2022 Jury

Tracey Cooke
SVP Head of Marketing & Commercialization
Nestle

Tracey is a strategic and creative leader with a passion for problem solving, building brands and driving sustainable growth. She has a track record of nurturing strong teams, orchestrating organizational change, and developing emerging in-house practices to deliver consumer centricity @ the core. 

Tracey Cooke is currently the Head of Marketing and Commercialization at Nestle Canada, and Leader of the Centre for Marketing Excellence, a multidisciplinary team focused on driving consumer first thinking, accelerating change and capability building in marketing, including Consumer Insights & Strategy, eBusiness, Consumer Engagement and Experience (including our in house Consumer Engagement Service team, internal Community Management, Content, Media), Category Analytics, Packaging, and Agency/Tech Partnerships.  She is a member of the Nestlé Business Executive Team.

Prior to joining Nestlé Canada, Tracey worked in various communication, advertising and leadership roles at a number of agencies, including: the social purpose startup Public Inc (Director, Creative & Experience), her own consultancy twostories (Partner, Creative Director & Strategy Lead), MacLaren McCann (Vice President, Creative Director) and DDB Health & Lifestyle (Senior Copywriter).

Infinitely curious and a perpetual learner, Tracey started in the world of science with a degree in Genetics and Microbiology, roles in pharma, a world renown science centre and emerging environmental technologies before she started a career in advertising – leveraging diversity of thought & experiences as a core philosophy for success.

Tracey has been a board member of the ACA (Association of Canadian Advertisers) for 4 years.

Susan O'Brien
Chief Brand and Customer Officer
Canadian Tire Corporation

Susan O’Brien is the Chief Brand & Customer Officer at Canadian Tire Corporation (CTC). She oversees all aspects of CTC’s brand, aligning the curation of the entire customer experience across all channels and through all Marketing and leading the long-term strategy around customer insights. She is also responsible for CTC’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) strategy and roadmap.  

Susan is an expert in all things branding, positioning and customer engagement and has played an integral role in the reinvention of the Canadian Tire brand through award-winning programs like We All Play for Canada and Tested for Life in Canada. Susan spearheaded the launch of Triangle Rewards – Canada’s fastest growing loyalty program – and one of the most strategically important initiatives in the history of CTC, linking the entire family of companies under one loyalty and credit card program. Her work has contributed to the Company’s Marketer of the Year Award in 2013 from Marketing Magazine, being named Canada’s Most Admired Brand by Leger in 2019 and One of Canada’s Strongest Retail Brands by Brand Finance in 2019.

Since joining the Company in 2008, Susan has held a number of progressively senior roles. Most recently she served as Senior Vice-President, Marketing; prior to that she was Senior Vice-President, Marketing & Corporate Affairs and Vice-President of Marketing for Canadian Tire. 

Susan sits on the Board of the Canadian Marketing Association and on the Board of Enactus Canada. She holds an MBA in General Management from the Richard Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario, and a Bachelor of Commerce (Marketing) from Dalhousie University. In 2002, she was nominated for Marketing Magazine’s Top 30 under 30 award, was named one of Toronto’s Brand Stars by Ad Week in 2018, and recently was awarded as one of Canada’s Marketers of the Year by Strategy Magazine.

Johanna Andren
Head of Marketing
IKEA Canada

Johanna Andren is the Head of Marketing for IKEA Canada since January 2020. Within her role, Johanna oversees Marketing Communication, Media, CRM and sits on the Canadian Commercial leadership team. Prior to joining IKEA Canada, Johanna worked as Marketing Manager for IKEA Sweden for three years and has also held various leadership positions in marketing within financial and telecommunication sectors. She also worked as a management consultant for several years.

Some of the highlights and most recently award winning work from the IKEA Canada team are: Scrapsbook, Gingerbread Home, Love Seats, One Little Thing, Our Little World, Scraps du Soleil, Swede dreams and Won’t wake the Baby.

Johanna was born in Sweden but has a French background and spent several years studying and working in France. She holds a Master of Science Industrial Marketing from Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden.

Johanna moved to Oakville together with her family in January 2020. She is married to Patrik (film composer) and has three kids, Gustav (14), Sofi (12), and Molly (4). Johanna has a strong passion for soccer, fashion, home furnishing, reading and cooking. Johanna is an honest and straightforward person with a lot of energy. She truly believes in the power of teamwork and leads with a balanced approach to performance and caring, with a focus on coaching and developing people.

