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NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES | Office | Canadian | World | | 2009 | 36 | 36 | 36 |
| | Office | Canadian | World | | 2008 | 33 | 33 | 33 |
| | Office | Canadian | World | | 2007 | 38 | 38 | 38 |
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SENIOR AGENCY PERSONNEL
| | Mark Weisbarth - Chief Executive Officer | Mark started out at Ogilvy & Mather on General Foods, Rowntree Macintosh, and Duracell.
In 1986, he got a new perspective on the business when Mark made the leap client-side as a Product Manager at Effem Foods.
Mark later returned to his first love, the agency business, as an Account Director at Foster Advertising where he helped land the Goodyear business.
He then led the development of its first integrated communications strategy and program. Mark has also worked on such diverse businesses as Nestlè, American Express, RJR Nabisco, Kraft General Foods, General Mills Restaurants and the GM credit card.
Determined to provide seasoned clients with a more disciplined approach to managing their advertising, Mark founded Due North Communications in 1993.
Over the years Due North has grown in size, profitability, and stature. This success was recognized in a big way with Due North being named one of Canada’s 50 Best Managed Private Companies in 2001 by The National Post.
Beyond a pronounced fondness for Steely Dan and dim sum, Mark has three hobbies: his son Adam, and twin daughters Lauren and Samantha.
Well, okay, a fourth too, his wife Susan. |
| | Jill King - President | Jill launched her career at McCann Erickson where she rose quickly through the ranks -it was a blur really- from Account Executive to Account Director.
In 1993 Jill joined Due North as Director of Client Services to head up the account service group. As Due North has grown, so has Jill’s role. She is now President. As such, she has led the strategic direction of an unusually wide range of client businesses from Goodyear, GO Transit, and H&R Block to Sony, workopolis.com, and LCBO.
Jill brings a tremendous sense of strategic discipline at a retail pace to Due North -she knows how to crack the whip. She also heads up new business development. In 2001 she added the title of “mom” to her resumé. Outside of work, Jill and her husband recently discovered Pilates. They have also, just as recently, discovered Advil Extra Strength Gel-tabs. |
| | Karen Howe - Senior Vice President, Creative Director | Karen is a creative anomaly, which is a nicer word than mutant.
As an OCAD graduate, she started out as an art director, but later switched disciplines to become a copywriter.
Karen has worked at some of Canada’s top shops including BBDO, Harrod & Mirlin, SMS Lowe and Cossette. She has created memorable and business-building campaigns for clients big and small, such as Bell Mobility, Nike, Apple, TVO and The Bank of Nova Scotia.
Her work has won awards in New York, London, Los Angeles and Chicago -as well as here in Canada. She keeps them stowed in her laundry room. Karen joined Due North in 1998 and oversees all creative, studio and print production.
Karen also has a hand in new business. A proud mom of two, and wife of one, Karen offsets an addiction to white chocolate by training for marathons. |
| | Azim Alibhai - Vice President, Media Director | Azim began his career in Media at Ogivy & Mather. The plan? To move into account services “…as soon as possible.” More than a decade later, it still hasn’t happened. Azim had found his true calling – the connections and touch points of brands known as “media”.
Career stops included Sharpe Blackmore, where Azim mastered the art of direct response with clients such as Dell Canada and Sprint. At Genesis Vizeum he led the integrated planning process for various clients including Panasonic, Remax, Disnat Direct, Altamira and Star Choice.
Most recently Azim was President of The Media Cottage, a vertical media agency that he helped found to service the insurance industry.
Azim offers an uncanny ability to see the bigger strategic picture and uses media in collaboration with creative and account services to help clients achieve solid business results.
A media geek at heart, Azim has been featured in numerous industry publications. He was showcased in Marketing Magazine’s Ones to Watch. When Azim is not blogging for the CMA he is either pursuing his passion for German cars or busy in court fighting speeding tickets. He can also be found making the case to his wife that it is perfectly normal for his two young children to make car noises at the dinner table. |
| | Hessie Jones - Vice President, Social Media Director | Hessie has been in the technology space for over a decade but her roots stemmed from direct response and database marketing, working at various agencies including Ogilvy and Mather Direct and Rapp Collins Communicaide, to name a few.
Hessie then utilized her strengths in direct response to help pioneer the migration of CIBC Credit Card Services to the online world in late 1999 and beyond. At Citi Cards Canada, Hessie developed the channel strategy to acquire and retain cardholders. After Citi, Hessie joined Yahoo! and helped relaunch Yahoo! Canada by developing the marketing infrastructure to support the launch of 20 properties including Music, Answers, Mail, Search, FIFA, and Messenger.
Hessie's love of the technology space brought her to Overlay.TV, a technology start-up, that necessitated and fueled her passion for social media. It was here that Hessie learned and embraced the value of social media as a strong medium to drive awareness, consideration and customer engagement. Hessie’s most recent position was at Isobar where she developed successful initiatives for Citi, Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, Absolut Vodka, and Columbia House Canada.
An avid blogger and Twitterer, Hessie is living and breathing the social web space and cannot consume technology (no matter how hard she tries) as quickly as this space evolves. |
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