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Digital Day

Carolyn Beatty joined Indigo in August of 2003 and is now responsible for overseeing the online business for Canada’s #1 retailer. In her first four years at Indigo, she lead the redesign of the online customer experience and launched a variety of new categories and functionality for the website and kiosk channels including Music, iPod, Toys, Photobook, GiftCards and French. She also spearheaded the innovative Indigo Online Community experience which won the SMA Gold Award in 2008 for Digital: Social Media. It has grown over the last 18 months to a membership base of over 250,000 - including customers, publishers, authors and employees. This represents an industry first and provides Indigo booklovers with a full suite of social networking capabilities combined with rich user generated content tools. Prior to joining Indigo, Carolyn spent five years as the VP of e-Marketing at the largest direct and interactive agency in Canada - Wunderman, a division of WPP. There she built an award-winning interactive practice which serviced a roster of blue chip North American accounts including Kraft, IBM, Ford, and Citibank. Prior to this, Carolyn worked for over 10 years in the advertising industry and earlier in her career in both magazine and book publishing. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature from the University of Toronto.

Scott Beffort
Lead Strategist, DECODE

Scott has been influencing smart strategy for the past 15 years while practicing the balance between innovation and results. His natural curiosity has helped to shape new ideas for a wide-range of companies and industries including retail, consumer packaged goods, not-for-profit, food-service and advertising. As a marketing, sales and business development leader successful in conquering corporate crossroads and armed with a degree in Literature, Certificates in Dispute Resolution and Executive Development he is well positioned to bridge the gap between sound strategy and great execution. Scott has held positions as National Sales Manager for a Canadian foodservice start-up, National Director of Marketing with Canada Post, Vice-President of Business Development for a not-for-profit organization and as Principal of Headstand - a consulting practice effective in sparking new thinking. Scott is a very proud Dad of three.

As RVP, Head of Sales for Facebook in Canada, Louise is responsible for establishing and managing Facebook’s advertising sales operations based in Toronto, Canada, which opened in April 2009. One of the key steps in Facebook’s on-going commitment to Canada, and to its growing number of Canadian users and advertisers is to bring strategies and solutions that help them leverage the power of the social graph.

Louise has 15 years of management experience in digital media overseeing sales, operations and marketing. Prior to Facebook, Louise was the vice president of digital properties at Rogers Media for five years where she led the strategic development, revenue, and audience growth for all of Rogers Media’s consumer brands. Previously, Louise worked at several other leading media and digital companies including AOL as Interactive Marketing Manager; at Sympatico as Vice President, Sales; and Vice President of Market Development at Bell Globemedia where she oversaw the creation of digital out- of- home networks.

Fully bilingual, Louise has served on the Board of Directors of IAB (Interactive Advertising Bureau) of Canada, and as co-chair of the 2006 and 2007 CMA (Canadian Marketing Association) Digital Marketing Conference. She is currently actively involved in several CMA committees, and serves on the advisory board of She’s Connected, a women’s social network site.

With more than 14 years of experience developing digital-advertising programs for world-class brands and agencies, Collin now focuses entirely on helping clients enter the social media space with targeted business goals and measureable results.

His client responsibilities include Gillette Global, Mitsubishi Motors of Canada, Monster.com, Pepsi, Embassy Suites, Campbell’s, Mars, HP and many more. Collin’s blog; radicaltrust.ca, is ranked on Ad Age’s Power 150 list and listed on the syllabus at Emily Carr University’s studies for the social science. He often offers talks on the topic of social media and marketing at conferences and universities across North America.

Deborah Hall
Managing Director, WEB2MOBILE

Deborah Hall is an industry expert leveraging digital technologies both online and mobile to produce marketing results. As Managing Director at WEB2MOBILE, Deborah is responsible for helping clients create both mobile marketing strategies and new business models. Deborah has worked closely with clients like Chapters Indigo, Nike, Diageo, Chum Radio, Corus Entertainment, the Weather Network, Cogeco and others, to develop and maximize returns on new digital/mobile opportunities.

As a veteran of the technology business both web and mobile, prior to founding WEB2MOBILE, Deborah worked at Yahoo! Mobile in Sunnyvale managing large scale partnership activities globally. Over the past 12 years she has managed many strategic digital & technology projects for clients like HP, Forbes Inc., Trader Inc., Nestle, L’Oreal, Rogers and others.