TJ Arch
Creative Director
Target Marketing & Communications

TJ believes that advertising can and should be fun. He’s got some Clios and Pencils on his bookshelf, but also actual books. He enjoys terrible, mindless TV and hates parades. He is a strategic thinker, an empathetic leader, and the only vegetarian in the world who hates vegetables.

Ira Baptiste
EVP, Managing Director
Brandfire

With 34 years of experience as a successful marketing and advertising executive, Ira has a wealth of knowledge and experience under her belt. She has had the pleasure of working with multi-national advertising companies and small independently owned agencies across Canada and Europe. She has been instrumental in their success and continues to do so as Executive Vice President, Managing Director at Brandfire Marketing.

Ira’s tenure in marketing has had her working with a variety of clients in the CPG Beverage Alcohol, Agriculture and Non-Profits organizations to name a few..  The breadth of experience across these clients have included strategic positioning to consumer execution in the areas of digital, social, shopper marketing, consumer activations etc.

As her career unfolded, she has had many positive experiences as the only person of colour at the table, but she has also experienced what we are talking about openly now – racial biased comments, interactions and assumptions.  The fact of the matter is that this subject was something that wasn’t even talked about even when it should have been because there was not an acknowledgement or understanding of what was actually happening.  Over time, the conversations have started to happen and she has been in the fortunate position to be able to give voice and action to Black representation of talent in Advertising.

During her free time, Ira enjoys nothing better than getting on the tennis court to try and reach the Serena Williams that she is convinced lives somewhere inside of her.

Jessica Borges
VP, Business Lead
Koo Multicultural, Division of Cossette

Chief Creative Officer & Chief Strategy Officer at Maple Diversity, Jessica Borges brings a wealth of international experience in multicultural insights, creative strategy, brand development, client management, and an innate ability to inspire creative excitement and inclusiveness in the teams she has worked with around the world. 

Jessica describes her creative career as a global journey of discovery, from vibrant India, to the mystique of Muscat, high-flying Dubai, and Canada, where she has spent a decade in the diversity and inclusion space, reaching out to the fastest-growing consumer groups in the country. 

As Creative Director at McCann and Y&R, VP Creative at Dyversity, and currently CCO & CSO at Maple Diversity, she has enjoyed connecting multicultural customers to brands like J&J, Royale, RBC, OLG, Bell, Unilever, Nestle, Coca-Cola, HSBC, Canada Post, L’Oreal, GM, The Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation, and WelcomePack Canada, among others. She has been recognised at local and international award shows.

Jessica has been invited to speak at the Toronto Public Library during Asian Heritage Month, published in Canadian anthologies ‘Canadian Voices’ and ‘Indian Voices’, has conducted ‘creative thinking’, ‘media literacy’, and ‘interactive storytelling’ workshops in Toronto schools, has been a judge and panelist at multicultural conferences, the Marketing Awards, and was on the Executive Jury representing Canada at the 2021 Gerety Awards, a diverse way of celebrating global work with a 100% female jury.

Excited about all things digital and DE&I, she has completed a Digital Marketing Management program at the University of Toronto, and recently the ‘Indigenous Canada’ course from the University of Alberta, even as she works on her novel and children’s short stories.

Marlene Browne
Senior Director, Research & Insights
DCM

More than 20 years supporting clients across countless verticals has made Marlene an expert at turning research findings into actionable insights and recommendations. Using her extensive knowledge of research methodologies and techniques, she has delivered powerful consumer insights to support business, brand, communications and design strategies for clients including Royal Bank of Canada, Metrolinx/GO Transit, Spencer’s Retail Limited (India), Cervus Equipment and Marsh and McLennan. As Director of Research & Insights Marlene shepherds a team of research analysts to uncover crucial information regarding market and consumer intelligence. Marlene holds a Bachelor of Science, Biology from McMaster University and an AOCAD Diploma, Fine Arts – Drawing & Painting, Ontario College of Art & Design.

Anthony Chelvanathan
ECD
Edelman Canada

Global | EVP & Executive Creative Director at Edelman Toronto, Anthony Chelvanathan has a made a name for himself as one of the most prolific creatives in Canada. His work has been recognized in just about every international show including D&AD, Cannes, One Show, LIA and Clios, including multiple Golds and Grand Prix awards. He has also lent his expertise as a judge at many of the same shows.

In 2009, The Gunn Report ranked Anthony 6th in the world and his Cannes Gold Lion-winning campaign for James Ready Beer the top out-of-home campaign.

