New York Times Best Selling Author

Speaker Bio: Neil Patel
Co-founder

Neil Patel is the co-founder of NP Digital and a globally recognized marketing expert. Named a top influencer by The Wall Street Journal and a top 10 marketer by Forbes, he’s also a New York Times bestselling author.

Digital Dominance
Speaker Bio: John Bermudez
Business Development

"John "JB" Bermudez, is a seasoned SaaS professional with eight years of dedicated service to the SMB community. JB is instrumental in helping our HighLevel community integrate AI into their business models using the HighLevel platform and our newly launched 5 Day AI Employee Challenge."

"Breaking the Growth Barrier in Social Media: Insider Tactics From the Top-Ranking Social Media Channels"

Anniston Ward

PR, Events, and Education Specialist

Anniston Ward is a dynamic marketing professional with a proven track record of driving impact across multiple disciplines at Metricool. With over two years of hands-on experience, her journey has been anything but traditional—spanning SEO copywriting, influencer collaborations, email marketing, PR, and large-scale event execution. Her versatility and deep understanding of the digital landscape make her a powerful voice in today’s marketing conversation. Anniston currently focuses on empowering social media managers, marketers, small business owners, and freelancers with the tools and strategies they need to streamline their efforts and scale smarter.

Canada's Digital Advertising Landscape: Facts and Figures from our Forecasts
Speaker Bio: Paul Briggs

Principal Analyst, Canada

Conversations Drive Decisions
Speaker Bio: Blake Smith
Head of Mid Market Sales, Canada

"Canadian Media Means Business"
Speaker Bio: Sarah Thompson
Executive Managing Director

Sarah Thompson is a well-regarded media and marketing executive in Canada who has appeared on multiple podcasts and media outlets. In 2025, she received the Canadian Media Champion from the AdClub of Toronto. She has also been named Media Leader of the Year. She is currently the executive Managing Director of Glassroom, a media agency part of the Humanise Network.

Email Marketing: Foundations, Compliance, and Strategy to Perform
Speaker Bio: Geoffrey Blanc
General Manager

With 18 years of expertise in digital transformation, Geoffrey has mastered everything from e-commerce to ERP implementation. Now, as General Manager of Cyberimpact, he drives the email marketing platform's growth through strategic vision and hands-on leadership

Finding The Sweet Spot in MarTech, AdTech and Social
Speaker Bio: James Alty
Founder & Managing Director

James is the founder of British independent software vendor Apteco, a global leader in marketing technology. James is a technologist at heart, now responsible for ensuring we meet our clients’ needs with powerful software and great services.

What We Wish We Knew: The Hidden Systems Behind Top Social Media Communities

Joe Teo

CEO

Joe Teo is the CEO of HeyOrca - the social media scheduling tool designed to simplify collaboration. Under his leadership, HeyOrca has become a trusted solution for social media managers.

How to Build a Personal Brand That Shines

Speaker Bio: Michelle Alexander

Creative Director
Michelle is a Creative Director with over 15 years of experience in enhancing brand awareness and driving growth. Outside of work, she’s a Canadian artist creating digital illustrations inspired by junk food. Michelle’s unique blend of professional expertise and creativity brings a fresh perspective to marketing.

Crafting Customer Journeys that Convert Again & Again

Speaker Bio: Julie Ogilvie
Digital Marketing Strategist

Julie helps solopreneurs and small teams grow loyal online communities with sustainable, automated strategies that amplify their reach and impact without burnout.

From Chaos to Conversion: What’s Actually Working in Meta Ads in 2025
Caley Dimmock
CEO & Founder

Caley has managed over $10M in ad spend and consistently delivers high ROAS. She empowers businesses to succeed in-house by teaching them how to manage ads effectively.

How to Transform Your Brand Using Inclusive Marketing
Speaker Bio: Josephine David
Communications & Partnerships Lead

Josephine combines business and social development expertise to elevate brands through storytelling and partnership strategies.

Leveraging LinkedIn: How Connecting Community Can Help Build Your Brand
Speaker Bio: Ian Macdonald
Business & Innovation Leader

Overcome the Scarcity of Earned Media: How to Make the Most of a Great Story
Speaker Bio: Lana Rogers

Founder + Director

Lana Rogers has nearly two decades of experience in marketing and public relations. As the Founder of Gentle Lion Communications, she redefines the communications model, helping Canada’s top unorthodox brands achieve autonomy, self-reliance, and brand recognition. Lana is known for her bold, heart-driven approach to storytelling and strategy.