Deborah sits on several advisory boards including the CMA Digital Marketing Conference where she is active co-chair and as the chairperson of the 2009 CMA Mobile Marketing Conference. She has written for several publications on the subject of mobile marketing including the Direct Marketing News and other national publications.

Deborah is a graduate of Queen’s University school of Mechanical Engineering and holds her executive MBA from Queen’s School of Business.

Dan Latendre has been a senior-level technology executive for the past 20 years, working with pioneering organizations such as MKS, Delrina and Open Text Corporation. For the past 15 years, Mr. Latendre has taken an entrepreneurial approach in the development and marketing of some of the most leading edge internet-based technologies and applications.

In 1993, Mr. Latendre and his team developed one of the first wireless internet access packages called Internet Anywhere in partnership with Research in Motion (RIM). In 1995, he joined Open Text Corporation where he played a strategic role in the release of the first commercial search engine for the web called the Open Text Index. This break through search technology would later evolve into powering the Yahoo! search site.

Mr. Latendre also helped spearhead the launch one of the first web-based intranet applications called Livelink® while at Open Text. This award winning application is used today by thousands of leading corporations around the world for intranet, extranet, portal and online library solutions.

Today he serves as Chief Executive Officer at IGLOO Software, a Canadian company that develops SaaS-based online community and social software solutions for groups, businesses and organizations of any size. Organizations use IGLOO communities internally to improve employee productivity (Workplace Communities) or externally to foster relationships with members, customers, partners and suppliers (Marketplace Communities).

Mr. Latendre graduated with Honours from the University of Waterloo and a holds a degree in Business and Administration from Wilfrid Laurier University.

While starting his Career in Sales (at Xerox) and then Brand Management (at Mars foods), Steve Levy has been involved in the Marketing Research and Information business in the UK, South East Asia and since the late 80’s in Canada. He is the President of Ipsos – Reid’s commercial operations in Eastern Canada, with responsibility for all of the organizations Marketing Research and Loyalty research activities and a professional research staff of almost 100 people.

In addition to his management role, Steve continues to act as team leader for a number of accounts in the technology/communications sector.

He is active in the industry in a broader sense and is currently on involved with both the MRIA (Marketing Research & Intelligence Association) and the CMA (as a board and Executive committee member).

Steve is an avid golfer and Tennis player.

Jonathan is the managing director and head of Google Canada. He is responsible for continuing to build Google's brand and reach in the Canadian business community, as well as for developing and executing the company's market strategy within Canada. He leads the region's advertising sales operations and contributes to the strategic growth of Google's products and services.

Prior to joining Google, Jonathan was the senior vice president of operations for AOL Europe, general manager of AOL Canada Inc. and vice president of audience for AOL Canada Inc. Earlier, Jonathan managed the sales team at the start-up Bird On A Wire, a venture focused on creating and monetizing hosted Internet infrastructure.

Jonathan holds a bachelor's degree with honors from the University of Toronto and an M.B.A. from the Rotman School of Management.

Steve was educated as an Architect; however, his keen interest in design, media and digital technology drew him into producing video games, TV spots, and 3D animation for feature films and DVD’s for the first few years of his career. As the Web entered the scene in the 90’s, Steve quickly shifted his attention to this powerful and limitless technology.

Steve joined Delvinia in 2000 and is now a partner with the growing firm. His focus is on building its interactive design and digital marketing practice. Insight driven design strategy and superior client service have been pivotal in creating Delvinia’s current list of distinguished clientele: RBC Royal Bank, Scotiabank International, Manulife, Canadian Opera Company, Richard Ivey School of Business and Random House to name a few.

When he has a minute away from his busy work schedule he can be found helping grow the industry by participating on councils and committees and speaking at various events. He lives outside Toronto with his wife and two children and is an active member in his local community.

Mitch Joel is President of Twist Image, an award-winning Digital Marketing and Communications agency. In 2008, Mitch was named Canada's Most Influential Male in Social Media, one of the top 100 online marketers in the world, and was awarded the highly-prestigious Canada's Top 40 Under 40 (recognizing individuals who have achieved a significant amount of success but have not yet reached the age of 40). His newspaper business column, New Business, Six Pixels of Separation, runs bi-monthly in both The Montreal Gazette and Vancouver Sun, and his monthly column, Ultraportable, is featured in enRoute Magazine. His first book, Six Pixels of Separation (published by Grand Central Publishing - Hachette Book Group), named after his successful Blog and Podcast is a business and marketing best-seller.

