Former Humanity ECD joins T1
Nathalie Cusson has joined T1 as executive creative director, bringing with her more than two decades of experience at the intersection of design, advertising and film.
Previously, Cusson served in the ECD role with Humanity in Montreal. She also held the creative director of design for Le Parc position at Juniper Park\TBWA in Toronto.
As principal and creative director for Scooter Design, she worked on a client roster that included Fairmont magazine, Air Canada enRoute magazine, LCBO’s Food & Drink and Rethink Breast Cancer.
Based in Montreal, Cusson, will be responsible for helping expand T1’s ability to support clients and communities across Canada, in both English and French, according to a news release.
“[She] brings a rare mix of artistry and pragmatism to T1,” Nithya Ramachandran, president and chief strategy officer at T1, said in the release. “Together with our all-women strategy and creative leadership team, she’ll help us keep raising the bar.”
New managing director begins work at McCann Canada
McCann Canada has named Ben Archer as the new managing director of its Calgary office as of Monday. Archer succeeds Megan Hardisty, who was scheduled to officially stepped down from her role overseeing operations in Calgary on Oct. 24.
“We’re incredibly grateful to [Hardisty] for the transformative impact she’s had on the Calgary office,” said Ryan Timms, president of McCann Canada. “Her leadership has truly evolved the business [and] she’s strengthened our presence in Western Canada, built strong relationships with clients and driven growth with vision and integrity.”
Archer had been serving as VP, director of business leadership at McCann Calgary, a role in which he led the agency’s business leadership group and oversaw accounts including ATCO Energy, Bayer Crop Science and Petro-Canada.
“We couldn’t be more excited to see [Archer] step into this role,” Timms added. “With deep roots in Calgary and his hands-on leadership approach, he’s the perfect person to build on [Hardisty’s] legacy. This transition is a real testament to the depth of our leadership bench in Calgary and across the country.”
With more than 15 years of experience in Canada’s advertising industry, Archer has held leadership positions at agencies including ZGM and DDB Canada. His work has spanned national and regional brands, from Volkswagen Canada and Rogers to the Government of Alberta and EPCOR.
Edelman promotes VP, creative director
Svetlana Popova is starting a new position as VP and creative director at Edelman, based in Toronto.
Popova had been serving in an associate creative director capacity with the PR agency.
Prior to joining Edelman, she was responsible for managing the in-house creative department at content platform Yandex.
Popova was also a senior copywriter with BBDO Moscow, where she supported brands including Mars Wrigley and Visa.
Agnostic makes quartet of promotions
PR agency Agnostic has made multiple promotions.
Amit Shilton (pictured) is taking on the title of Agnostic’s first VP of strategy. With nearly 20 years of industry experience, including more than a decade in newsrooms such as the Globe & Mail, the National Post and the Toronto Star, Shilton leads insight-led, strategic communications across the agency and is spearheading Agnostic’s approach to AI innovation.
He recently served as the shop’s senior director, after holding a managerial media relations and communications post with Trillium Health Partners.
Addtionally, Alex Wilcox has moved from account manager to a senior account manager position, Ellie Pepper has moved from senior account executive to an account manager position and Jessica Preece has moved from account executive to a senior account executive position.
Sid Lee head of media relations departs
Pauline Lazarus is returning to France after serving as Sid Lee’s head of media relations and senior PR advisor, based out of Montreal.
She is moving on to to become head of media relations for French multinational banking and financial services company BNP Paribas.
Lazarus previously served as head of media relations at YPR Canada in Montreal and as a PR advisor for strategy and public relations firm Canidé, based in Paris.