In 2015, his follow-up video to the #LikeAGirl campaign got more than 90 million views from around the globe while his TSN outdoor campaign promoting the Rogers Cup was among the most awarded billboard campaigns in the world.

In 2017, Anthony's IKEA “parchment paper” execution racked up multiple Golds in Cannes adding to his tally of more than 100 international awards, including a Grand Clio. Even though he’s been ranked number one in Canada by Strategy Magazine on numerous occasions, there are no signs that he intends to slow down anytime soon.

Ari Elkouby
Chief Creative Officer
Wunderman Thompson

Ari Elkouby is a VP, Executive Creative Director at Wunderman Thompson Canada where he creatively oversees a diverse portfolio of clients here in Canada and the United States.

He has worked on both sides of the border including stops at Fallon Worldwide, FCB, BBDO Proximity and Zulu Alpha Kilo. His multi-channel background has made him an asset for an array of clients looking for media agnostic campaigns and large-scale platform thinking.

Ari also brings with him an invaluable background in design and has been instrumental in helping lead Wunderman Thompson’s Identity and design practice which has helped birth half a dozen new brands and reimagined half a dozen more.

During his 5-year tenure at Wunderman Thompson, the agency has been named runner up as Strategy’s Agency of the Year twice and his work has been recognized internationally by Cannes, OneShow, The Clios, The Webby Awards, Communication Arts and has graced the pages of Wired, Fast Company and the New York Times.

Ari is fiercely collaborative and regularly contributes thought leadership pieces to various publications on industry trends as well as sits on numerous jury panels to help recognize the best work being produced across Canada.

Devon MacDonald
President
Cairns O'Neil

Devon is President at Cairns Oneil, a newly created role at Canada’s leading independent media agency. Devon has extensive experience in the media, technology, and creative industries, having run companies and teams within some of the leading organizations across Canada. A collaborative leader, Devon is well known for partnering with clients to help clients navigate the complexity of today while also planning for the future. Outside of the office Devon volunteers for the West End Phoenix, coaches soccer and is a proud recipient of the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Medal.

Sonia Santos
Customer & Shopper Marketing Director
Agropur

Sonia is an experienced senior marketing director with a solid track record of over 20 years’ experience in CPG. She is action-oriented and highly creative professional, able to build and lead high-performance multidisciplinary teams. Recognized for her successful innovative ideas as well as for her ability to create and implement breakthrough marketing strategies. Motivated and valued marketing professional with a clear strategic vision that allows her to lead and align all stakeholders throughout complex marketing projects. Appreciated for her understanding and savvy use of market insights and for her ability to translate them into high-performing digital and omnichannel marketing strategies.

Her goal is to increase the propensity for conversion by building strategies and plans that effectively intercept, engage, and motivate shoppers to act now.

Janie Theriault
Director of Integrated Marketing Communications
Loto-Quebec

As Director of Integrated Marketing Communications, Janie Thériault is responsible for traditional advertising campaigns as well as Web and social communications for every lottery brand under the Loto-Québec umbrella.

After acquiring a BAA and a master in marketing (M.Sc.) at Sherbrooke University, Janie made her debut in the world of agencies. First as account director at Y&R, and then at Cossette, she had the chance to partake in the growth of multiple national and international brands. In 2013, she joined Loto-Québec and leads advertising campaigns that become instantly iconic while generating positive results for the brand. An example of such success is the popular #youshouldplay649.

Full of passion for her field, Janie focuses on a type of communication that helps brands evolve over time. The core drivers of a successful strategy for her are innovation, renewability, boldness, and relevancy for the consumers. 

Her work on various brands has earned awards based on results and creativity (First Grand Effie, Marketing Awards, MIA, CRÉA, IDEA, Cassies, Prix Média, Prix Strat). She’s also one of the Top Personality Infopresse 2016.

Ryan Booth
Creative Director
Thinkingbox

Ryan is an internationally recognized multi-disciplined graphic designer. He has been a member of a number of award-winning creative teams, and his work spans brand identity programs, packaging, interior design, advertising and photography. Ryan is currently Creative Director at Thinkingbox's Toronto office.

Cora Brady
President
Bob's Your Uncle

Cora is Partner and President at Bob’s Your Uncle, an independent agency for food and beverage companies looking for creative solutions that drive business value. Cora is responsible for agency services, culture and client success for Popeyes Louisiana Chicken Canada, Sofina Foods, Ice River Sustainable Solutions, International Distillers, Ontario Beef, New Roots Herbal and All-Clad among others.