Kevin "Nalts" Nalty is the only career marketer who is also one of the most-viewed YouTube personalities.

He recently left his role as Marketing Director at Merck & Company (and prior to that Johnson & Johnson) to help provide innovative brands strategies and tactics for leveraging online-video and social media (http://www.NaltsConsulting.com). His "inside out, outside in" perspective helps marketers evaluate, execute and measure emerging-media pilots. He has written about the ROI of digital marketing relative to investments in traditional media (TV, radio, OOH, print) and has worked with such brands as Fox Broadcasting, MTV, AT&T, Crowne Plaza, Mentos and Holiday Inn.

He blogs about online-video at http://www.willvideoforfood.com, and is known on YouTube as "Nalts" (http://www.youtube.com/nalts), where his videos have been seen nearly 100 million times.

Simon Rodrigue
AVP of eCommerce, Sears Canada

Simon Rodrigue joined Sears Canada in July of 2008 to assist in the continued growth and evolution of the top direct business in Canada. As AVP of eCommerce Simon leads the online strategy, user experience, marketing and online operations teams while developing a multi-channel plan that will continue to position Sears Canada for the future.

Before joining Sears Canada Simon lead the eCommerce and Interactive Marketing team at Home Depot Canada. Over the 4 years homedepot.ca was one of the fastest growing online businesses in Canada and recognized as a leader in Social Commerce practices. Simon also spear headed the evolution from a traditional media plan to a mixed media strategy, leveraging the power of The Home Depot's extended community and leadership position in the home improvement industry.

Prior to joining homedepot.ca, Simon worked in various operational and merchandising roles within The Home Depot Canada, and served as a Senior Business and Marketing Consultant with Nortel Networks Global Services, enabling start-ups and aiding Fortune 50 companies to develop global, emerging business strategies.

In his spare time, Simon also blogs about innovative trends and events within the interactive marketing and eCommerce industry at evolvingshift.com and tries to controls his babbles @SimonRodrigue

Chris has been with Canadian Tire Corporation for 11 years and has worked in Branding, Category Management and also ran Canadian Tire’s iconic flyer program before taking the helm of the online business three years ago. Chris is also active with the CMA and nextMEDIA Advisory Board. In his free time, Chris enjoys coaching soccer, running and playing mediocre golf when he isn’t chasing after his three kids. Chris also wishes he had as many Facebook friends as his 12 year old daughter.

Bill Tighe is an Account Executive with Google, based in Toronto. He joined Google in 2003 and works exclusively with leading Canadian ad agencies on National and International ad campaigns. Prior to joining Google, Bill spent 5 years in Marketing with Molson and 2 years with an internet search start-up called WebHelp.com.

Vincent John Vincent is the co-founder of GestureTek and has been the creative force behind the company and its technological innovations for the past 15 years.

Vincent's unique insight and creativity has been instrumental in defining and developing the video gesture recognition and control industry. In addition to commercially marketing the company’s technology, Vincent is responsible for day-to-day operations and sales and marketing for the business. Vincent leads the company's activities in ongoing market identification, product development in multiple vertical markets, and worldwide installation of GestureTek systems. Vincent has personally overseen the creation of well over 400 GestureXtreme virtual experience applications for games, corporate events, TV productions, education, and virtual therapy uses.

Vincent is recognized as a leader in the world of multimedia, having represented the industry and delivered keynote addresses at countless industry conferences worldwide. Vincent is a co-creator and past Executive Producer of The International Digital Media Awards. He is on the advisory board for the Toronto Design Exchange VR Visualization Center, and the Art Institute of Toronto. In 2003, Vincent was honored by the Canadian Digital Media Association with a Lifetime Achievement Award. Mr. Vincent has a degree in Psychology from the University of Waterloo.

Dr. David Weinberger is a co-author of the bestselling book, The Cluetrain Manifesto. His most recent book is "Everything Is Miscellaneous: The Power of the New Digital Disorder." He is a Fellow at Harvard's prestigious Berkman Center for the Internet & Society. His work has appeared in multiple times in Harvard Business Review, Wired, and National Public Radio, as well as in many other publications He has been an adviser to presidential campaigns, a strategic marketing consultant, and a philosophy professor.

