June 29, 2026
AMA Toronto honours trailblazers in Canadian advertising (left to right: Roberta Biondic, VP, Operations, AMA Toronto; Maxim Rakov, President, AMA Toronto; Marketing Legends Mandeep Malik and John Doig; Marketer-on-the-Rise Anita Ezediunor; Marketing Legends Elspeth Lynn, Mark Sherman and Ian Mirlin; AMA Toronto host Jacob Kessler)
TORONTO, JUNE 29, 2026 – It was a night to remember. Canada’s Marketing Hall of Legends welcomed five distinguished new members into its ranks at AMA Toronto’s annual celebration of industry leadership.
Over 250 Marketing Legends, executives, emerging talents, academics, and media gathered at Waterworks Events for the gala to recognize our most inspiring trailblazers, visionaries, and entrepreneurs.
The class of ’26 includes John Doig, former CMO, Scotiabank; Elspeth Lynn, co-founder and creative director, Unbound; Mandeep Malik, associate professor, De Groote School of Business, McMaster University; Ian Mirlin, creative director, Crowdiate; and Mark Sherman, founder, and former CMO, Media Experts.
Anita Ezediunor, director of CRM and email marketing at Canada Goose, was also honoured as the 2026 Marketer-on-the-Rise.
“These marketers represent exceptional Canadians — each of them has influenced and elevated our industry at home and abroad,” says Max Rakov, president of AMA Toronto. “Canada’s Marketing Hall of Legends is proudly recognizing their careers and significant achievements.”
“Canada’s Marketing Hall of Legends is not simply about recognition, it is about
stewardship,” says Jacob Kessler, VP, Canada’s Marketing Hall of Legends. “As we welcome
the Class of 2026, we are doing more than celebrating accomplishment. We, we are activating
experience.
“Through our year-long program, these Legends will share hard-earned insights,
candid lessons, and lived perspectives with the next generation of marketers. That legacy, from
accomplishment to mentorship, is what strengthens our profession and ensures Canadian
marketing continues to lead with creativity, integrity, and global impact.”
Marketing Legend Sharifa Khan, founder and CEO of Balmoral Multicultural Marketing, the gala’s title sponsor, also spoke about how Canada’s Marketing Hall of Legends plays a positive, meaningful role in the advancement and reputation of our industry.
“I strongly believe that to inspire and develop the next generation of leaders in our industry, the stories and experiences — the lessons and legacy — of our most accomplished marketers need to be shared and celebrated,” she said.
Where legacy lies in the long game
Throughout a career at Scotiabank spanning over 30 years, John Doig reflected on the key partnerships that defined Scotiabank’s success.
“They’re much more than a name on the side of a building.These are true partnerships with shared ambition and long-term belief in what we can do together,” Doig said.
Under his leadership, Scotiabank became synonymous with bold, purpose-driven thinking, from the “You’re Richer Than You Think” platform, to the Scene+ Program, to the landmark $800-million naming-rights deal for the Scotiabank Area.
Throughout his tenure, Doig championed initiatives that positioned Scotiabank as a brand with genuine social purpose, one that used its platform to make a meaningful difference in the communities it served.
“We aimed to create work that mattered, work with purpose, work that made a difference, and work that left things better than we found them,” he said.
Recognizing the village behind the visionary
Over three decades spanning Canada and the United Kingdom, Elspeth Lynn has brought honesty, wit, and cultural insight to some of the most recognized campaigns on both sides of the Atlantic. She humbly shared with the gala the key people who helped shape her career as a creative director.
To Lynn, advertising is “an industry that is accused of being rather male-dominated – for a long time it was. But my own experience of it was shaped by many men – and women – who were extraordinarily supportive.”
Throughout her career, she has remarkably been as deliberate about lifting others as those who lifted her, mentoring creatives across two continents and championing a more honest, human approach to advertising.
“This Hall of Legends honour may have my name on it. But no woman is an island. And I am standing here because of everyone behind me,” she said.
Emboldening students to chart their own paths
Acknowledging a teaching career that spans over 25 years, Mandeep Malik shared the story of his journey to Canada and his tenure at McMaster University.
“On my first day, I quickly realized that classrooms were broken, confining spaces. There were walls constraining students, there were ceilings limiting their imagination. So, my immediate focus was removing them from the classroom and putting students in a playground where they will become authors of their own journey,” he said.
Malik has spent his career at McMaster University empowering his students by implementing initiatives that bridge the gap between academia and industry including the Canadian Marketing League (Canada’s Next Top Ad Exec), MARS Apprentice, MARS Forum, Elite Seat, High School Business Heroes, Synergy Summer Program and U-Turn — programs that integrate industry mentorship, case-based learning, and community engagement. The result of these efforts was a community of students who became, in his own words, his foundation.
“My students became my scaffolding, and […] I’m here today because of them.”
A legacy of creativity and courage
Ian Mirlin is a veteran of Canada’s advertising industry, with a career spanning over five decades defined by his ability to connect brands with culture.