Seeing the emergence of influencers, Cora co-founded Mom Central as Canada’s first social influencer agency. She quickly secured pivotal strategic assignments and ongoing social and influencer engagements for some of Canada’s largest CPG marketers and retailers including Reckitt Benckiser, General Mills, Abbott Nutrition, Walmart Canada, LCL, McCormick’s, and ConAgra. 

As a leader of North America’s largest experiential agency’s digital and shopper marketing practice, Cora helped brands like Starbucks launch their Seattle’s Best coffee brand into the US retail market. 

Cora brings a unique blend of strategic prowess balanced with retail and sales execution experience. She has a passion for forming strategic partnerships to delivery best in class solutions.

Julien Brunet
Partner, Head of Strategy
CRI Agence

In 1992, after completing a bachelor’s degree in Business at UQAM, Julien Brunet starts his career in communications on the production side of printed advertising. 2 years later, in 1994, he is hired by one of his clients, a design studio called CRI Communications. 

In 1996, he is offered a job that no 24-year-old could resist and leaves for Mexico to manage a small hotel on the beach. A year later, back in Montreal, he resumes his career in marketing and joins the agency team of SVY&R. Account manager for Kraft Canada, JR Ouimet and Natrel, he gains precious experience in retail level promotional campaigns.

In 2000, Julien returns to CRI agence to launch an Advertising and Promotions Division and starts working with Loto-Quebec on numerous projects. Almost 20 years later, Julien is Head of Strategy and works on integrated campaigns for clients in a wide range of industries: Michelin, Jean Coutu, Desjardins, Cascades, Vachon, etc. A passionate student of human behaviour in retail environments, he is obsessed by the decision-making process. In recent years, he has read multiple works on Neuromarketing and the role of emotions versus rational thinking.

Today, he assists clients and colleagues in developing creatives and strategies that engage the brain and trigger emotional reactions.

Logan Chambers
Sr. Director of Marketing
PepsiCo

Logan Chambers is a Senior Director of Marketing at Pepsico Foods Canada. He currently leads the Marketing agenda for a portfolio of brands across Breakfast, Baking, Snacking, and Side Dishes.

Fawad Farrukh
Head of Marketing
Mars Pet Nutrition

Fawad is currently Head of Marketing at Mars Petcare in Canada, covering Brand Management, eCommerce, Shopper Marketing, and Consumer Insights. Prior to Mars, Fawad was the Business Unit Director managing the Cereal and eCom businesses at General Mills Canada. He started his career in Data Analytics and Consumer Insights at Procter & Gamble. Fawad has led and executed several strategic marketing plans and new products end-to-end. Two of his proudest campaigns are Cheerios “Bring Back the Bees” and Cheerios Olympics “Cheer”. He has deep passion and expertise in Incubation & Experimentation, scaling small ideas to become big bets), eCommerce, and Digital.

Jean-Francois Joyal
Partner, Creativity & Business Solutions
Bob Agence

Over the past 20 years, Jean-François has developed his management skills overseeing numerous large-scale integrated projects. He has made it his personal mission to train engaged, creative and inspiring leaders, taking a modern approach to business management that’s aimed at cultivating the development, growth and well-being of his colleagues. He truly believes that people who thrive in their jobs are more likely to succeed and advance their community.

As Partner, Creativity and Business Solutions at Bob, the agency he has helped to build since joining in 2006, Jean-François’ goal is to develop a responsible organization that stands out not only for its personalized customer service, extensive high-level expertise and extraordinary creativity, but also for its commitment to forging solid relationships with customers, teammates and collaborators.

Jean-François is committed to always providing creative business intelligence that is relevant to his clients and their consumers.

Kairen Wu
Consultant

Kairen Wu has over two decades of experience in building brands and businesses at early stage and global companies in marketing, sales and advertising roles in CPG ( Lindt & Sprungli, JTI,  P&G, Kraft)  and telco (Rogers). Most recently she spent the past 14+ years making Lindt one of the largest & most loyal chocolate brand in Canada as the VP Marketing managing the strategic growth & commercialization for its global brands, retail stores and digital/D2C strategy.  

In her spare time, Kairen is cooking and creating new healthy snacks while learning more about natural plant-based foods. Her passion for food has led her to consult and mentor early stage/scale up food ventures & founders to start, grow and thrive and bring their vision to life.