Media Day

Jeff Barlow
Senior Director, Marketing Solutions & New Media Integration, Rogers Publishing Ltd.

Jeff Barlow leads Rogers Publishing integrated department developing customized solutions between print, online, mobile, and other brand extensions. Jeff is also responsible for sourcing and integrating new technology as well as recently overseeing Rogers "Word of Mouth" marketing area called BzzAgent Canada.

His team will provide ideas, strategy, program management, research, and custom content for Canadian clients looking for a complete integrated solution.

With a new best-selling book drawing on her four decades in the media business, Cathie Black — dubbed “The First Lady of American Magazines” and “one of the leading figures in American publishing over the past two decades” by the Financial Times — heads Hearst Magazines, a division of Hearst Corporation and one of the world’s largest publishers of monthly magazines. She manages the financial performance and development of some of the industry's best-known titles: Cosmopolitan, Esquire, Good Housekeeping, Harper's BAZAAR, Marie Claire, O, The Oprah Magazine, Popular Mechanics, Redbook, and Town & Country — 15 magazines in all. She also oversees nearly 200 international editions of those magazines in more than 100 countries. At Hearst Magazines, aggressive international development worldwide as well as significant digital expansion are two key priority areas for Black.

Her book, “BASIC BLACK: The Essential Guide for Getting Ahead at Work (and in Life)” www.cathieblack.com, explains how she achieved "the 360° life" — a blend of professional accomplishment and personal contentment — and how women can seize opportunity in the workplace. "BASIC BLACK," now in its eighth printing (166,000 copies), reached No. 1 on the Wall Street Journal Business Books list (Nov. 6, 2007) and Business Week best seller list (Jan. 3, 2008), and No. 3 on the New York Times Business Books List (Nov. 11, 2007). The book has been licensed for translated editions in 12 countries including China, Mexico, Brazil, Japan, Russia, Korea, Poland, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Romania and Croatia. The paperback edition debuted Sept. 9, 2008. It is published by Crown Business, an imprint of Random House. BASIC BLACK is both practical and motivational. Black offers case studies; "black-and-white" tips; and invaluable lessons about ambition, self- confidence, and risk, illustrated by candid, funny personal stories and with insights into media and business giants like Rupert Murdoch, Oprah Winfrey, Gloria Steinem, Francis Ford Coppola, Harvey Weinstein, and Al Neuharth. Having begun her career in advertising sales with several magazines, including Holiday and Ms., she made publishing history in 1979 when she became the first woman publisher of a weekly consumer magazine: New York.

Black is widely credited for the success of USA Today, where for eight years starting in 1983, she was first president, then publisher, as well as a board member and executive vice president/marketing of Gannett, its parent company. In 1991 she became president and CEO of the Newspaper Association of America, the industry’s largest trade group, where she served for five years before joining Hearst.

She serves as a member of the boards of IBM and the Coca-Cola Company, and held a two-year term (1999-2001) as chairman of the Magazine Publishers of America. She is also a board member of the Advertising Council, a trustee of The University of Notre Dame and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Black is among a handful of women that have appeared on Fortune magazine’s “50 Most Powerful Women in American Business" list each year since it debuted in 1998. She has also been included on Forbes magazine’s list of “The 100 Most Powerful Women” and Crain's list of New York City's "100 Most Influential Women in Business."

Black is a graduate of Trinity College, Washington, D.C., and holds nine honorary degrees. “No one in New York embodies the magazine business like Cathleen Black. The Hearst Magazines president is a tireless spokeswoman for the industry… Perhaps even more striking is her string of successes for Hearst, which includes the birth of O, The Oprah Magazine, a magazine launch that was so hot it inspired other celebrity titles…During Ms. Black’s six-year tenure at the $1.5 billion company, she has maintained the health of big brands like Cosmopolitan [and] brought forth new favorites like Marie Claire…As electronic media continue to carve into the market for the printed word, her outspoken commitment to magazines will be invaluable to the industry.” — Crain’s New York Business

Adrian’s career has focused on the interchange of business, technology and marketing throughout a decade and-a-half of roles at IBM, Rare Medium, Publicis, FUSE Marketing Group and now Quizative Inc.

Quizative is Adrian’s most ambitious vision of a new digital innovation agency for an evolving digital economy. Quizative is where he cooks the ingredients of ideas, business, technology, and evolving markets into a compelling recipe for innovation and change.

