Heath is a global-award-winning communications expert who has taught thousands of PR students at five different universities and colleges across Canada over the past 10 years. Outside of the classroom, he is the President of Echo Communications Inc., a reputation management consulting firm that helps companies across North America. Heath is a sought-after industry thought leader that has spoken at 70 conferences around the world and teaches communicators around the world through the International Association of Business Communicators Academy.

Heath has previously taught at the University of Guelph-Humber, Humber College, University of Victoria, and McMaster University, and has been a PR curriculum developer for Centennial College. His teaching philosophy is predicated on bringing the real world into the classroom to prepare his students for future success. He generously shares his 20 years of diverse marketing, PR, and journalism experience from the corporate, agency, consulting and non-profit sectors with his students. Heath has been published in a university textbook and international journals. He was recently re-elected for his fourth consecutive term on the Board of Director’s for the Canadian Public Relations Society.

Erick Bauer is the founder and principal of The Bauer Group. He is a strategic leader, educator, and entrepreneur with 15 years of experience managing complex marketing and communications programs in fast-paced agency, corporate, and non-profit environments. He has led award-winning communications programs for some of the world’s largest brands, including Google, Nike, Coca-Cola, Samsung, BMO, Molson Coors, Wal-Mart, UPS and Pepsi. He has deep expertise in all facets of public relations, corporate communications, branding, digital/social media, corporate reputation management, issues and crisis, thought leadership, and executive profiling.

Erick is also passionate about developing the next generation of communications professionals. As a post-graduate instructor, he has been able to mentor and support young professionals, while at the same time supporting students who are committed to starting their careers in business, marketing, and communications.

He holds an undergraduate degree from York University and an MBA from Wilfrid Laurier University. When he’s not working, you can find Erick relaxing on the dock at the family cottage or chauffeuring his two young children to a hockey rink. He currently resides in the west end of Toronto.

Christine is a results-oriented communications professional with more than seven years of experience, specializing in internal communications. She is currently a Manager for the Employee Relations division at Air Canada and has a firm grasp of corporate messaging, branding, event planning and leadership communications. Christine has always been passionate about the telecommunications industry and enjoys enhancing employee and customer engagement through internal and external communications, along with testing new products and services. She has had success facilitating the development of employee communication initiatives including leadership blogs, vlogs, town halls, emails and speaking notes, as well as identified communication gaps between management and front-line employees. Her work has resulted in new processes that better support internal stakeholders in day to day operations.

Read an interview with Christine

Joanne Cordell is a seasoned communications professional with over 30 years of experience in public affairs, issues management and stakeholder relations. Her focus has been the public sector, where she has worked in 10 provincial ministries, several municipalities and the agency and postsecondary education sectors. Joanne has experience advising senior level executives and elected officials, including working for a Member of Provincial Parliament at Queen’s Park. She played a key communications role for a municipal association during the Social Contract and has managed many public events with small business, including the Queen’s Park Liaison Forum and the Small Business Agency of Ontario. Joanne is a strong writer, having written for non-profit organizations and has contributed to two PubMed articles.

Lyndon has 25 years experience working in communications working in-house and agency side. He is a recovering broadcaster, having started his career in radio news having been one of the first 30 Broadcast Journalism graduates from the Bachelors program at Nottingham Trent University in the UK.

Lyndon is the inventor of The Lean Communications Methodology, Framework and toolkit that enables organizations to use Lean Startup principles and processes to build strategic hypotheses and test them in order to improve the effectiveness of communications strategies. He has also developed the first periodic table of elements for strategic communications that allows scientific method to be used by communicators.

Having moved from the UK to Canada in 2010, Lyndon is the founder of two startups, THINK DIFFERENT[LY] and COMMS.BAR – a walk-in style clinic providing strategic communications advice that helps organizations diagnose the challenges facing them and develop effective strategies for overcoming them.

Melyssa is a veteran within Advertising and Marketing landscape. She has been blazing trails for more years than she cares to admit.

Although she is short in stature, the many hats that she wears make her walk tall with solid experience and a varied skill set.

With over 30 years experience with traditional and digital Marketing and Advertising (and everything in between) for both Higher Education and Top 100 companies, Melyssa’s portfolio includes exciting pieces like a Maclean’s magazine spread for the School of Automotive Studies at Georgian College which appeared in the popular University issue.

Also, the opportunity to celebrate the rank of the first Canadian College to join a Facebook community that was only made of students in higher education, before Facebook went public.

Melyssa is a business owner, a marketer, an advertiser and an artist in everything ink and digital. She is as passionate about business as she is about hockey but don’t ask who her favourite team is. She may not have to tell you.

Doris is an award-winning writer and editor. She has successfully worked as a content creator for more than 25 years. She was the editor of a national magazine, was part of the editorial staff at regional publications, and has freelanced for major newspapers and magazines in Canada. She has also created branded content and assisted brands with their promotion. She believes there are always several potential stories, and several ways to tell them — the key is understanding the audience, the brand, and the platform.

Jen has a variety of experience in the communications field, having worked in community relations and event management for over 10 years, for both not-for-profit and for profit sectors. Over the last 6 years, Jen’s focus has been on the animal care field, working both for Nestle Purina and the Ontario SPCA & Humane Societies. Jen has a variety of experience working as a spokesperson for organizations. Alongside this, Jen has a variety of experience working with stakeholders, from donors to community partners!

Jen holds a bachelor of arts (honours) from Brock University in Popular Culture and Communications, a post-graduate certificate (high honours) co-op from Seneca College in Corporate Communications, and a Masters of Education from Ontario Tech University.

With a passion for teaching and education, Jen has previously taught courses at Durham College, and hopes to continue to teach and help students reach their goals!