Staff Directory

Staff & Consultant Advisors

Gillian Graham
Chief Executive Officer, Ext: 225

Gillian joined the ICA in 2007 after many years of advertising/marketing experience together with a background in teaching at the university level, entrepreneurialism and consulting. Gillian is keenly interested in building the pride and profile of communications agencies across Canada, and in promoting thought leadership and mentorship. Since joining the ICA, she has spearheaded many new initiatives, including Advertising Week which has already become Canada's largest and most diverse annual gathering of advertising and media leaders. Gillian's key ICA responsibilities include overall association direction, industry relations and being the spokesperson on industry issues.

Jani Yates
President, Ext: 230

Jani joined ICA in 1998 and works extensively on membership relations and ICA initiatives. Having worked in both official languages in Montreal and Toronto, she brings 20+ years of diverse advertising experience and extensive involvement in various aspects of the industry. Concurrent with her position at ICA, she is an Executive Board Member of the Advertising Standards Canada, Chair of the CASSIES, Board of Governors Member of the Actra Fraternal Benefits Society, Executive Board Member of the Marketing Communications Education Trust/Wilfred Laurier, has served as Chair of the National Advertising Benevolent Society (NABS), and President of the Advertising Club of Toronto.

Melissa Myers, CA
Vice President, Finance & Administration, Ext. 226

Melissa joined the ICA in 2009 and is responsible for a number of ICA initiatives including the ICA Annual Surveys, group benefit savings programs, member financial queries and all ICA finances. Melissa also works on various Board driven initiatives such as the Digital and Agency Value committees. Prior to joining the ICA Melissa spent 11 years working at PricewaterhouseCoopers Inc in their Advisory Services group both in a consulting and restructuring capacity. In both areas Melissa worked closely with numerous clients in both the entertainment and media sector on performance improvement and operational effectiveness initiatives, as well as advising both lenders and debtors on various corporate restructuring engagements. Melissa is a chartered accountant who received her undergraduate degree at Queen's University. Melissa sits on the Board of the Canadian Advertising Research Foundation.

Jo-Ann McQuillan, MISt, CPM
Information & Communications Director and Privacy Officer, Ext. 224

Jo-Ann and is responsible for providing members with information services, ranging from simple reference questions to the compilation of detailed packages of current advertising and marketing data, consumer or category data, or information on how to best run an agency in an increasingly complex marketplace. Jo-Ann joined ICA in 2001 after serving diverse scholarly communities in the Integrated Library and Information Studies Laboratory (Inforum), Gerard House Library and the Caven Library at Knox College. Jo-Ann holds a Master of Information Studies degree.

Suzanne Filiatrault
Professional Development Director, Ext: 227

Suzanne is responsible for the overall direction of ICA's professional development programs. Suzanne joined ICA in 2005 and brings over 20+ years of experience in marketing, advertising, internet solution design and brand development to the role. She also holds a Master of Education and is a practicing business educator.

Winnie Alford
Talent Advisor, Ext: 300

Winnie trouble-shoots all member talent problems as well as negotiating with all the unions: ACTRA, UdA, SAG, AFofM. Winnie heads a company of freelance producers that service the advertising and production industry. Prior to setting up her own company, Winnie worked for over twenty years in advertising agencies in both Toronto and Montreal as a broadcast producer to agencies such as Young & Rubicam, Foster Advertising, Vickers & Benson and Harrod & Mirlin. As a member of the ICA/ACA negotiating team, Winnie has served to help negotiate the past two ACTRA contracts on behalf of the members.

Marc Pike
Broadcast Regional/Local Talent Advisor, Ext: 301

Marc is responsible for helping all member talent questions for the ACTRA regional and local addendum. Marc has been an integral member of the negotiating team for the past two contracts, works full time in the industry as a President and Executive Producer at his own company RPM productions, and continues to be an advocate for the industry. Since 1984 Marc has worked in the advertising and public relations industries on a wide-ranging number of broadcast, video, photographic and multi-media productions.

Alice Pauls
Executive Administrator, Ext: 229

Alice recently joined the ICA to provide administrative and member support . She brings years of experience in project management, administration and marketing, having worked for some of the world’s leading brands including Coca-Cola, Nike, Johnson & Johnson and Kodak. She assists the CEO and President with member services and a variety of administrative functions. Alice has completed her certification in Public Relations at Ryerson University.

Stacey Robinson
Sponsorship & Event Manager - Advertising Week, Ext: 223

Stacey joined the ICA in 2008 as Event Manager, with much of her focus on Advertising Week. Stacey has studied at Bishops University, earning a degree in Sociology, as well as a diploma in advertising and marketing communications at St. Lawrence College. Stacey has event planning and logistical experience from previous positions with Molson, RVH Holdings, Solutions with Impact, and the Astound group. She has organized and executed major events for Bell Canada, Disney and the Wine Council of Ontario. She brings energy and attention to detail to all events in her care.

Gardenia Flores
Digital Strategy & Content Manager, Ext: 231

Gardenia is responsible for digital and content management strategies and initiatives at the ICA. She initially joined the ICA in 2009 as the Information Coordinator and assisted the Director of Information & Communications in providing information services to members. She previously worked with two executive recruiting firms focused on financial services. Prior to entering executive recruiting, Gardenia was an Assistant Library Technician with the Data, Maps & Government department at the University of Toronto Robarts Library, where she also completed her undergraduate studies.