Judges

Susan Bowman
Senior VP marketing, Thomas Cook Canada, Toronto
Susan oversees a team of 16 responsible for marketing and advertising efforts — including strategic marketing, digital marketing, advertising and promotions, brochures and flyers — for Thomas Cook Canada’s 14 brands, which include Sunquest Vacations, ALBATours, Holiday House, Tours Maison, Network, Encore CruiseEscapes, Intair, Fun Sun Vacations, Boomerang Tours, Last Minute Club and others. With over 25 years’ experience in the travel industry, she has held senior executive positions in the wholesale and retail sectors.

Judy Davey
VP marketing assets, Molson Canada, Toronto
Judy oversees a team of over 30 individuals in the areas of research, media, relationship marketing, sports sponsorship and events and promotions. She’s an expert in the field of integrated media planning, sports broadcast rights negotiations and harnessing the Internet to deliver brand messages and experiences to targeted audiences. Judy is chair of Fantasy Sports Network, Canada’s foremost online sports fantasy pool destination. She joined Molson Canada 21 years ago.

Karen Lee
Senior media manager, Coca-Cola Canada, Toronto
Karen is responsible for the development of all brand media plans, and leads the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games media activation. Karen joined Coca-Cola in 2000 as the regional media manager for Eastern Canada, with responsibility for all locally purchased media. Since her role expanded to include Western Canada, she has logged miles to every corner of this country, from Prince George, B.C. to St. John’s, Nfld.

Anne Maclean
Media and communications manager, Procter & Gamble Quebec, Toronto
Anne is responsible for P&G’s corporate media buying and communications planning for Quebec. In her role she has spearheaded groundbreaking media integration programs in the francophone market, such as Star Académie and Destination Tendance, a series of “showmercials” for brands including Nice ’n’ Easy, Pantene, Olay, Cover Girl and Crest. Anne started her career on the agency side at Weis & Associates Advertising, a small full-service ad agency in Toronto, in media and account services. She joined P&G in 1992.

Nandini Sethuraman
VP private label and brand strategy, Spencer’s, India
Since joining Spencer’s, Nandini has successfully spearheaded the retailer’s repositioning and visual identity initiatives, along with building a powerful private label program. She was previously head of marketing for IKEA Canada, where she set up a successful Canadian marketing program that included the introduction of the well-recognized “Swedish voice” radio campaign. She has over 15 years’ experience working with blue-chip consumer brands such as Pepsi, Hershey’s, Nestlé and Kraft, in Canada as well as in global markets including the Middle East and India.

Paula Tillmann Peirce
Professor of advertising, School of Business, Sheridan Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning, Toronto
Since the fall of 2007, Paula has been teaching advertising in the business school at Sheridan. Previously, she taught and developed curriculum for Centennial College — Centre for Creative Communications in the advertising and media programs. Before turning to teaching, Paula held senior roles in the media advertising industry, including VP director of integrated marketing and sales for Torstar, SVP co-managing director at M2 Universal, VP national media director at McCann Erickson and VP media services at Axmith, McIntyre Wicht.

Catherine Bridgman
Formerly SVP marketing ventures, Canwest Broadcasting, Toronto
Over four years at Canwest, Catherine was responsible for spearheading numerous compelling multi-asset custom campaigns for national advertisers in Canada and the U.S. She has launched magazines, radio and TV programming and websites in both English and French. With over 25 years’ experience, Catherine started her career in TV distribution, and proceeded to take on new roles in research, publishing, entertainment marketing, brand development and multi-platform marketing with companies such as Brunico Communications, Quebecor Media and Tribute Entertainment Media. She left Canwest last month.

David Cairns
Director of communications planning, Dentsu Canada, Toronto
David joined Dentsu in 2003 and created the agency’s media group, which now holds accounts including Toyota Canada, Lexus Canada and Canon Canada. His media department creation skills were first proven in 1988, when David created the media operation at Chiat/Day (now TBWA) and spent seven years there as VP media director. He then moved on to launch his own media agency, David Cairns & Company, which became the Toronto office of Carat North America. Later David founded Asylum Thinkgroup, a strategic consortium of media executives. He has been identified four times as one of Canada’s top media directors by strategy.

Laura Gaggi
President, Gaggi Media Communications, Toronto
As owner of Gaggi Media for the past 16 years, and with over 30 years of media experience, Laura’s passion for the business has generated recognition for her creative integrated media solutions. Gaggi Media is an award-winning strategic media planning and buying company that handles national and international accounts including the Globe & Mail, Hilton Hotels, Ontario Power Generation, the Toronto Raptors and Dr. Oetker.

Jeff Marchand
President/principal, Priority:Media, Toronto
In 2006, Jeff founded Priority:Media, a media intelligence company whose primary mission is to train, inspire and instill confidence in marketing departments in a critical segment of their advertising initiatives. Clients include Diageo Canada, Frito-Lay, H.J. Heinz and Woodbine Entertainment Group. For 15 years prior to starting his own company, Jeff honed his passion for brands, media and clients at Leo Burnett/Starcom, where he progressed from entry level to become the SVP and GM of the Canadian operation.

Frédéric Rondeau
Media director, Bos Montreal
Frédéric takes a very creative approach to media, and was appointed media director after four years at Bos, which handles media planning and buying for clients including Fido, Banque Nationale, Loto-Québec and Couche-Tard. Previously he spent four years at BCP and ZenithOptimedia. He’s worked on so many different businesses over the years that it would be easier to list those he hasn’t worked on: Turkish foie gras, aromatherapy toilet paper and waste-fuelled mopeds.