Rebranding Done Right (and Wrong)

Speaker Bio: Matt Hayles
VP, Revenue
Matt Hayles is VP revenue at urllo, formerly EasyRedir, where he supports the sales, marketing and customer success teams to build their brand, acquire customers and grow revenue.

The Customer Decides Your Value, Not You!
Lisa Genovese
President

Lisa Genovese has led BottomLine for over a decade, growing it into an international organization delivering research-driven business strategies that produce tangible results. A serial entrepreneur and angel investor, Lisa focuses on stepping away from ineffective cookie-cutter approaches to achieve real outcomes for brands like Home Depot, Nestle Health Sciences, and others.

Going Beyond First-party Data Collection
Speaker Bio: Ash Brar
Digital Marketing Strategist

Ash is a performance marketing strategist with specialization in data analytics and technical marketing. He has nearly 5 years of experience in a multitude of industries/ clients. Technical implementation lead for advanced analytics and measurement projects. Worked on dozens of server side-side tracking projects for websites ranging up to several hundreds of thousands of monthly users.

Blue Sky Thinking – Building Calgary's Brand
Jennifer Radostits
Senior Director, Brand, Marketing & Activations

Jennifer brings 20+ years of experience across public and private sectors, blending data-driven strategy with storytelling. At Calgary Economic Development, she leads the team behind Calgary’s global brand efforts.

"AI Can Make Your Marketing Worse (Unless You Know What You’re Doing)"

Speaker Bio: AJ Jones

Chief Strategy Officer

AJ is first and foremost a fan of creative problem solving and the power of advertising. In a career that has involved working in multiple markets across Europe and North America, AJ has had the good fortune of working on some of the world’s most famous brands and elevating some hidden gems previously unknown. Having judged both creative and effectiveness shows across a number of regions, AJ is well dialled in to identifying great work. AJ sits on McCann Worldgroup’s North American Creative Leadership Council and since joining McCann Canada, AJ has helped bring the agency to Effies Agency of the Year.

Digital Empathy: Crafting Customer-Centric Marketing

Speaker Bio: Lauren Telfer
Director of Marketing & Communications

"Building a High-Impact Influencer Marketing Strategy"
Umair Tazeem
Founder, CEO

Umair Tazeem is an entrepreneur with a passion for impact through technology.

Currently building Embold: An innovative platform that allows advertisers to connect with micro-influencers to run highly targeted campaigns. With over 9,000+ influencers, advertisers can reach millions of Canadian customers and engage them with original content. Since launching in 2018, Embold has helped 500+ brands collaborate with Canadian influencers. Prior to starting Embold, Umair ran a local marketing agency that focused on helping businesses build their online presence.

Outside of work, Umair enjoys staying active while playing basketball or biking. He is also an active member of the startup community where he supports entrepreneurs in their startup journeys.

Your Feed is Your Vibe: An Inside Look at Social Search
Rae Scott
Social Media Strategist

Rae Scott has been making online look cool for almost a decade, with experience in tourism, retail, higher education, finance, and non-profit. Her passion for the future of online keeps her on top of the latest social trends and up-to-date on how to use algorithms to clients’ best advantage.

The New Rules of Marketing
Speaker Bio: Charlie Grinnell
Co-CEO

Charlie Grinnell has led digital at brands like Red Bull, Aritzia, and Arc'teryx. Nowadays he's the Co-CEO of marketing research startup, RightMetric—where he helps marketers unlock growth with audience, competitor, and content insights.

"Enshittification and The Current State of Everything"
Speaker Bio: Andrew Turnbull
Managing Director, UX and Product

Andrew leads the User Experience (UX) and Product practices at Evans Hunt. He's a tireless advocate for user-centred thinking, and quick on his feet with a sketch or a diagram to frame an opportunity. His perspective as a design leader is informed by 15 years of diverse industry experience with clients such as Alterra Mountain Company (Ikon Pass), ATB Financial, Travel Alberta, and more.

PR Nightmares: How A Disaster Can Become Your Best Brand Awareness Tool
Speaker Bio: Joshua Counsil
Co-Founder

Raised by murder mystery dinner theatre owners, Josh is a recovering engineer turned entrepreneur. In 2014, he and his buddies quit their engineering careers and founded Good Robot Brewing in Halifax, which started with a scrappy brewpub and grew into 3 bars, export wholesales, and contract manufacturing services. In 2023, he entered the freelance world, offering marketing & brand consultancy to anyone seeking his unhinged storytelling style and to entrepreneurs who need someone who has been through it all.

