Jake Karls is the co-founder and Chief Rainmaker at Mid-Day Squares. Building the next biggest chocolate snacking brand.  As the Rainmaker, Jake focuses on achieving growth through the business of building genuine relationships – with investors, buyers, journalists, and building out the internal team. In Jake’s better-known role as  Mid-Day Squares’s resident Social-Personality, he passionately inspires others to “get comfortable with the uncomfortable” and be unapologetically themselves. Though he was recognized as an EY Entrepreneur of the Year Finalist and named in the Forbes 30 Under 30 class of 2023, his self-proclaimed “greatest accomplishment” was learning how to be confident in himself.

Julia is an Account Director on the Influencer team at Edelman. With over 10+ years of experience in lifestyle influencer marketing, Julia has developed a deep understanding of the Canadian and global influencer landscape, establishing strong relationships with content creators, agencies, and platforms globally.
Always keeping a pulse on the latest trends and best practices within the influencer marketing industry, Julia ensures influencer marketing is an integrated component to any comms and marketing plans that connects brands to culture.
Seasoned in Digital as well traditional PR, Julia brings a unique vision to all her accounts by identifying meaningful synergies between the two sides of a business, resulting in strategic programs that directly latter up to business objectives.

A digital marketing expert with notable success in launching Canadian brands online. With 20 years’ experience, Chris was a key member of leadership for Walmart Canada Corporation during the launch of Walmart.ca. Chris’ accolades include working in the Pets Category where he significantly increased Big Al’s and Ren’s Pets online sales while working cross-functionally with store teams. He worked for newegg.ca as the National Manager and launched 8 Global Markets for the organization. As Sr Director of Omni- Channel Marketing at Home Hardware, Chris is responsible for Home’s eCommerce, Print and Promotions, Paid Media and Research and Insights.

Kathy serves as Vice President of Marketing, Ecommerce and Visual Presentation for Penningtons – an iconic leader in the plus size women’s apparel market. Currently, she is leading the brand’s exciting transformation while spearheading all strategy initiatives for the marketing, visual, and e-commerce group. For over 20 years, Kathy has led retail marketing teams driving strategy, creative and brand initiatives for prominent brands such as La Senza, Laura Canada, RW&CO. and Matt&Nat. Her innate ability to passionately create stories that engage and connect the customer journey to the brand is what she does best.

Dan as Chief Marketing Officer is responsible for the marketing strategies and tactics across the Pattison Food Group’s 11 retail brands and private label portfolio.
Dan joined Overwaitea Food Group in 2012 and he has held various executive roles leading marketing, loyalty, private label, strategic planning, digital strategies, call centers and communications teams to success through strong consumer-based strategies. Dan Howe is a diversified international marketing, loyalty, and strategy executive with previous experience with Yum Restaurants (Pizza Hut / KFC / Taco Bell) as Chief Marketing Officer in Europe and Canada, Campbell’s Soup Company, and Nielsen Marketing Research.
In his current role as Chief Marketing Officer for the Pattison Food Group, Dan draws from the experience he’s gained over two decades in marketing and in the food industry. He leads an innovative team through every stage of marketing and digital initiatives from development to deployment. Under Dan’s strategic guidance, Save-On-Foods has implemented customer marketing programs including Darrell’s Deals, More Rewards My Offers, Western Family Share It Forward and numerous 360˚ brand campaigns to great success. Dan’s business savvy, creative thinking and focus on developing people has helped drive sales growth, market share gains and building brand equity including Save-On-Foods being named B.C.’s Most Loved Brand by BC Business Magazine, many times over the years.
Dan is actively involved in the community both at work and in his personal life with United Way, Children’s Hospitals and Foods Banks. Dan and his wife, Eva, have three teenage daughters, who can be found in North Vancouver or Whistler skiing, mountain biking, stand up paddle boarding or in an intense game of cards.

As Creative Strategy Director at TikTok Canada’s Creative Lab team, Jeff partners with brands and agencies, igniting their creative prowess to fuel business success and leave a lasting cultural impact on the platform. Before TikTok, Jeff worked agency side at companies including J.Walter Thompson, FCB, & John St, creating internationally acclaimed award winning work for prestigious clients such as BMW, HSBC, BMO, Tim Hortons, and Mazda. 

