eCommerce, and cross-channel marketing.  In his current role as Vice President, Marketing Technology and Digital Experience at Empire/Sobeys, Byron leads a team of digital subject matter experts with accountability for digital banner experiences (including websites, mobile, e-mail and sms), digital customer journeys and personalization, channel analytics, and marketing technology, creating a best-in-class Martech stack that can be employed across all grocery and pharmacy retail banners.  He is also leading the development of Empire Media+.  

Prior to his current role, Byron has held executive roles at top-tier retailers, including Walmart Canada and Shoppers Drug Mart, digital agencies and publishers, including Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and Blast Radius, and management consultancies in Canada and the United States.  Byron has been a speaker, panelist, and judge at the Shopper Marketing Forum, Store Conference, CMA Awards, and former board member for Retail Advisory Council.  

Susan Irving
CMO
Kruger Products

Susan Irving is an industry leader with a passion for brands and a reputation for delivering business results through strategic integrated marketing campaigns. As Chief Marketing Officer for Kruger Products, Susan is responsible for leading the marketing team to set the vision, strategic direction, and drive business performance for all Kruger Products brands and
marketing activities in Canada and the United States. She is also a key member of the company’s executive team.

Susan is an accomplished, award-winning senior marketing executive with over two decades of experience leading many successful and well-known brands at Warner Lambert, Coca-Cola, and PepsiCo. She has a strong passion for brands and building high-performance teams. She is a strategic business leader with experience spanning all aspects of business management and consumer marketing, including brand strategy, advertising and communications, P&L management, media planning, digital, social media, innovation, consumer insights, as well as sports and event marketing.

As an accomplished marketer, Susan has been recognized with several industry accolades including CMAs, Cassies, Cannes Lions, Effies, The Bessies, Clios, Media Innovation Awards, and Canadian New Media Awards. She was also among Marketing Magazine’s prestigious Top 30 Under 30, Canada’s Strategy Magazine 2020 Marketer of the Year, the Canadian
Marketing Association 2021 Marketer of the Year, Canadian Grocer’s 2022 Senior Star Women, and won Bronze at the prestigious Stevie Awards for Women in Business - Female Executive of the Year in 2023.

An avid sailor, Susan was a member of the Canadian Sailing Team, having campaigned for the 1992 and 1996 Summer Olympics. She was the President of the Leaside Hockey Association Board of Directors where she served for seven years; the current Jury Chair for The Globe and Mail’s Cannes Young Marketers Competition; North American and Global Grand
Prix Jury Chair for the WARC Awards in association with Cannes Lions; a judge for several industry award shows including the 2023 Cannes Lions Entertainment Sports Jury; a keynote speaker for North American conferences; and a committee member of WISE Canada (Women in Sport and Entertainment). She is also a member of the Canadian Women and SportBoard of Directors and the Ontario Hockey Federation Board of Directors.

James Leal-Valias
Group Creative Director
Critical Mass

20 years ago, after failing to realize his childhood dream of becoming a banker, James picked himself up and took his brain into the world of advertising and design. In that time, he has been a part of creating award-winning advertising, interactive, brand, and user experience projects for international brands such as AT&T, Mercedes-Benz, Canadian Labour Congress, New Balance, USAA, iStockphoto and Getty Images.

James also loves to talk about the power of communication and design and to mentor young creatives, having been a mentor through "FEAST by iStockphoto", speaking at schools and speaking at the HOW Design Conference.

Bernice Lo
ECD
Angry Butterfly

Better known as “Bee” by her peers, Bernice is a Executive Creative Director at Angry Butterfly who has made it her career goal to be a strong female and BIPOC role model, leader, mentor, and advocate for diversity and inclusion within agencies and the ad industry. 

Throughout the span of her 15+ year career in advertising, she’s created campaigns for brands
in almost every category, with work being recognized in both national and international award
shows, all while helping build and lead creative departments over the last several years.

Outside of her day job, Bernice co-founded a social advertising network called Open Chair, a
Toronto-based network for women+ working in the creative advertising industry looking to
support, promote, uplift, celebrate, and collaborate with one another. As an invite-only
network, Open Chair Toronto is committed to creating a safe space for women to connect,
share and be heard, while making sure the industry is a more inclusive, diverse, and inspiring
place to be.

Brian Neumann
Head of Brand Communications
Kraft Heinz Company

Brian Neumann currently leads creativity and brands at Kraft Heinz Canada as the Head of Brand Communications. His career mantra of “doing cool sh*t that people notice and drive business” has led to incredible work at companies such as Unilever, Johnson and Johnson and Kraft Heinz.

