Cossette has hired Subtej Nijjar as its chief strategy officer to lead the offering in its Toronto and Vancouver offices.

“With Sub we’ve found an incredibly optimistic and versatile strategic leader who is going to help us unlock the next chapter of Cossette’s innovation, growth and creativity,” says Daniel Shearer, president, Ontario and West at Cossette. “He understands the business from multiple perspectives, and has an impressive track record of combining culture, creativity and technology to create truly transformative solutions for our client partners.”

Nijjar will oversee the strategic output in Cossette’s Toronto and Vancouver offices, working closely with other senior business and creative leaders in those regions, as well as nationally. Last year, the agency promoted Michel-Alex Lessard to lead strategy in the Quebec and East regions.

Prior to joining Cossette, Nijjar was CMO at gig economy app Shiftsmart, where he contributed to building the company’s brand and communications strategy. Before that, he helped launch private crypto fund Coinberry as the company’s first-ever CMO.

This also marks Nijjar’s return to the agency world. He served as president of Mosaic North America, driving multiple lines of business for several of the agency’s Fortune 500 clients. In 2012, Nijjar founded the integrated creative agency Union (now DonerNorth), leading it through eight years of significant growth, and had been president at the agency’s predecessor, CP+B Canada.

Over a 20-year career, Nijjar has worked on brands such as Domino’s, IKEA, Best Buy, Molson Coors, Unilever and American Express, among others.

Nijjar replaces Cat Wiles, who – after being named CSO in 2019 – returned to her native U.K. last month to take the top strategy role at London ad agency Lucky Generals. This fall, Cosssette announced the hiring of Sabaa Quao to succeed Peter Ignazi as CCO and lead a team that was upstaffing to handle its McDonald’s Canada account.