Clockwise from top left: Gabe Mederos, Deb Bhattacharjee, Solomon Wheeler and Olav D’Souza.

Maple Diversity Communications has appointed four new leaders – including a COO – to seize the opportunity presented by growth in the multicultural marketing field.

Joining the agency as its COO is Gabe Mederos, who brings more than 20 years of experience and a solid background in social media and influencer relations to the role, having held leadership positions in those fields at Telus and Scotiabank, as well as a senior PR role with Nestlé Purina Petcare. Mederos is also a digital and social media marketing instructor at Humber College.

Solomon Wheeler has been hired as the agency’s new SVP, tasked with handling the agency’s multicultural brand strategy and planning. Wheeler brings more than two decades of international experience to the role, with agencies including Leo Burnett, Havas Worldwide/Euro RSCG and Cheil Communications, as well as on client side at Vistara-TATA Singapore Airlines, SpiceJet and Lava Mobile.

Maple has also appointed Olav D’Souza as its CD. D’Souza brings more than a decade of copywriting and creative strategy experience to the role, most recently client-side with Canada Computers. He has also worked with agencies including Wunderman, FCB Interface and Hakuhodo Percept.

The agency has also added a new account supervisor in Deb Bhattacharjee, who brings more than 12 years of client services and campaign management experience with international agencies including DDB and Mullen Lowe Lintas India.

Multicultural marketing is booming as a greater number of brands are cluing in to the value of speaking directly to distinct audiences where they are. While some agencies, like Maple, have been hiring on the back of strong years, networks and holding companies have been bringing such agencies into the fold through investment and acquisition.

The new hires will help Maple “strive to help our clients exceed their goals in the growing multicultural markets in Canada,” says maple CEO Niraj Sinha. “[They] better position us to provide strategy and support to our clients, while finding even more ways to authentically and effectively reach the growing multicultural community.”