Gavin Barrett
Owner, Founding Partner, CCO
Barrett and Welsh

Owner, Founding Partner, Chief Creative Officer of award-winning Toronto branding and advertising agency, and B Corp, Barrett and Welsh. Co-founder of People of Colour in Advertising and Marketing (POCAM) and the Multicultural Marketing Alliance of Canada.

Jury chair, Marketing’s inaugural multicultural awards. Provider of colour at Strategy, Applied Arts and many other fine awards juries.

Has created campaigns for audiences in Canada, India, Greater China, SE Asia, Korea, the Middle East, Australia, New Zealand, USA and the UK.

His first jobs: door-to-door market researcher, poet, pharmaceutical sales manager (not a euphemism) and musical production manager. None of them paid well so he went on to a career as an entrepreneur, writer, designer, art director and creative director.

In pursuit of big ideas he has: nibbled on pigs' ears (not on a live pig at the time); gone elephant-back in the Thai jungle (no elephants were hurt); gambled in a Macau casino (was utterly destroyed).

He has created advertising for: mums, businesswomen, unclejis and auntyjis, male tailors of the Muslim faith, tea drinkers, Scotch drinkers, men who smoke Virginia Slims, people trapped in planes, commuters, voters-on-fences, car mechanics and wedding planners.

His work has been brought to life on screen and page by Deepa Mehta, David Carson, Bruno Barbey and Louis Ng.

His ads: have run in 35 countries, helped elect prime ministers, attracted the ire of the lawyers for Dolly the cloned sheep, drawn an angry crowd in Lagos, are studied in business texts in Canada and India and were criticized by a fictional character in a John Irving novel.

His poems: can be found in Understan (Mawenzi House 2020), his new book, in Penguin’s anthology of 14 contemporary Indian poets, Reasons for Belonging and many other fine literary journals.

In his journeys he has collected: a BA (econ.), an MA (eng. lit), and 200+ awards for his work, and a fair bit of grey in his hair.

He cannot: sing.

Nancy Crimi-Lamanna
CCO
FCB

Named by Adweek as one of Toronto’s Brand Stars shaping the city into the creative hub it is today and a CampaignUS 40 over 40, Nancy has helped lead the creative resurgence of FCB – elevating its position to the 2021 Creative Network of the Year at the Cannes Lions, the most awarded agency at the One Show in 2020 and Adweek’s 2020 Global Agency of the Year. Her work has been presented to the UN twice and she also has the distinction of bringing home Canada’s first Integrated, Strategy and Creative Data Cannes Lions. In 2020, her work for the Canadian Down syndrome society was ranked as the 3rd most-awarded campaign globally at the One Show.

Since joining FCB Canada 6 years ago, the agency's creative work has been among the most celebrated and innovative in the industry, including its work for BMW, Bank of Montreal/BMO Harris, Michelob Ultra and the Canadian Down Syndrome Society. This thinking has helped make FCB Canada Media Innovation Agency of the year , 2 years in a row, Digital Agency of the Year, 5 years in a row and the most-awarded Canadian agency at the Clios and Cannes, 3 years in a row.

Beyond creating iconic campaigns, Nancy is an industry thought leader: She's an inaugural member of the Times Up Advertising movement addressing gender inequality and has committed FCB Canada to #FreeTheWork, an effort to diversify talent in production.

Nancy has served on several international juries including the Cannes Lions, Clios, and One Show as well as volunteering her time for industry panels, being on the ADCC advisory board and serving on school advisory boards for advertising students in Canada.

Luc Du Sault
Partner, VP Creative
LG2

In 2004, my friends and I founded the Quebec City office of lg2. Since then, we've created a fun place to find great ideas. I've led my teams on many projects recognized on the national and international scene like Cannes, D&AD, London Internationals, One Show and Clios. I've also been lucky enough to sit on numerous amazing juries including Cannes, the One Show and the Clios.

I fell in love with advertising at 4 years old, when my dad brought home a storyboard for a TV spot. That passion continued to grow at Cossette where I worked on General Motors, and Mc Donald’s. Now, I'm leading a group of many different talents who are solving all sorts of problems for the Société de l'assurance automobile du Quebec, Farnham Ale & Lager, Krispy Kernels, Lesters food, Bonduelle, the Quebec government and the Quebec dairy board.

