Our Speakers

• Catherine Frank

  Co-Founder, President & COO, Cleansheet Communications

  Topic: Ways to Win that Stand the Test of Time

  A business strategist who’s worked at some of the country’s best agencies for 25 years, Catherine co-founded Cleansheet, which was named Profit Magazine’s Hot 50 New Growth Companies. Previously, she helped lead the management team at Palmer Jarvis DDB that, in just seven years, tripled the size of the Toronto office and became Canada’s top creatively awarded agency. Catherine is passionate about developing fresh ideas with great potential: successfully launching the 1st real new wireless carrier in a decade with WIND Mobile, leading Dell to 5 consecutive quarters of growth despite the first market downturn in years, developing a campaign for Elections Ontario that was named Canadian Marketing Association’s Most Effective Campaign and a Cannes Lion finalist, and revitalizing a familiar Pine-Sol brand with a campaign that was recognized internationally at Cannes/Clios and named by Canadians as one of the Top 10 Ads of All Time.

  Catherine’s experience includes developing businesses across wide-ranging marketing communications channels and categories including service, retail, technology, youth marketing, packaged goods, impulse categories, and not for profits. She has won 10 Cannes Lions awards for her work, multiple Clios, and Best of Show honours at both the CMA’s and Marketing Awards.

  At Conversuasion, Catherine discussed how to inspire your team to come up with ideas that work both now and in the long term. Her optimistic chat detailed how a recession can bring unprecedented opportunities, and how companies can still be flexible to change but still have a clear plan.

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• Jason Theodor

  Sr. Creative Director, Blast Radius

  Topic: There is No Box

  Jason's talks focus on creative ideation, problem-solving, and innovation for brands in the digital space. He is a creative person who loves coming up with ideas, sharing them with others, and teaching people how to be more creative themselves. He is addicted to the internet and new technologies, and is always thinking about how people (and companies) can communicate better or in interesting new ways.

  Jason lectures on digital brand storytelling, brainstorming, chaos, and the fundamental elements of creativity at New York University, Ontario Collage of Art & Design, and Rotman's School of Business.

  At Conversuasion, explained his creative philosophy and how it has evolved over the years. He believes creativity is a necessary attribute in the 'age of ideas', and can be enhanced with the right tools and practice. He is passionate about the generation & application of ideas, and inspiring others to live a more creative life.

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• Paul Rowan

  Co-Founder & VP Design, Umbra

  Topic: 10 of the 1000 Risks I Took in Order to Innovate at Umbra.

  Paul graduated from George Brown College in 1974 with a degree in Graphic Design and, upon graduating, moved to Ottawa to work in the world’s first digital typography company. While settling into his new digs, he was frustrated while trying to find a window treatment that suited his practical and aesthetic needs. Rowan solved this problem by designing his own window treatment, a printed-paper window shade. He presented childhood friend and entrepreneur Les Mandelbaum with the shade idea and Umbra (‘shade’ in Latin) was born.

  For the past 30 years, Paul has dedicated his career to creating purposeful, intelligently designed products that people want. In his own words, “We create products that we like—not market-driven but market-aware. We build intelligence into our products and engineer value into them while keeping the price accessible.”

  In 2010, Paul was inducted into the Canadian Marketing Hall of Legends as a Visionary.

  At Conversausion, Paul told his own personal stories on what he risked to achieve success in the global marketplace. Filled with colour, humour and insightful tidbits that can be brought to any business, Ad Loungers heard Paul speak from the heart on the challenges he experienced, and the hoops he had to jump through in order to innovate and grow this successful brand.

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Our Host

• Chris Tait

  Partner, Pirate Group

  Chris makes sound, directs sessions, and drinks coffee.

  About Chris

  Chris is a Canadian singer-songwriter and partner at Pirate Group. For over 10 years Chris has been creating music and sound for commercials, theme songs, web sites, apps, animation, music scores, pop songs, podcasts, and anything else that needs sound.

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