Stop Playing Fair: Master Your Unfair Advantage and Win
Director of Strategy
Speaker Bio: Dave Thomas

Dave Thomas is the Strategy Director at Everbrave, a Branding and Growth Marketing agency in Calgary. He is a former Intuit Innovation Catalyst and studied Design Thinking and business model innovation under Alex Osterwalder at Stratgeyzer. He is also the creator of The Strategy of Everything, a methodology and set of strategy tools which he is exploring with a podcast and book of the same name.

Content Beyond Brand Awareness (And Beyond Boring)
Derek Hovinga

Founder, Sales Enablement & Content Strategist

Derek Hovinga is a B2B tech marketing expert who makes content work harder driving sales, not just likes. Known for his sharp insights and entertaining delivery, he helps companies turn strategy into impact. When he’s not geeking out over content, he’s probably mixing cocktails and posting workout videos.

Preparing for the Worst: Brand Reputation Management
Samantha Beck
Sr. Marketing Manager

Sam Beck is a powerhouse marketing leader who has spent her career both in-house and agency side. She’s deeply passionate about using the power of building community to elevate brands. She has lead marketing teams at companies like Phillips Brewing, Partake Brewing, and Spud. From producing 4000 person music festivals with artists like Anderson .Paak and the Beaches, to launching multiple brands at a national level, she knows what it takes to make sure your brand stands out.

Don't Sweat the Small Stuff
Speaker Bio: Robert Simmons
COO & Co-Founder

Robert Simmons is the co-founder and COO of Paper Crane - an agency focused on creative, web design and development and digital infrastructure.

For the past five years, he has been developing systems that showcase transparency for clients and increase team efficiency. He will continue to do this until the robots take our jobs.

How to use AI for Content Marketing
Speaker Bio: Hiba Amin 
Founder

Hiba is the owner of Sandia Inc. a content marketing consulting firm based in Calgary. She's worked in the SaaS space for over 10 years now with a deep focus on building customer-centric content programs and strategies. She's also worked with AI-first companies like Copy.ai and has built a couple of beginner AI courses.

Outside of work, she loves dogs, iced coffee all year round, and Survivor (yup, that's still going).

"Women in Leadership: Moving Beyond Listening to Action"
Carolyn Shaw
President

Carolyn has over 20 years of advertising, design, and branding experience working with local and global brands. Through her leadership and creative thinking, Carolyn has guided Humanity to redefine the way we think about brands and the role they can play in our lives. She has worked on brands like the Heart & Stroke Foundation, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Canada, Black Opportunity Fund, NPower Canada and Canadian Physiotherapy Association.

"The Future of Masculinity in Marketing: Why It Matters in 2025"
Speaker Bio: Emily Ptak
Founder & Principal

Emily Ptak is a seasoned marketing strategist and storyteller passionate about shaping brands and championing inclusivity and authenticity. With a career spanning top global brands and social impact organizations, she helps businesses craft messaging that resonates across genders and drives meaningful engagement. As the founder of her own marketing firm, Emily empowers brands to align their content with evolving cultural narratives.

"The Call of The Wild"
Kelly Mannix

Director of Brand

Director of Brand at Calgary Wild FC, the first professional women's soccer club! I believe that relationships are the glue in life, both personally and professionally. I tr to live by my Grandpa's wise words that, "your health is your wealth."

"The Call of The Wild"
Speaker Bio: Keli Pollock
Director of Brand

Studio to AI Simulation: Why Digital Twins Are the Future of Product Visuals 
Speaker Bio: Joel Smith
Head of Business Development

Joel Smith is a Calgary-based AI strategist, business development executive, and performing artist who blends storytelling with tech. At SocialWest, he explores how generative visuals and digital twins are reshaping retail and brand marketing.

Pocket Production & Storytelling
Speaker Bio: Will Yang
Founder & CEO

Will Yang is the Founder and CEO of Differo, a creative agency specializing in content production and storytelling. With extensive experience in video production, branding, and digital marketing, he has worked with major brands like Tourism Nova Scotia, Discover Halifax, and Halifax Shopping Centre. Will helps businesses craft compelling stories through cinematic visuals and authentic engagement strategies.

Rebranding Done Right (and Wrong)
Lee Casey
Branding & Digital Design

Lee Casey is founder and creative direction of Hatched London, where he inspires brands to lead with heart. For nearly 20 years he has been helping brands positively shape their audiences’ perceptions and experiences through branding, design, content, advertising, web and technology.

