About

Gerry Frascione President and CEO BBDO North America, Chairman and CEO BBDO Canada

When Gerry joined BBDO Canada in 2001, he led a highly talented team in transforming the agency to deliver extraordinarily high levels of client engagement, talent retention and industry recognition for creativity. Indeed, it was Gerry¹s belief that relentless drive, focus and love for the work are infectious that saw him invited in 2006 to join the North American team as President and CEO.

Gerry's current passion is helping clients answer the challenges of media fragmentation by building on the network's success and momentum around TotalWork. He is focused on providing the agency teams across the region with the tools, resources and support required to generate TotalWork solutions that help clients win in today's market.

The first 20 years of his career were spent at Y&R with Procter and Gamble; Leo Burnett with clients that included Kellogg¹s and Cadbury; and the Wolf group where his team quadrupled revenue in less than three years.

Gerry is a board member of the Institute of Communications and Advertising, SIFE (USA), ACE (Canada), The Ad Club of New York and a member of the BBDO Worldwide board. Gerry is also a passionate Canadian who has spent his career promoting local talent and work inside and beyond Canadian borders.

Philip Filippopoulos Executive VP, Chief Financial Officer BBDO Canada

Philip Filippopoulos is a CPA, CMA with extensive financial and operational leadership experience in manufacturing, publishing and advertising/communications. As CFO, Philip works closely with the CEO in developing BBDO/Proximity Canada's strategic direction and provides financial and operational leadership across all business units.

Philip has been with BBDO/Proximity since 2001 and has played a key role in establishing BBDO/Proximity as a leader in the Canadian communication industry, enjoying an average annual compound growth rate in excess of 12% over this period.

Prior to joining BBDO, Philip held a number of senior financial positions with Reader's Digest in Montreal most notably Director Financial Planning and Analysis where he partnered with Marketing to drive significant sales growth. A well rounded financial executive, Philip combines strong business acumen with great interpersonal skills. Not your traditional bean counter, Philip enjoys the fast pace and the creative energy offered by the agency.

Peter Ignazi SVP, Executive Creative Director BBDO Toronto

Peter brings strong creative insights to all of his work, based on his years of successful experience. Peter was born in Hamilton, Canada. After earning his B.Sc. in Chemistry from McMaster University, he enjoyed a successful career as a research chemist with Dow Chemical in Germany. Peter also has an MBA from McGill University.

Emerging from that business background, he started work as a copywriter, realizing that he could help clients with his ability with words and creative concepts. He has worked as a Copywriter and Creative Director for such agencies as TAXI, Saatchi & Saatchi, MacLaren McCann and Downtown Partners on accounts such as General Motors, Sony and Anheuser-Busch. From 2004 to 2006, Peter was Creative Director and Partner at Amalgamated in New York working on Ben & Jerry's and Cablevision.

In 2006, Peter brought his skills to BBDO where he works on a variety of clients, including RBC – where he led the RBC Torch Relay Campaign, Cara, Shaw and FedEx. Peter, along with his partner Carlos Moreno, is part of one of the most awarded creative teams in Canada over the last 10 years.

Carlos Moreno SVP, Executive Creative Director BBDO Toronto

Carlos Moreno is a native Guatemalan who moved to Canada in 1982. Valedictorian of his class at the Ontario College of Art & Design, he started his successful advertising career at MacLaren McCann in Toronto. His multiaward- winning career includes working at various agencies including Saatchi & Saatchi and Downtown Partners on Anheuser-Busch USA and Canada, Coca-Cola, Nestle, Labatt Breweries, FedEx and Diet 7-Up. Carlos was also Creative Director and Partner at Amalgamated in New York, where he worked on Cablevision and Ben & Jerry's ice cream.

He is currently SVP, Executive Creative Director at BBDO Canada where he works on accounts such as Molson, Cara, Wrigley and RIM. Carlos has been recognized in every major advertising award show including, winning Lions at Cannes, D&AD, The Clios and The One Show. In 2004 Carlos was named top Art Director in Canada, and included in the top ten list of most awarded Art Directors in the world by Boards magazine and The Gunn Report.

In 2010 the Canadian Hispanic Chamber of Commerce nominated Carlos one of Canada's 10 most influential Hispanics.

Paul Reilly SVP, Executive Managing Director BBDO Toronto

Paul is a native Montrealer who came to Toronto for business school and never left. His career has been spent primarily in professional services having worked in management consulting, consumer research and advertising. Along the way he also worked in Marketing or General Management at Rogers and CIBC. Paul's first agency job was as a Strategic Planner at what was then Vickers & Benson, one of Canada's pioneer domestic agencies. He joined BBDO Toronto in 2005 to run the newly integrated RBC business and since then has broadened his responsibilities across a wide range of clients.

Siobhan McCarthy Senior Vice President, Director of Organizational Development

Siobhan McCarthy is a Cambridge graduate and respected strategist who moved from Planning into the role of Director of Organizational Development in 2003. Siobhan brings 20 years experience of blue chip clients in Europe and North America, in both client service and strategic planning roles, to her position as champion of BBDO Proximity culture and Talent.

In the UK she was appointed to Grey's Board of Directors in 1994. She relocated to Toronto in 1996. Before joining BBDO Siobhan worked on the acclaimed Kool Aid and AGF campaigns during her time at Young & Rubicam as well as Chunky soup (Campbell's'), JELL-O, Radio Shack and H&R Block. She joined BBDO in 1999, planning on Scotiabank, Effem Foods, Fritos Lays Canada and Dairy Farmers of Ontario.

She is passionate about Employer Brands and company cultures and consults with our clients on these topics from time to time. She also enjoys facilitating workshops and brand sessions. A student of human nature Siobhan develops training and development programs and mentors young talent as part of her role in ensuring BBDO Proximity attracts and retains more than its fair share of the best talent.

In 2004 she was made a Senior Vice President of the company.

Tim Welsh SVP, Creative Operations and New Business
 

After becoming intrigued with the world of advertising at Queen's, Tim moved back to his native Toronto and joined Gee, Jeffery & Partners in January 1995 working on Sporting Life and telecommunications giant Cantel AT&T.

In April 1999, Tim joined the ranks at BBDO. Running PepsiCo Canada for a number of years, Tim led a number of Doritos campaigns that we awarded Gold Cassies and CMA Best in Show. Tim also led the Tropicana 'Brighter Mornings for Brighter Days' campaign that has generated worldwide acclaim including a Gold Lion at Cannes.

In 2011, Tim was promoted to Senior Vice-President, Creative Operations and New Business, where he runs the new business practice and is the main media contact.

Tim also has an altruistic side and has long been a charity volunteer. For the past 12 years Tim has been a board member, and is currently the Chair, of the Taylor Statten Camping Bursary Fund, a charity that raises funds to send underprivileged children to summer camps across Canada.

Shelley Brown National Planning Director, BBDO Canada

After more than 25 years in advertising, Shelley remains passionately driven to find ways to deploy the power of communication to help solve business problems.

Shelley's career started back when cell phones were larger than bricks, fax machines were new and email non-existent. She believes that the digital revolution has transformed our culture and presents some of the most existing opportunities for all brands, not just in terms of new connection possibilities, but also in terms of how brands think and behave.

Previously, Shelley joined zig in 2002 as Director of Strategic Planning where she led the development of zig's unique integrated planning and creative development process, instrumental in the agency's success. Under her leadership, the agency earned a reputation for consistently delivering smart, strategic solutions to the challenges faced by sophisticated brands. The agency grew five-fold and Shelley became its President.

She headed up the agency and strategic teams on such high-profile clients as IKEA, Molson, Unilever and Pfizer.