25 years. Financial services. Healthcare. Consumer. Culture.
Brand is the start and the end. It is all-encompassing. It is the core of a company.
I build brand systems that work in the world's most demanding environments — regulated markets, enterprise boardrooms, national campaigns, and cultural moments. I've led rebrands for crown corporations, directed global campaigns at celebrity scale, and launched products in pharma, financial services, CPG, and youth culture.
I also build with AI. Not as a shortcut. As a strategic and production partner that frees me to spend 70% of my time in strategy and direction — the reverse of how this work used to get done. Three complete brand systems in four months is the proof.
Cohere has built something rare in enterprise AI: genuine credibility with the hardest buyers in the world. RBC. TD. Oracle. McKinsey. The product earns trust in every procurement meeting it enters. The brand hasn't caught up yet. The gap between what the technology does and what people feel about Cohere is the opportunity. I've been thinking about that room.
Eight brand systems across regulated finance, healthcare, public sector, consumer, and culture.
Purpose-built marketing agency for Canadian wealth advisors and dealer firms. Complete brand system including CLaaS — a tiered, CIRO-compliant content platform. Full verbal and visual identity, January 2026.
2024 — ongoing View brand guide →Ontario Music Educators' Association. A century-old institution modernized for a multi-stakeholder world. Four distinct audience palettes — educators, students, donors, partners — all laddering to one primary system.
December 2025 View brand guide →Valued Connections Healthcare Inc. Intensive case management brand for complex medical needs. Privacy-first by design — PHIPA compliance built into the brand framework itself. Bilingual. Three audience palettes.
December 2025 View brand guide →Canada's premier youth basketball development program. A three-pillar brand architecture — Court, Class, Culture — with a verbal identity that has genuine character. "We don't just build athletes. We build good humans."
2026 View brand guide →National rebrand of Canada's largest independent mortgage brokerage — 15 years of assets, 5 regional offices, 200+ broker websites, signage, print, digital, CRM. Under $60K. Still in use today.
2015 — 2016 · in market 10+ years View case study →A construction-sector brand built with genuine urban personality. Logo, brand system, website, business cards, truck wraps, "Pipe Fitness" elevator video series, and social campaign for Toronto's Liberty Village neighbourhood.
2017 View case study →A high-end restaurant brand built for Kingston, Jamaica's premium dining scene. Complete brand identity from positioning through visual standards — a sophisticated system that carries the warmth, culture, and ambition of the space. Website rolling out. Already alive on Instagram.
2026 — in marketWebsite rebuild and brand modernization for a Canadian-owned wealth management and capital markets firm. Seven years of ongoing brand and marketing stewardship within a regulated advisor environment.
2018 — 2025 View case study →Large-scale national and global executions across consumer, CPG, and institutional brands.
Full network national launch for Canada's second-largest grocer in partnership with Jamie Oliver. Creative production director managing 300+ files across English, French, and Bilingual formats — in-store, digital, kiosk, POS, and print. Approvals across Sobeys Canada and Jamie Oliver's UK team simultaneously. Not one file printed incorrectly. Launch without a hitch.
Directed $7M media and marketing spend for global acne treatment brand Proactiv® across Canada. Global celebrity campaign with Kendall Jenner across earned, paid, OOH, display, and digital channels. Managed co-marketing partnerships with Shoppers Drug Mart, Costco, Sephora, and Amazon. National rollout to 1,054 Shoppers Drug Mart locations.
Modernized national brand for one of Canada's largest youth-serving organizations. Championed DEI-driven storytelling campaign "Scouting is for Everyone" — repositioning a 100+ year institution for a new generation. Led 2025 national recruitment campaign across digital, email, social, and PR channels.
Created and led digital influencer integrated campaign for U.S.-based CPG disruptor in partnership with PBR (Professional Bull Riders). Directed full brand with a creative agency across website, merchandise, video, and all brand assets — leading a cross-border team of creatives in the U.S. and Canada. $3M USD budget across launch and growth phase.
Before AI, production consumed the majority of a brand leader's time. Strategy was the 30%. Today, with AI as both strategic thought partner and production engine, that ratio flips. I spend 70% of my time in strategy, brand direction, and creative decision-making. The rest is execution — faster, more consistent, and more ambitious than what was possible before.
This isn't about automating creativity. It's about removing the friction between thinking and making. Three complete brand systems — OMEA, VCHI, and Union Elite Basketball — were built from positioning through published standards guide in four months. Each is rigorous, multi-audience, and ready for market.
The businesses that understand this shift earliest will compound fastest. I believe that. I've built two companies around it.
Head of Brand Marketing at Cohere. Toronto-based, remote-ready. Available to start a conversation now.
kja markets · where ideas flourish · Toronto, Ontario