The Alchemy of Effectiveness: A Focus on Canada
Speaker Bio: Paul Tedesco
Volunteer Chair, Marketing Effectiveness Council

Paul has over 25 years of experience in building some of Canada's leading CRM, digital, data, and analytics agencies. With a focus on guiding customers through their journey to engagement and conversion, Paul leverages his extensive expertise in data-driven marketing and sales enablement. He has worked across both B2B and B2C sectors on high-profile accounts including VW, Samsung, Kraft, ScotiaBank, and McDonald's. In addition to his professional work, Paul is the Volunteer Chair of the Marketing Effectiveness Council and the author of the Focus on Canada report. He also teaches Data and Analytics at both the Schulich School of Business and The DeGroote School of Business as part of their MBA and EMBA programs.

A Marketer's Dream: Population Simulators
Sabaa Quao
President

Sabaa Quao is the founding President of PlusCo Venture Studio, the AI and fintech innovation spinoff from Cossette and Plus Company Canada. Sabaa previously occupied the role of Chief Creative and Innovation Officer at Cossette, Canada's largest integrated marketing and advertising agency. He is a creative leader, career entrepreneur, and business strategist.

As a digital media veteran, he has built and grown several platforms and companies across content, tech, and culture spaces. With a cohort of 7 companies in the venture studio, he is immersed in innovations around synthetic data, personalisation, knowledge management, fintech, embedded finance, and marketing automation. 

Sabaa believes that the "innovation" mandate is as urgent today as it was for companies and business leaders who faced the start of the digital era 25 years ago. Passionate about creativity and international business, Sabaa has led and worked with marketing and technology teams in over a dozen countries, which has enriched his perspective and approach. He is a frequent keynote speaker and an industry advisor to business and creative schools, specializing in creativity, entrepreneurship, and business model innovation.

Sabaa is also the co-founder of Wealthie.Works, an early-stage fintech that builds investment accounts and financial resilience for young families. He is the co-founder of Filminute, the international one-minute film festival now in its 20th year. Born and raised in Montreal, Sabaa holds degrees in Marketing from Concordia University, Communication and Design from OCAD U, and an MBA from University of Toronto's Rotman School of Management.

A Marketer's Dream: Population Simulators
Ray Kong
CMO

Ray is a 30 year veteran of the marketing and insights community. Having held positions on both the client and supplier sides of the fence, he recently threw his hat into the start up ring to help build the tool he always wished he had during his career.

Panel: Justifying Budget Between Short Vs. Long-Term Campaigns
Speaker Bio: John Pieri

Senior Vice President - Culture, Communications & Marketing

Perhaps best known for his witty Dad jokes, for over 25 years John has had the privilege of leading many amazing humans and teams across almost all aspects of the Brand and MarComm spectrum. Today he is an imperfect leader at ATB Financial where we strives to fail fast and learn, so he and his team can Power Possibility for Albertans every day.

Panel: Justifying Budget Between Short Vs. Long-Term Campaigns

Vassilis Douros
Head of Digital and Media Marketing, TELUS Consumer Solutions

Panel: Justifying Budget Between Short Vs. Long-Term Campaigns
Speaker Bio: Vanessa McNabb
Sr. Director, Global Marketing, Smart

Vanessa is a seasoned Marketing and Sales leader with over 20 years of cross-industry experience, including Tech, Telecom, and Consumer Packaged Goods. She spent over a decade at Shaw Communications in senior roles across Brand, Marketing, Sales, Finance, Business Planning, and Product Development. Currently, she is the Sr. Director of Global Marketing at SMART Technologies, a Calgary-based digital learning and interactive display tech company. Recognized as a brand builder, problem solver, and results-driven leader, Vanessa excels in change and is passionate about consumer marketing, digital, go-to-market strategy, and team development. She holds a BComm from the University of Calgary and an MBA from York University’s Schulich School of Business. Vanessa is also a former Chair and Board Member of the Calgary Marketing Association.

Panel: Justifying Budget Between Short Vs. Long-Term Campaigns
Speaker Bio: Kristine Neil
Partner, Stone-Olafson

Kristine began her career in consumer brand and retail marketing before spending two decades in the market research industry. She is currently a partner at Stone-Olafson, where she helps organizations measure and improve brand performance and uncover opportunities with their audiences.

Speaker Bio: What We Wish We Knew: The Hidden Systems Behind Top Social Media Communities
Jessica Lui
Social Media Manager