Pictured: Elis Halenko, new VP of LiveWell Marketing. 

Elis Halenko has been promoted to VP of agency LiveWell Marketing following the loss of its former president and co-founder, Kelly Atyeo.

Atyeo passed away unexpectedly on March 5 at the age of 31. Along with CEO Peter Wright, she helped found LiveWell, which specializes in nutrition and wellness marketing, in 2012. Over the years, it has worked with brands including Shoppers Drug Mart (on it’s “Love. You.” women’s health platform), Gabriella’s Kitchen, Oxford Frozen Foods and SoFresh. It also works with emerging Canadian brands such as Halifax-based Cove Kombucha and Alberta-based Fiasco Gelato.

In the wake of her passing, others at the agency stepped up to fill in as required, says Wright, including Halenko and regional leads Tamara Saslove, Alyssa Martel and Stephanie Goh, whom Atyeo had hired.

“As shell-shocked as everyone was [when Atyeo passed away],” Wright says, “you either fall apart, or you tighten up. And to my eternal gratitude, everyone that Kelly had brought in place has been a stalwart.”

As director of client relations at the time, Halenko was the senior-most person under Atyeo, and was highly involved across accounts, making her a natural fit for the role of VP, according to Wright. The idea was also to add a level of hierarchy to an otherwise relatively flat organization, he says.

Based in Mississauga, Ontario, LiveWell brings talent on as needed (up to as many as 200 employees with various expertise) to fulfill mandates with clients in the nutrition and wellness space. In addition to its Canadian clients, it also works with many U.S.-based clients, such as the Florida Department of Agriculture and the USDA, on brand identity, content development, web design and experiential marketing for the Canadian market.