Gillian Yorke takes on VP of loyalty role

Pattison Food Group has promoted Gillian Yorke from a role as director of marketing into the position of VP of customer loyalty.

Yorke will be overseeing marketing and the More Rewards loyalty program, which boasts 3.5 million members in Western Canada and recently expanded its strategic partnership with RBC Visa earlier this year.

Yorke will continue to report to Heidi Ferriman, the grocery chain’s SVP of people, marketing and corporate affairs.

Pattison, the owner and operator of grocery and pharmacy banners such as Save-On-Foods, Urban Fare, PriceSmart Foods and Buy-Low Foods, named Jamie Nelson its new president in October and has made a number of recent executive leadership changes.

Hill + Knowlton alum joins Aritzia

After half a decade of agency life, Bianca Ball is moving brand side into a new role as senior manager of corporate brand marketing at clothing retailer Aritzia.

Ball was most recently director of consumer marketing and creative strategy at Hill + Knowlton (H+K), based out of Vancouver.

She joined H+K from Burson, where she was director of consumer, brand and creative strategy. Ball also spent time as an account executive with Citizen Relations.

Former Taxi group director moves into Coca-Cola role

Maxime Mercier has joined the Coca-Cola Company as a senior integrated marketing manager.

She was previously a director and group director of client engagement with Taxi, based out of Montreal. She also worked as a national accounts supervisor at Sid Lee in the past.

Mercier’s brand-work resumé includes support for Coca-Cola, Couche-Tard and Amnesty International.

Calgary DMO names Richard Bartrem as board chair

Richard Bartrem was named as board chair for Tourism Calgary at the organization’s annual general meeting last week.

The former VP of marketing communications at WestJet parted ways with the airline in October 2022 after more than 17 years of service.

In that role, he led a team responsible for brand, product, retail and destination marketing, sponsorship, community investment, social media, public relations and creative services.

Before joining WestJet, he was a director of marketing at Bell Media.