Contributing to the success of lg2 has always made me feel proud, and I will continue to create the way I always have - with the heart of a 4-year-old.

Judy John
Global Chief Creative Officer
Edelman

As the first ever Global Chief Creative Officer at Edelman, the world's largest communications firm, Judy leads the team of creatives and planners globally. Before joining Edelman, she was at Leo Burnett where she served as Chief Creative Officer for North America and CEO for Canada.

Judy has been recognised globally, winning at virtually every show and is known as the driving force behind the Always #LikeAGirl campaign which went on to win the Emmy for Outstanding Commercial, Black Pencil at D&AD, Titanium, Grand Prix and Glass Lion at Cannes, and was named by CBS as one of the top three Super Bowl Commercials of all time.

Judy ranked as the #1 CCO in the world in Advertising Age's Awards Report 2015, was named to Business Insider's 30 Most Creative People in Advertising, and Advertising Age's Creativity50 2014: The Most Creative People of the Year. And in 2019 was named on Gold House's A100 List of most influential Asians in culture.

Along the way, she's judged and chaired top international awards shows including Cannes, The Clios,ADC and D&AD. Judy also sits on the Board of the One Club for Creativity, Ad Council Creative Review Board, and Girl Culture Films Advisory Board.

Carlos Moreno
Partner & Chief Creative Officer
Broken Hearts Love Affair

Carlos is one of the most decorated Creative Directors in Canada. He has been most notably awarded the prestigious Grand Prix award at the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity. As an Art Director, he was twice included in the Top Ten list globally by The Gunn Report. He was also ranked the number one Creative Director in Canada on the Strategy Magazine Creative Report Card in 2018 and 2019, making that the third time in his career. Under his leadership, Cossette (his previous agency), was named Canadian Agency of the Year by Strategy Magazine from 2016 to 2018. He brought the same honour to BBDO in 2011. In each case, they were firsts for the agencies.

Before founding Broken Heart Love Affair, Carlos was Global Chief Creative Officer at Cossette where he ran a variety of blue-chip accounts, including McDonald’s, General Mills, SickKids, Canopy Growth, Canada Goose and Public Mobile. He has also worked as an Art Director and Creative Director in Toronto and New York for McCann, Saatchi and Downtown Partners DDB.

A native of Guatemala, Carlos was named one of the most Influential Hispanics in Canada by the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and sits on the Board for the Advertising and Design Club of Canada.

Zak Mroueh
CCO & Founder
Zulu Alpha Kilo

Zak’s track record of creativity and innovation spans 35 years as a writer, creative director and entrepreneur.

Over this time, he has been recognized as one of the top creative directors in the world by AdAge and been named Canada’s top CD of the year by strategy magazine numerous times throughout his career. In 1987, Zak landed his first job in the mailroom at Saatchi & Saatchi, followed by a year of writing direct mail copy at Sears. From those humble beginnings, he would eventually work at SMW, Chiat\Day, BBDO, and McCann UK.

In 1999, he joined a small boutique called TAXI. Under his creative leadership, the agency catapulted to international acclaim and won seven Agency of the Year titles from strategy and Marketing. Then, in 2008, he took the biggest leap of his career and started his own agency in the midst of a recession. Fourteen years later, Zulu Alpha Kilo (aka “ZAK” in the NATO phonetic alphabet) is a thriving 130-person shop. Throughout its history, Zulu has been recognized by international publications such as AdAge, Campaign, and The Drum, as Agency of the Year and one of the top independent shops in the world.

In 2021, Zak launched a scholarship program for BIPOC students called 20Doors. The initiative is providing 20 creative scholarships for aspiring writers and art directors over the next five years. It’s his way of giving back by opening the door for 20 of the best and brightest minds. Most recently, Zak was inducted into the Canadian Marketing Hall of Legends for his many contributions to the industry.

Not bad for a guy who got his start in the mailroom.

Jo-Ann Munro
Creative Director

Jo-Ann has been a fixture on the Montreal advertising scene for over 30 years as both an Art Director and a Creative Director. She grew up at Cossette, where she spent 17 years, before moving on to JWT, followed by Sid Lee; finally landing at McCann.