His leadership, knowledge and sensibility have helped to build thriving digital marketing practices. He has helped clients including Allstream, Canada Post, Canadian Tire, CIBC, GE, HP, Interac, Panasonic, Rogers, Sony, Telus, Tetley, and Wal-Mart, to understand their customer needs and develop digital marketing strategies that drive business results.

As a digital marketing pioneer, Adrian has been featured in publications such as Marketing Magazine, Strategy Magazine, Canadian Business, CBC, and the Globe & Mail, National Post and is involved with the Interactive Advertising Bureau and the Canadian Marketing Association as an instructor of the eMarketing Certificate Course. Adrian is co-chair CMA/Marketing Magazine’s, Digital Marketing Conference and will be Chairing Marketing Magazine’s 2009 Digital Marketing Awards.

In his spare time, he plays hockey and loves to wakeboard and spend time with his family.

Charlie is the Chief Executive of C Squared, the company behind a host of well-known event and information brands that focus on change within the global marketing and communications industry. C Squared is the producer of The Festival of Media, which began its life in the city of Venice and will move to Valencia, Spain, in 2009. The Festival is one of the fastest growing events on the global marketing industry calendar, created as a forum for the new advertising economy in order to look at new business models and fresh creative ideas.

C Squared also publishes Media & Marketing (M&M) magazine which, for 20 years, has been the leading trade publication tracking the globalization of the advertising industry and serving the international divisions of media companies. C Squared also runs the global online archive and new media information resource, Cream, and is currently working on the creation of a new online service for global marketers in the field of corporate responsibility and sustainability. In addition to the key brands, C Squared also has a thriving Special Projects Division, working on a variety of projects for clients such as Dubai Holding, The Media Circle and the BBC. C Squared’s speed of growth earned Charlie the title of “international pioneer” in a 2005 poll by the readers of the UK trade magazine, Campaign. Charlie graduated from New College, Oxford University, with a degree in Politics, Philosophy and Economics (PPE), and started his career as a parliamentary researcher for the Rt. Hon Tony Benn MP, one of the UK’s best-known political figures. After a short spell as a financial journalist, specializing in the Eurobond market, Charlie went into media, eventually becoming Editor-in-Chief of M&M magazine and Editorial Director of the title’s then publisher, Emap Communications.

Charlie has been a consultant to companies such as Adidas, BMRB (Kantar Group), Discovery Networks, The Financial Times and the World Federation of Advertisers. He has spoken at conferences around the world, which this year has included engagements at the EU in Brussels and at events in Montreal, New York, Sao Paolo and Belgrade.

Charlie is also a non-executive director of Consume Satellite Ltd. and outside of work he plays the drums in a rock band and collects odd varieties of books. Charlie is married to Saskia and they live in London with their two daughters, Edie and Martha.

For over a decade, Laura has been developing and executing breakthrough promotions and experiential campaigns for companies such as Molson, Unilever, P&G, Rogers, Great Brands of Europe, Kraft, Miller Brewing Company and many more.

Cutting her promotional teeth in Country Radio in the early 90's, Laura then went on to work at Nichemark, The Hive (formerly Encore Encore), and Segal Segal Communications - learning from the best and able to bring an arsenal of promotional tools and tactics to her role as Director, Experiential at FUSE Marketing Group.

Laura has a keen knack, and passion for, finding the perfect experience that will get a consumer to stop, listen, and then act. By using key insights to create memorable experiences and encouraging consumer empowerment, she manages to get consumers to do what she wants while still delivering just good old-fashioned fun.

Richard Florida is author of the global best-seller The Rise of the Creative Class. His latest book, Who's Your City? also a national and international best seller, was an amazon.com book of the month.

He is author of The Flight of the Creative Class and Cities and the Creative Class. His previous books, especially The Breakthrough Illusion and Beyond Mass Production, paved the way for his provocative looks at how creativity is revolutionizing the global economy.

Florida is a regular correspondent for the Atlantic Monthly and a regular columnist for The Globe and Mail. He has written for The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, The Economist, and The Harvard Business Review. He has been featured as an expert on MSNBC, CNN, BBC, NPR and CBS, to name just a few. Richard has also been appointed to the Business Innovation Factory's Research Advisory Council and recently named European Ambassador for Creativity and Innovation.

Florida’s ideas on the “creative class,” commercial innovation, and regional development have been featured in major ad campaigns from BMW and Apple, and are being used globally to change the way regions and nations do business and transform their economies.