“I couldn’t be more glad and proud to be a part of this celebration,” he said.
Mirlin’s impact on Canadian advertising includes his leadership at Harrod & Mirlin and FCB,
and his work on award-winning spots for clients such as Kodak, Mr. Christie, and TD Canada Trust. He also served as a copywriting professor at OCAD University (Ontario College of Art and Design), inspiring the next generation of creative talent.
At the core of his legacy is a commitment to creativity and courage, values he instills in the teams he leads, the students he teaches, and the work he provides his clients.
“Thank you to all the clients who have inspired me, to every single person I’ve worked with along the way, and to the generosity and encouragement of my loving family who understood that to get anywhere in this business means getting home from the office late every night,” he said.
Sustainably embracing the power of persuasion
A media pioneer since founding Media Experts in 1981, Mark Sherman shared his insights into the power of marketing and the impact it has on society at large.
“As marketers, we have – you have – incredible power. Not just to drive the economy, but also to shape needs, wants, and attitudes. This power to shape attitudes is not something to be taken lightly,” Sherman said.
He emphasized the gravity of the industry’s power of persuasion and the responsibility of marketers to use this power with mindfulness and tact.
“As marketers you have this great power of influence. You have a great responsibility to chart the course of Canada’s future. To you I say: use that power responsibly. Choose to make Canada and to keep Canada a country with a foundation of morality, gender equality, cooperation, collaboration, and love,” he said.
Empowering marketers of the future
The evening also recognized Anita Ezediunor, director of CRM and email marketing at Canada Goose, as the 2026 Marketer-on-the-Rise.
The Marketer-on-the-Rise award is given to early- to mid-level marketers who are already making significant impacts on the industry through exemplary brand-driven thinking, community involvement, and innovation.
Ezediunor is being recognized for her results-driven approach to optimizing the consumer journey that earned her recognition at Nestlé and Canada Goose.
“We do not rise alone. None of us here rises alone. So I’m fortunate to have learned so much from mentors, colleagues, teams who have challenged me to challenge the status quo, to operate at a higher level, to also stay grounded in a consumer-first mindset,” she said.
Volunteers carry the torch
Reflecting on the 22-year record of Canada’s Marketing Hall of Legends, as well as the long history and growth of the American Marketing Association, Rakov said: “It’s all happened thanks to countless people who volunteered their time to carry the torch year after year. And it happened because we nurtured and celebrated the leaders who made a difference,” he said.
“AMA Toronto’s dedicated team of volunteers did an exceptional job staging the gala. On behalf of the chapter, I thank and congratulate everyone involved on making our 2026 celebration a night to remember.”
Under the theme Legends Among Us, the 2026 gala took a departure from its typical dinner-style format in favour of a networking-focused approach. “This year’s gala format was designed to foster connections and make the Legends more accessible to the community,” says Kessler.
The Canada’s Marketing Hall of Legends Awards Gala is part of a year-long Legends program presented by AMA Toronto, consisting of a series of events, blogs, and podcasts focused on mentorship, knowledge, and inclusion.
This year’s inductees were carefully chosen through nominations that were selected by a 16-person jury chaired by David Pullara, a marketing consultant and long-standing member of the AMA Toronto advisory council.
AMA Toronto extends thanks and gratitude to Sharifa Khan and Gala Title Sponsor Balmoral Multicultural Marketing. The chapter also thanks Scotiabank, the Legends’ Gallery Sponsor. Canada’s Marketing Hall of Legends would not be possible without these sponsors and the support and collaboration of its incredible partners: the Globe Media Group, Stonehenge Digital Studios, Cvent, Score Promotions, BPL Events, AV-Canada, mrkt X & George Brown Polytechnic, Coop Shoots, and Comeback Snacks.
About Canada’s Marketing Hall of Legends
Founded in 2004, Canada’s Marketing Hall of Legends honours inspiring Canadian leaders who have dedicated their lives to the pursuit of excellence in the field of marketing. The award, created to spotlight the stories, people and brands behind Canada’s greatest marketing successes, recognizes a noteworthy body of work and a life-time of achievements and leadership, including contributions that have made our community a better place. Nominations for induction are held annually.
About AMA Toronto
AMA Toronto is a community of volunteer marketers who have been empowering leadership and business growth for nearly 80 years in Canada. The AMA, with more than 30,000 members and 70 chapters across North America, is the largest not-for-profit marketing association in the world serving organizations and individuals who practice, teach and study marketing.
About the Author
Waverly Blair is a copywriter and advertising enthusiast based in the Greater Toronto Area. After earning a degree in French Studies from the University of Toronto, she followed her curiosity into the world of advertising, completing an advanced diploma in Advertising and Marketing Communications at Sheridan College, and never looked back. When she’s not busy working as a writer with AMA Toronto, you can often find her waxing poetic about her favourite campaigns.
*Photo Credits: Individual inductee portraits by Michael Cooper, Michael Cooper Photographic, CooperShoots.com. Group photo by Tianyi Zhang.