Working in both English and French, she has worked on integrated campaigns in just about every category: from fast food to cars, fashion to pharma and airlines to circuses. Jo-Ann’s work has been awarded locally and internationally by the Créa awards, Boomerangs, Marketing, the Extras, the New York Festival and the London International Advertising and Design Awards.

Steve Mykolyn
Partner
Castor Design

Living the dream.

Steve Mykolyn is the former CCO of TAXI, an advertising agency of some note. Currently, Steve is a partner in Castor, a Canadian design firm. You can buy their stuff here: castordesign.ca.

Steve also has a passion for books and film, especially when it comes to the craft involved. In 1997, he wrote and directed 'El Dia La Noche Y Los Muertos', an award-winning documentary about Mexico's Day of the Dead festival. He finally finished that project 30 years later with 'Songs for a Funeral', a limited edition collaboration in 2018. He's been called a world-class procrastinator, among other things.

In 2008, he represented Canada as co-curator of the Canadian Pavilion at the Venice Biennale for Architecture.

He is a past board member of both The One Show and the D&AD. He has some awards. And for some unexplained reason, he continues to host the Agency of the Year Awards, most recently in 2021.

Now he lives in the middle of nowhere with an advertising legend and a lifetime of accumulated crap.

Frank Palmer
Chairman
PS&Co

More than 50 years ago, Frank created Canada’s most creatively acclaimed marketing communications agency and, in that process, changed the face of Canadian advertising. The chief engineer of the merger between his own agency and DDB Worldwide, Frank successfully formed DDB Canada and built a thriving network recognized for producing the country’s most talked about and award-winning campaigns.

Throughout his career, Frank has donated professional services and developed ground-breaking public service campaigns for organizations including the Vancouver Police Foundation, First United Mission, Big Brothers & Big Sisters, Crime Stoppers, Ronald McDonald House, B.C. SPCA and Pacific Wild. He is also the founder of the National Advertising Benevolent Society in Canada and was the Chairman of the BC Special Olympics.

Frank has received numerous accolades, including being inducted into the Canadian Marketing Hall of Legends by the American Marketing Association and into the Canadian Marketing, Advertising, Communication and PR Hall of Fame. He is also a recipient of the Association of Canadian Advertisers’ prestigious Gold Medal Award.

Jenny Smith
President, ECD
Ray Agency

With 25 years in the advertising and marketing business, Jenny is no stranger to creating internationally recognized, award-winning advertising. She is Atlantic Canada’s most decorated creative person, winning literally hundreds of gold and platinum national and international awards and accolades over the course of her career. She’s the owner and President of Ray - an independent agency based in St. John’s, launched in 2013. Jenny has judged every regional and national award show in Canada (sometimes more than once). And has had the good fortune to judge international shows including Cannes (2009 and 2018) and LIA. She lives in St. John’s with her husband, two teens, and Nacho, the cat.

Christina Yu
CCO
Lifelong Crush

Christina Yu is a Cannes Lion award-winning creative as well as Film Director who recently joined Ostrich Studios as Partner. Based out of Toronto & NYC, the maker-minded agency collapses brand design, technology, media and production into a tight kit, studio-sized offering.

Recognized as one of Canada's Top 100 thought leaders, Christina was previously Managing Partner, Creative Director at Rethink Canada, where she helped lead them to Agency of the Year and Design Agency of the Year for both 2019 and 2020. Prior to Rethink, Christina co-founded Red Urban for DDB Network; creating high profile international work for Volkswagen and enjoying 5 years of record-breaking sales growth and Cannes accolades year over year. In 2015, she turned those talents to Subaru and helped them reach record-breaking sales.

Christina’s unique design sensibility and brand-building talents have helped drive breakthrough success for blue chip brands in virtually every category, including Stella Artois, Fed Ex, Pepsi, Audi, J&J, Virgin and Capital One to name but a few. She’s been named Top 30 Under 30, “Marketing Icons in the Making” and is frequent industry speaker and visiting professor at the Ontario College of Art & Design.

Although Christina’s been awarded at Cannes, One Show, Clios and even a Canadian Screen Award for film-making, she feels much more comfortable bragging about her twin sons’ ever-growing proficiency in soccer, Roblox and fishing on the Bay of Quinte.