Florida is one of the world’s leading public intellectuals on economic competitiveness, demographic trends, and cultural and technological innovation. International diplomats, government leaders, filmmakers, economic development organizations and leading Fortune 100 businesses have benefited from his global approach to problem-solving and strategy development.

He is one of the world's most sought after speakers on global trends, economics, prosperity, competitiveness and growth. Combining in-depth analysis, cutting-edge trends, a fascinating personal story, and just a touch of self-deprecating humor, it’s no wonder Florida was recently named one of Esquire Magazine’s Best and Brightest, alongside luminaries such as Bill Clinton and Jeffrey Sachs.

Mary Kreuk
Vice-President, Marketing, CTV Inc.

Mary Kreuk, as Vice-President of Marketing for CTV Inc., is responsible for all customer/trade initiatives, strategy, and execution for CTV Inc. Initiatives range from simple promotions to multi-platform, multi-station integrated projects. Kreuk manages a team of 33 professionals dedicated to creating business building solutions for clients.

Prior to joining CTV, Kreuk built her Marketing career by holding positions in a variety of business types, including mail-order catalogue, consumer packaged goods, food service, retail and agency. Each position was progressively more senior with stints at Interface Marketing Group, Peoples Jewellers Corporation, Pizza Hut Canada, Kellogg Canada Inc., Bristol-Myers Products Canada Inc., Loblaws and Regal Greetings & Gifts.

Kreuk holds a Bachelor of Commerce from Queen’s University.

Over 16 years, Lance Martin has built one of the strongest creative resumes in the country by championing collaboration, by developing relationships with clients, and most of all, by just being nice. And while his unassuming nature has won him many fans among those who work closely with him, it’s his sharp business mind that has really set him apart in his career at TAXI. Over the past nine years, Lance has been integral in creating some of TAXI’s most storied work, and has been recognized locally and around the world with golds from the One Show, Cannes, the Clios.

With Lance at the helm, TAXI 2 has flourished since opening its doors in 2006, piling up new accounts– including The Weather Network, M&M Meatshops and Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment and Burger King – and creative accolades, including a recent Gold Lion from the Cannes Advertising Festival for MINI Canada.

Unable to find a job after achieving a Master’s degree in design, Philippe Meunier decided at age 25, to start his own Commercial Creativity™ firm and co-founded Sid Lee (formerly Diesel). Nearly 15 years later, his Montreal agency has come to define creativity, proving along the way that a Quebec agency, albeit one which has grown to almost 300 employees from various cultural backgrounds, can compete on the international stage.

As Senior Partner and Creative Chief, he is responsible for the creative output for clients such as the Cirque du Soleil, Red Bull and adidas.

The shop has earned more than 100 local creative awards in the last couple of years. In 2004, Sid Lee won six Cassies, taking home more prizes in a single year than any other agency in the history of the contest. It was also named 2004 Digital Agency of the Year in Canada by Marketing Magazine. In 2006, Sid Lee was honoured with a Gold in the B!G Awards – Big Ideas Big Impact category of Strategy Magazine’s – Agency of the Year contest.

The only agency in Quebec to win 6 years in a row in Cannes, Sid Lee won top honours at other international shows including, D&AD, Communication Arts and Best of show in the Marketing Awards in Canada.

Philippe Meunier has been Jury President for the Quebec’s Creative advertising Awards PCM, Grafika–an annual Quebec design competition he helped found–the Boomerang awards for Quebec’s interactive advertising, the Extra Awards for newspaper advertising and the Marketing Awards. Being thoroughly bilingual has helped him serve on international juries including Cannes Lions, the New York Festival and the London International Advertising, Communication Arts and Design Awards.

Jessica Michaels is a Senior Partner, Group Media Director at MEC Interaction / GroupM. GroupM is the world’s largest buyer of advertising media with billings of US$ 60 billion (RECMA). GroupM Interaction is also the world’s largest buyer of online media with 2008 billings of approximately US$4 billion and is one of the largest global agency customers of Google, Yahoo and MSN.

GroupM Interaction employs 1800 people across the world and operates four agency brands being Beyond Interactive, MEC Interaction, Mindshare Interaction and now the integrated global search organization that combines Outrider, Catalyst and 24/7 search. Its clients include AT&T, Dell, Ford, VW, GSK, Citi, Jet Blue, Chevron, BP, Colgate Palmolive, Warner Brothers, Microsoft and Paramount.