He has numerous accolades at some of the most renown award shows internationally such as Cannes, The One Show and the Effies. Most recently he was recognized with a Penta Pencil and a Grand Prix at Cannes for Creative Effectiveness for his work on Heinz where he led the brand’s creative turnaround through a model that hacked culture to earn attention while breaking down the agency-client barrier for more seamless workstreams.

Some of his most recognizable work includes the Heinz Tilted Label, the all red-Heinz Ketchup Puzzle, Ore-Ida’s Deliciously Predictable Campaign, Kraft Dinner’s Pumpkin Spice stunt and most recently an international partnership between Marvel/Ryan Reynolds and Heinz.  

When he’s not on a mission to try the best breweries across the world, you can find Brian with his nose in a fiction novel or being let down by his favorite sports teams.

Driscoll Reid
CCO
Cossette

With over two decades of experience spanning both the agency and client side, including his most recent role as Senior Creative Director Airbnb, Driscoll brings a wealth of expertise to Cossette's executive leadership team. His career prior to joining Cossette includes agencies such as Wieden+Kennedy (Portland and Tokyo offices), TBWA Chiat/Day, and Sid Lee, along with in-house freelance collaborations with Apple and Doordash. His reputation as a creative precedes him as a visionary leader with the ability to create and guide innovative and strategically creative work for a range of clients. He recently relocated to Toronto with his family and is excited to be part of such a vibrant advertising and marketing community here in Toronto and across Canada. 

Alexandre Simard
VP, Digital Activation
Omnicom Media Group

Alexandre has climbed the ladder over the last 12 years from his beginnings as an assistant strategist to overseeing a team of twenty analysts based in Montreal and Toronto. His professional path is defined by creating new business units and lifting digital expertise across strategy teams, marketing science experts and campaign activation specialists.
As Director of Marketing Science, he has contributed to the development of digital expertise such as attribution and automation of reports within the OMG group, and his team has been recognized throughout the network for their most advanced skills. His leadership was put on display when he took on the mandate to launch the Montreal office for Hearts & Science and manage growth over years, even amid the 2020 pandemic.
With his unique vision and flair for breaking down complex ideas into simple terms, Alexandre helps keep his agency at the forefront of thinking on approaches to data. Truly multidisciplinary expertise empowers Alexandre to take on whatever challenge is thrown at him.

Mew-Lin Teh
E2E Connections & Media
Coca-Cola

Mew-Lin currently leads Connections and Media planning for all Coca-Cola brands in Canada. Her experience across publisher, agency, and client side of the industry has helped brands accelerate growth though innovative and consumer centric marketing programs.

Abeer Verma
VP, Creative Director
Edelman

Over a career that spans two decades and three cities, Abeer has had the opportunity to hone his critical thinking and writing skills at some of Canada’s top ad and PR shops. As a result, his work has picked up praise from various quarters, like The One Show, Clios, LIAs, Webby’s, D&AD, and Cannes. In fact, not long ago, even the Marketing Awards sent him home with a tray full of ‘Ms’. Abeer won PR Campaign of the Year in 2021, helped his then agency land PR AoY Gold in 2023, and is now continuing his creative education at the world’s largest public relations firm.

Whitney Bell
CMO
WNBA

Whitney Bell currently serves as the Chief Marketing Officer for WNBA Toronto. With over 16 years of experience as a marketing leader, Whitney has successfully navigated diverse landscapes—from pioneering disruptor brands to reinvigorating established icons—always with a commitment to fostering positive social impact.

Whitney began her career in consumer packaged goods, spending over a decade in various Marketing and Sales roles at Kraft and Unilever. During this time, she managed the Dove and Axe brands and led strategic partnerships with the Toronto Raptors, the NBA, and the Montreal Canadiens.

In 2018, she joined Lyft as an early-stage team member for the company's launch into Canada. Over three years, she was promoted to Head of Marketing for Canada and International, focusing on defining the go-to-market strategy for new markets.

In 2021, Whitney became Vice President of Marketing at Clutch. In this role, she was responsible for building the strategy, driving growth, and establishing Clutch as a household brand in Canada. Clutch was named one of the fastest-growing technology companies in Canada for the past three years.

Whitney previously served on the Board of Directors for Shaping Her Esteem, an organization dedicated to enhancing the health and well-being of young women through sport. She has also advised Influence This Canada and Buffer Festival and currently mentors with Monday Girl, contributing to the development of the next generation of talent.

She holds a Bachelor of Commerce and an MBA from Queen’s University, where she was a member of the varsity women’s soccer team.

