Behind The Scenes with AMA Volunteers
By
Debbie Bolton
VP Volunteers
The end of March and April have been exciting times for AMA Toronto. Our AMAzing volunteers are very busy making things happen. We’ve had events and campaigns to plan, the kick-off of another season of Career Accelerator mentoring and Volunteer Thank You activities.
March 21: UofT DEMA “Meet the Marketers” Event
AMA partnered with UofT’s Digital Enterprise Management Association (DEMA) to host this event to help provide career advice for students interested in marketing careers. AMA volunteers Craig Lund, Miglena Nikolova and Syed Zahidi shared their career journeys and networked with students.
April 10: Career Accelerator Kick-Off Event
Our Leadership Excellence team runs our mentoring and executive coaching programs. And Career Accelerator is once again off to a running start. VP Leadership Excellence Programs, Craig Lund, and Director Career Accelerator, Maggie Bolt, hosted Career Accelerator mentors and new mentees at KPMG. Experienced marketers will be mentoring 38 early-stage marketers. It’s a great way to learn and network within the marketing community.
April 11: An Outstanding Legendary Leadership Series Event
What a wonderful evening we spent being inspired by 2023 Canada’s Marketing Hall of Legends inductee, Sandra Sanderson, CMO of Empire Company Ltd and Sobey’s. It was a sell-out event hosted by our partner IBM in their office downtown. Our President, Santo Ligotti, led the discussion and Sharifa Khan and her firm, Balmoral Multicultural Marketing, was our key sponsor.
We have so many volunteers to thank for such a successful event. Our moderator Santo Ligotti and our volunteer speaker, Sandra Sanderson, who is a treasure trove of career insights for any marketer. VP Jacob Kessler and his team who oversee the Canada’s Marketing Hall of Legends (CMHOL) brand and legends. VP Amy Corman and her team who oversee CMHOL Marketing and organized their first event. VP Events Dawn Becker and her very organized team who ran a very successful event. Marcom VP Jason Hui whose team promoted the event. VP PR Robert MacLean and his team. Partnership/Sponsorship VPs Miglena Nikolova and Puneet Thadani. And more.
Photos courtesy of Duo Ma
April 15-24: AMA Toronto’s National Volunteer Month’s Campaign
Every year the Volunteer team works with our President and teams to give a special shout-out to the AMAzing volunteers who help the AMA Toronto world go round. This year Louise Taylor and Duo Ma from our Volunteer Team took on this challenge and set up a Kudoboard Thank You campaign. They also worked with Dawn Becker, Shalini Jerath and the Events team to plan a volunteer-only event prior to the Marketing Networking Group (MNG) Spring Social on April 24 at the Firkin on Harbour. What a great way to say thanks to our volunteers but also celebrate spring with the AMA community.
Posts courtesy of everyone! Photos courtesy of Duo Ma
AMAzing Rockstars
Glenda Haro
AVP Member Experience and Strategy
Glenda has recently been promoted to AVP Member Experience. Glenda has been a cornerstone in significantly improving our membership operations. Her efforts in streamlining processes have guaranteed our members support around the clock. She has been pivotal in developing training materials and onboarding her team members, which have enhanced operational continuity and resolved longstanding issues related to work distribution in the Operations Team. Furthermore, Glenda has elevated our monthly reporting, creating more insightful and professional looking analytical reports. Thank you Glenda!
Glenda has more than 20 years marketing and consulting experience for companies such as FHM Consulting, Samsung and Unilever.
Ignacio Chehade
AVP Member Experience and Strategy
Ignacio was recently promoted to AVP Member Experience and Strategy. He’s been at the forefront of member acquisition and retention efforts, making a significant impact. His active presence at events and effective communication of AMA membership benefits has attracted potential members. His leadership has nurtured a team who, in collaboration with the Digital team and Glenda, have improved our website with crucial member information. Ignacio has also been instrumental in setting strategic priorities for the membership team and is currently leading two digital-first initiatives aimed at creating a dynamic virtual networking space for our members. Many thanks Ignacio!
Ignacio has more than 16 years international experience in marketing, e-commerce and growth consulting working for companies such as Galgo, L’Oreal and DDB.
Lulia Luong
Manager Events
Lulia has been a great addition to the Events team and has recently been promoted to Manager Events. She’s shown great leadership skills including working closely with VP Events Dawn Becker to plan the April Legendary Leadership Series event. Lulia designed an innovative floor plan for the venue. She led the event on-site and helped manage newer members of the Events team. Since joining the team she’s demonstrated good instincts for event planning and is a consistent and reliable volunteer who attends all meetings and adds value to her team and AMA events. Thank you Lulia!
Lulia has 4 years experience as a Product Marketing Specialist at Canada Goose.
Nida Parvez
Marcom Designer
Nida is a talented graphic designer who joined our volunteer community in the latter part of 2023. She has been an incredible addition to the Marcom team. She's led all the design and graphic work for our email, social and web channels. To-date that includes our Agency Panel, two Legendary Leadership Series events and 4 Marketing Networking Group events. She always pulls through even with tight deadlines. We’re very fortunate to have her on the Marcom team. Thank you Nida!
Nida runs Nida Design Studio.
For more information :
Please check our website for ongoing information on our programs and events, And don’t forget to watch for our posts on social and check your email in-box. There’s always something happening at AMA Toronto.
For more information on Volunteering :
If you’re interested in learning more about our talented volunteer community and opportunities, please contact me at [email protected]