Jessica leads a team of bright digital media strategists who deploy cutting edge social an emerging media initiatives for many of the groups client base. Her most recent work with Microsoft has been to assist them in defining best practices in both their B2B and B2C business groups around social and emerging media strategy, deployment and measurement.

Jessica is currently living in Seattle and remaining true to her Australian roots, enjoys surfing on the weekends in the somewhat chilly waters of the Pacific Ocean.

After a successful career as a copywriter, Terry co-founded Pirate Radio & Television in 1990. Pirate now has a staff of over 50 with 8 recording studios in Toronto and New York City.

Terry has won a few hundred national and international awards for writing and directing. Hosts sold-out radio seminars. He was named Canadian judge for the inaugural year of Radio at the 2005 Cannes Advertising Festival in France, and was Radio Chairman of the International Clio Awards in Miami. When he’s not creating advertising, he’s talking about it, as the host the hugely popular CBC radio series, “The Age of Persuasion.” Terry was given the Les Usherwood & Fritz Speiss Lifetime Achievement Awards by the advertising industry and was recently inducted into the Marketing Hall of Legends.

He has just co-written a book called “The Age of Persuasion” and Random House is publishing it on October 27th, 2009.

He has a wonderful wife and three lovely daughters.

Who like some of his work.

Michael Quast
Vice-President, Development, The Holmes Group

Michael’s tremendous passion for television comes from a career that spans more than twenty years and ranges in experience from Host, Writer, Producer, Network Production Executive and Executive Producer. He joined YTV before it was even “on the air” in 1988 and then pursued a variety of opportunities in the independent production world as well as with other private and public broadcasters. He has served as Director, Studio Programming for Alliance Atlantis Broadcasting, Vice President, TV Media for Canadian Home Publishers and is currently Vice President, Development for The Holmes Group.

Michael’s various roles have exposed him to virtually every form of television from live music events and talk shows, to studio-based or entirely field produced programs. His work has taken him throughout Canada and the US as well as internationally from Israel to East Africa. Recognition for his work includes an Award of Excellence from the Alliance for Children and Television and a Gemini Award for Best Lifestyle/Practical Information Series.

Michael has a B.A. (Hons) in Politics from Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario and a Master’s Degree in Political Theory from the University of Manchester, England. He lives in a strawbale home that his wife and two children hope will be finished soon.

Kreuk holds a Bachelor of Commerce from Queen’s University.

Lauren is the CEO of the Starcom MediaVest Group (SMG), an international leader in media solutions, with a prestigious client roster including - Kraft, Procter and Gamble, Walt Disney Company/Walt Disney Studios, Nintendo, Kellogg’s, Globalive Wireless and TD.

A 28 year veteran of the media services industry, Lauren Richards is known for her passion and commitment to media innovation.

Lauren served as the first Canadian judge for the Cannes Media Lions, and judged again this year; is a multiple Lion winner and created the Media Innovation Awards in Canada with Marketing Magazine. Lauren has also developed the Young Media Challenge and the Cannes Media Challenge with The Globe & Mail.

The Starcom MediaVest Group has recently announced Lauren as the chair of the SMG Global Product team and lead on our collective entries for international awards. Subsequently, SMG was named Network of the Year from the Valencia Festival of Media and then became the highest scoring Media Network at Cannes.

SMG Canada was awarded the mantra of Media Agency of the Year (based on a product review) from Strategy Magazine this year, as well as the Most Innovative Agency of 2008, according to the global publication, The Internationalist.

Lauren is a proud board member of The Canadian Media Directors' Council, and has served on the boards of The Broadcast Executives Society and the Broadcast Bureau of Measurement.

Rob has been in the ad biz for 13 years, the last 9 of them at Rethink in Vancouver. His work has been recognized by Communication Arts, Archive, the Clios, Cannes, London International, D&AD and The One Show.

You may remember him from such credits as: A&P/Dominion, Dose, Bell, Playland, Solo Mobile, Sirius Satellite Radio, Mr. Lube and Science World.

As a judge Rob has participated in The Addys, Applied Arts, The Marketing Awards and The Clios print jury.

Three years ago Rob was named Canada’s top writer by Strategy magazine, last year he clawed his way to #3. He thinks.

