Sid Lee Toronto is bolstering its senior leadership team, adding Dustin Rideout as head of strategy, Jeffrey Da Silva as co-CD and Geoff Hardwicke as a senior account director.

“Jeff, Dustin and Geoff are the skilled, high energy people we need to complement our talented team and support our growth here in the Toronto office,” Vito Piazza, president of Sid Lee Toronto, said in a statement. “Their diversity of experience and expertise fits perfectly with the overall approach and philosophy of Sid Lee.”

The three are filling new positions created due to the Toronto office’s growth, Piazza said, adding that they will work on a combination of existing clients such as Dentyne, Stride and Sport Chek as well as new national clients such as Mark’s and President’s Choice Financial.

Rideout will lead cross-disciplinary strategic planning efforts for all of the agency’s Toronto-based clients. His work has been recognized with numerous awards, including at the 2013 CASSIES  for Ikea in Quebec’s “Moving Day” campaign with Leo Burnett, where he led overall strategic planning for Ikea.

Da Silva has worked at agencies including MacLaren McCann, Tribal DDB and Proximity/BBDO and was most recently with Mullen in Boston. He was ranked fourth on strategy‘s 2012 Creative Report Card art directors list.

Hardwicke has 20 years of experience in the communication industry working on both the client and agency side, including a brand director role at Hudson’s Bay Company and most recently the position of business director at Perennial Design.

The hires push total staff at the Toronto office to over 70.

Photo (from right): Jeffrey Da Silva, Dustin Rideout and Geoff Hardwicke.