Alison Hartnoll is the VP, Unified Commerce and Marketing at Mastermind Toys, Canada’s Authority on Play. Alison brings the wonder of Mastermind Toys alive online and in-store. She is a passionate, customer-obsessed, results-driven leader with more than 20 years of CPG experience across Marketing, Sales and E-Commerce. Prior to joining Mastermind Toys, Alison led the E-Commerce team at Smucker Foods of Canada, driving sales growth on Amazon and across the platforms of Canada’s grocery retailers.

Xavier Beauchamp-Tremblay is a lawyer and technologist who currently leads the legal transformation practice at KPMG Canada, where he implements artificial intelligence solutions for in-house legal teams and regulators. Earlier in his career, Xavier practiced intellectual property, entertainment, and information technology law in leading Canadian law firms. During this time, he managed the brands portfolio of Canadian public companies and routinely worked with advertisers, content producers, and insurers to ensure compliance and manage E&O insurance.

Sonia has been passionate about the Internet and its forward movement in Canada from the start. With a rich tenure of experience touching virtually every aspect of digital marketing, she brings a well-rounded perspective to support the best interests of IAB Canada and its members.

Sonia has led global digital strategy initiatives for international brands including Gillette, Heineken, General Motors, RBC, Coca Cola and Spin Master Toys. Her work has included every discipline of online media and marketing with specialties ranging from performance marketing to communications and creative strategy. Sonia has spent time building and consulting with successful early to mid-stage start-ups and has consulted industry associations and publishers to help navigate the disruptive media landscape.

Sonia was recently inducted into the Canadian Media & Marketing Hall of Fame for her efforts in digitally transforming the Canadian media industry. Her passion for the industry continues in the role of President of the Interactive Advertising Bureau of Canada where she continues to help drive the industry forward and put Canada on the global stage for online media innovation.

Janelle Shiplett is the Co-CEO, Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) and Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) at The House of LR&C with over 15 years of experience driving award-winning brand expansion and sales growth across consumer goods and consumer service sectors. At The House of LR&C, Janelle leads the strategizing and execution of holistic marketing tactics for all of our in-house fashion brands to tell a strong and consistent narrative focused on brand purpose and values with our celebrity Co-Founders, Ciara and Russell Wilson.

She joined the company after three years at Saje Wellness during which she assumed the role of CMO in her final year. Prior, Janelle held senior roles in digital and marketing at Aritzia and WestJet. She graduated from the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology with a bachelor’s degree in Journalism.

Jean-Michel Maltais is Senior Vice-President, Omnichannel, for New Look Vision Group. He is a seasoned executive with 25+ years’ experience in various engineering, strategy and marketing roles on the international business scene. A strong believer in putting the customer experience as the primary driver of technology decisions, Mr. Maltais is passionate about leading teams and companies through change with all the energy and conviction it requires. Before joining New Look Vision Group, Mr. Maltais has delivered successful digital transformations in several blue chip companies across different industries in both the B2B and B2C space, including O2 UK (cellular), KGB (consumer services), Pearson UK (education) and Travelport (travel). At New Look Vision Group, he built a revolutionary omnichannel platform which enables e-commerce for prescription glasses with the same level of precision as glasses sold in store, a first in the industry. This innovation earned New Look Vision Group a Mercuriades Award in the Technology Innovation category in 2021, and an Excellence in Retailing Award in the Omnichannel category from the Retail Council of Canada in 2023. Mr. Maltais holds a bachelor’s degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Université Laval, an MBA from Cranfield UK School of Management and a Postgraduate diploma in Marketing from the Chartered Institute of Marketing UK.

Christine is a growth-oriented digital leader with experience developing and executing strategic plans on a global scale. Her 20+ years of progressive marketing and digital experience has provided her with the insight and expertise to deliver high impact, transformative programs.

Christine is currently the Managing Director for Strategy & Digital at KPMG. She leads a team to enable the firm to digitally transform by building the brand, developing solutions and up-skilling talent in order to modernize clients’ experiences.

Christine is committed to developing future leaders and supporting the not-for-profit communities in Canada. Most significantly, she has more than a decade of Board Director experience at the American Marketing Association (AMA), Boys and Girls Clubs, the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) and Girls E-Mentorship. She is also a member of the Advisory Board for the Humber College Bachelor of Digital Communications program and acts as an advisor to Princes’ Trust Charities.