As EVP, Managing Director, connectivetissue, Brian Terkelsen is charged with developing entertainment-marketing solutions for MediaVest clients, simultaneously leveraging relationships, consumer understanding and brand knowledge.

Brian has been in the entertainment marketing industry since 1992 and has extensive experience working with MTV, ESPN and Discovery Channel. In 1995, he served as Executive Producer on MTV Eco-Challenge and ESPN Extreme Games. He also co-produced Discovery Channel’s Eco-Challenge on-site in British Columbia (1996) and Australia (1997).

Brian’s passion for adventure racing began in 1992 when he co-founded Eco-Challenge Lifestyles, Inc. where he introduced, developed and marketed the sport of adventure racing to television networks and corporate sponsors. He also created the official Eco-Challenge website — www.ecochallenge.com — for which he produced live Eco-Challenge event coverage in 1996.

Most recently, Brian was General Manager of Be Here Technologies, Inc., where he directly managed the Sales, Marketing and Production Groups as well as the sale of broadcast services to Entertainment Tonight, NBC, NBA, 2002 Winter Olympics and HBO Sports. Prior to this, he served three years (1998-2001) as Group General Manager of Quokka Sports, Inc. where he conceived and negotiated programming deals in the adventure and sailing space.

Aidan Tracey is the president of Mosaic Experiential Marketing and is more than passionate about the world of XM. Christopher Loudon, Publisher and Editor-In-Chief of Marketing Magazine, summed up Aidan’s enthusiasm succinctly when he wrote, "He looks 30, has the energy of a 16 year old and the passion of a rookie pitcher who suddenly find himself at the center of the World Series. Spend ten minutes listening to Aidan … and you’ll walk away convinced."

A specific specialty of Aidan and Mosaic XM is in helping brand marketers combat the growing erosion of traditional forms of mass media to reach consumers using experiential events as part of a more holistic marketing strategy. Since taking the reigns of Mosaic Experiential Marketing five years ago, the company has grown to become the clear Canadian leader in experiential marketing by designing, building and executing innovative campaigns for Fortune 100 clients including Labatt Breweries, Coca-Cola, Microsoft, and Procter & Gamble.

Prior to joining Mosaic, Mr. Tracey was a Vice President and General Manager at Labatt-Interbrew North America. Over a seven year career, he enjoyed a variety of assignments including GM of the Interactive Marketing business unit whose primary consumer facing initiative was the website beer.com. Publishing weekly in two languages and with different versions for specific markets, the business established a loyal community among young adult male beer drinkers across North America. Additionally, Mr. Tracey previously held the position of Director of Marketing, Atlantic Region, where he was a member of the regional management team, which supervised two breweries, over 250 personnel, and managed the marketing activity for 15 brands in the Atlantic Provinces. In this role, Aidan spearheaded the consumer experience behind the rebuilding of the Alexander Keith's Original Brewery in Halifax, believed to be the oldest working brewery in North America.

Aidan received an Honours Business Degree from Wilfrid Laurier University in Canada. He currently lives in Oakville Ontario Canada with his wife and daughters.

Nancy Vonk is Co-Chief Creative Officer of Ogilvy Toronto. She and partner Janet Kestin paired up in 1991, and have won awards including Cannes Lions, One Show Pencils, CA, and Clios. They are the creative directors of “Evolution”, winner of two Grand Prix at Cannes in 2007 and “Diamond Shreddies”, winner of a Grand Clio in 2008.

She has judged many top shows including Communication Arts ('99), The One Show ('04 and '08), Cannes ('02), the Clio Awards ('96 and '03), the Creativity Awards (’08) and D&AD (’09), and has chaired shows in the U.S. and Canada including the 2008 Art Director’s Club of New York 87th annual awards, where she was the first female chair in their history.

Nancy was included in Creativity Magazine’s Top 50 creative people of 2008 list and ‘boards magazine’s “It List” in 2006 and 2007. Nancy and Janet were named advertising women of the year by the WIN Awards in Los Angeles and by the AWNY Awards in New York in 2007.

Nancy and Janet have an advice column, “Ask Jancy”, on ihaveanidea.org. They penned Adweek Book, “Pick Me” in 2005, which has become a staple of North American ad schools. HarperCollins has commissioned a business book due on shelves in 2011.

She is on the advisory board of the Ontario College of Art and Design, and is a mentor and lecturer at VCU Brandcenter. In 2009 Nancy was elected to the One Club board of directors.

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