Debbie Chan
Executive Creative Director
Narrative

Debbie Chan is an award-winning creative with over 16 years of experience in the industry. With a background in design, she has spent most of her career as an Art Director before becoming Executive Creative Director at Narrative, working with brands such as Scotiabank, Converse, White Ribbon, Casey House, General Mills, Volvo, and Salesforce to name a few. She was named Top Art Director by Strategy’s Creative Report Card in 2020, and has won awards at Cannes Lions, D&AD, One Show, Marketing Awards, Applied Arts, CMAs, Communication Arts, Effies, and Clios. Debbie has also won second place in her cat's heart for 10 years consecutively, losing the grand prix every year to her partner. She isn't jealous about it at all.

Andrea Cook
CEO
Jam CRM

Julia Cooper
VP, Marketing
Endy

Before joining Endy as their Vice President of Marketing, Julia was building brands in the DTC tech space for the last 5+ years (KOHO, Properly). Julia has consulted for big brands like Arc'teryx and emerging ones like SIDIA. Previous to joining startups, Julia wrote for Vogue, worked as an editor at SSENSE, and did communications at lululemon. She's built high-performing teams and is obsessed with the customer experience, and has managed partnerships with outlets like Refinery29 and the Globe and Mail, and most recently, a multi-year collaboration with the Property Brothers.

Hemal Dhanjee
Creative Director
Courage

Hemal Dhanjee is a Creative Director at Courage, one of Canada's fastest-growing independent creative agencies. With over 100+ awards to his name, he has won top honours at nearly every major advertising award show, including multiple Webbys, Cannes Lions, Clios, and One Show Golds. 

In 2024, Strategy Magazine recognized him as the #1 Copywriter in Canada. The previous year, he and his partner Steve Ierullo were featured by ADWEEK as two of the most innovative and visionary talents across marketing, media and culture. By seamlessly connecting brands to culture, Hemal's work has helped push the boundaries of Canadian advertising, all while delivering impactful results to his clients’ business.

Nicole Gawen
VP Marketing & Wellbeing
Kellanova

Nicole Gawen is the Marketing and Wellbeing Lead for Kellanova Canada, where she has dedicated 14 years to the company, taking on various roles with increasing responsibilities. Her journey with Kellogg Canada, now Kellanova, highlights her expertise and commitment to the brand’s growth and success.

Before joining Kellogg, Nicole worked at Coca-Cola Canada, focusing on Brand Coke. She began her career at Kraft Canada, managing POST Cereals and OREO cookie brands, which provided her with a solid foundation in the food and beverage industry.

Nicole holds a Bachelor of Science in Human Biology from the University of Toronto, an Honors Business Administration (HBA) from Ivey Business School, and an MBA from the Schulich School of Business. Outside of her professional life, Nicole is an avid Buffalo Bills fan and enjoys spending her Sundays watching football with her husband and two kids.

Nicole Grant
Senior Vice President
North Strategic

Nicole is Senior Vice President at North Strategic, a leading national PR agency. As a marketing strategist and C-Suite consultant she has led creative communications programs over her almost 20-year career for some of the world’s most admired brands like American Express, Sobeys, Canadian Tire, BMW and more. During her tenure, North Strategic has been recognized as Canadian PR Agency of Year many times over the years. She is an active member of the Canadian Marketing Association’s (CMA) Brand Council, contributing thought leadership for the industry.

Matt Hassell
CCO
Ultralight Creative

Matt Hassell is the founder of Ultralight Creative, a creative agency focused on delivering
innovative solutions to the brands they work with. Matt has a history of both building up
creative agencies and delivering work that has been globally awarded by the Cannes
Lions, Epica Awards, Webby’s, One Show, Effies, Clios, Communication Arts and several
other International award shows.

Matt is a strong believer in contributing ideas that can help shape the future of the
industry. This is why he has been happy to accept invitations to speak at several
conferences, including Google HQ, the DX3 conference, the Canadian Marketing
Association, ICA’s Adweek Conference, and Marketing Magazine. He has also guest
lectured at York University, Seneca College and Humber College.

Over his 23 year career as a Copywriter and Chief Creative Officer, Matt has helped
shape a new narrative for advertising and marketing – one that treats innovation,
technology and consumer insight as key ingredients in augmenting a brand’s position.
This has led him to deliver a broad base of work that has seen him recognized and
awarded in areas such as digital, design, film, print, events, shopper marketing,
innovation and database marketing.

As a testament to his approach, he has been a leading part of agencies that have been
shortlisted as Agency of the Year, Digital Agency of the Year and Design Agency of the
Year.

Matt has a passion for building agencies into creatively-led companies that use the full
arsenal of modern tools and ideas to achieve their clients’ business aims. For him,
anywhere a consumer touchpoint exists so too does a creative opportunity; from logo
design to brand launch campaigns and social activations to PR events.

Nina Kalos
EVP, GM
Veritas Communications

Nina is an experienced and highly motivated practitioner in public relations and social engagement. In her role as GM & EVP, Nina uses that wealth of experience to her advantage to deliver impeccable client service, building strong relationships with key stakeholders. She has a passion for media and influencer strategy and a love for counseling her clients on the channels and places where their brands should be visible to reach their target audience.

Whether she is searching for ways to achieve better results or testing a new approach for driving positive brand love or sentiment, she is always eager to take on new challenges. Some of Nina’s experience includes clients like Kimberly Clark, Bayer, Church and Dwight, Revlon, Labatt, Procter & Gamble, and Canadian Tire Corporation.

Dean Lee
Executive Creative Director
Zulu Alpha Kilo

In April of 2022, Dean Lee joined Zulu Alpha Kilo as an Executive Creative Director to help lead the Vancouver office. An art director by trade, he was most recently ECD at DDB, where he had a stellar 25-year creative track record going back to the days when it was Palmer Jarvis. During his time at the agency, he worked with brands including McDonald’s, Pepsi Co, SunRype, Labatt, Destination Canada, Rocky Mountaineer, BC Lottery Corporation, BCAA, BC Hydro, TELUS, Pacific Blue Cross, BC Dairy, and helped launch Netflix in Canada.

Historically, Dean has been ranked as one of Canada’s leading creatives according to Strategy Magazine, including top honours for art direction. His work has been recognized at national and international advertising shows including Cannes, The One Show, Communication Arts, The Clios, D&AD, London International Awards and the Marketing Awards. Dean also co-chairs The James Lee Foundation to help aspiring creative talent break into the advertising world.

Alistair Leyland
Founding Partner
Array of Stars

Kitty Luu
Director, Marketing
Porsche

Jeremiah McNama
Executive Creative Director
FCB

Jeremiah is an Executive Creative Director at FCB who recently helped BMO win two gold lions—the first for a bank in Canada. Prior to FCB, he spent a decade garnering experience at 72andSunny LA, Sid Lee and Zulu Alpha Kilo.

Pamela Nalewajek
Chief Marketing Officer
Dairy Farmers of Canada

Heather Nobes
VP Marketing
Visa

Andres Norambuena
Partner, Executive Director, Experiential and Brand Activation
LG2

Andres Norambuena is a leader in the field of experiential marketing. He has successfully transformed Boogie Studio into a multidisciplinary experiential multimedia studio called BLVDMTL, which has experienced spectacular growth in terms of staff and large-scale projects.

Under his leadership, BLVDMTL has opened several studios and has hosted renowned clients such as Cirque du Soleil, Céline Dion, the Montreal Canadiens, MasterCard, museums such as the National Museum of Aviation in the United States, the Cosmodome, the McCord Museum, and the Montreal Insectarium. Winner of several awards such as Cannes Lions, Clio Award, Marketing Award, ADC, IDEA/CREA, and Numix Award.

With nearly 25 years of experience, he is recognized for his leadership, his vision for efficient production, and his ability to build high-performing teams.

Jeffrey Perrin
VP, Creative Production & Innovation
Klick

As VP, Creative Production & Innovation at Klick Health, Jeff Perrin leads the creative teams in the adoption and application of Generative AI as a creative tool. Previously as Vice President Business Leadership at Momentum, Perrin was leading the General Motors experiential marketing portfolio bringing the innovation behind electric vehicle adoption to Canadians. Prior to Momentum, Perrin led the Experiential Marketing business at Innocean Worldwide. With over 10 years of leadership experience in marketing solutions, Perrin has intentionally sought opportunities that support the inclination to take different paths, are at the forefront of innovation and positioned to shift an industry forward.

Benjamin Playford
Creative Director
McCann

Ben Playford is a Creative Director, Design Director, Art Director, and Designer at McCann with nearly 20 years of experience crafting award-winning ideas for brands large and small.

Fernando Salvador
Group Creative Director

Fernando is a creative with over two decades of experience and an international background spanning three markets. He’s honed his skills at creative powerhouses such as R/GA, Deutsch LA, MulleLowe, Goodby Silverstein & Partners and most recently as a Group Creative Director at TBWA\Canada.

He’s collaborated with some of the most innovative brands such as Taco Bell, Doritos, Nike, eBay, Burger King, Google, MTV, HP, Red Bull, Mastercard, Xfinity, Pepsi and Nissan.

Fernando’s work has been recognized by most of the major international award shows and media outlets,but most importantly, by Spike Lee himself via Twitter.

Sarah Thompson
Strategic Advisor
Mantis

Sarah is a seasoned marketing and media executive with experience across all industries. Sarah was most recently president of Media at Dentsu and CSO at Mindshare. She has won “Media Leader of the Year” from the YA of the CMDC and was nominated for “Media Leader of the Year” by Strategy Magazine in 2023. She is also a keen supporter of local media and a vibrant healthy media ecosystem.