Behind The Scenes with AMA Volunteers
By
Debbie Bolton
VP Volunteers
On May 15th, AMA Toronto celebrated the newest group of Canada’s Marketing Hall of Legends (CMHOL) winners. These visionaries have helped Canadian marketers and business stand out both at home but also on the international stage. We were inspired by the stories of Deborah Weinstein and Judy Lewis founders of Strategic Objectives; Anton Rabie, Ben Varadi and Ronne Harary co-founders of Spin Master; Malcolm Gladwell (author) and Ron Woodall (creative director and more), our Marketers on the Rise InkBox and our past legend and new Luminary award winner, Dr. Alan Middleton.
It was a very special night since it was the Canada’s Marketing Hall of Legends 20 th anniversary gala. The gala was the culmination of a year’s work by current volunteers and 20 years of strategic evolution of the program. And there were some volunteers on-stage who helped it happen but also many more behind the scenes.
Since 2004 there have been more than 110 legends selected for their long- term contributions to marketing. Over the years, the program has added new awards such as Marketer on the Rise and this year a Luminary award for long term AMA support and advocacy. Our winners increasingly have come from diverse backgrounds and industries.
The annual gala has expanded to become a CMHOL program. Many of our legends have participated in our mentorship programs. The Legendary Leadership series of events launched in 2019 and features legends as speakers at events throughout the year. And in 2023, a series of podcasts called Legends Journey was introduced. This podcast series features past legends being interviewed by past legend, Tony Chapman.
This evolution of the CMHOL program is quite astonishing considering this program is run entirely by an amazing force of dedicated volunteers. It takes a village to organize the legends selection process and events and run this year’s program. Thank you to the dozens who helped.
Special shout-outs to Jacob Kessler who has nurtured and evolved this program for more than 5 years and Amy Corman who jumped in this year to run the program’s marketing. President Santo Ligotti for providing his ongoing support. Miglena Nikolova for business development and more. Rob MacLean for the PR support. The following list attempts to show the range of volunteers who contributed to an outstanding 20 th anniversary year. You are ALL Rockstars and deserve our thanks! And I apologize in advance if I have missed anyone.
Our Teams:
CMHOL stewardship team: VP Jacob Kessler, Ben Hudson, Kartikay Joshi, Soumya Ganesh, Tam Nguyen
CMHOL marketing team: VP Amy Corman, Ben Hudson, Maggie Lee, Sean Mathews, Seema Shah
Additional gala help: Derek Corman (sales), students (on-site)
Judging Chair: Arthur Fleischmann
President: Santo Ligotti
Our external selection jury of 20 senior marketers
Legends Journey team: past legend Tony Chapman, VP Tina Portillo, VP
Jacob Kessler
Events team: VP Dawn Becker, Elfie Li, Hanna Scott, Hyeran Sung, Koohzad
Khatami, Lulia Luong, Raisa Temnova
PR team: VP Robert MacLean, Michael Thede
Sponsorship: VP Miglena Nikolova, Puneet Thadani
Marcom team: VP Jason Hui, Sanaz Koosha, Sonika Kamra, Nida Parvez,
Sai Santosh,
Photography: Duo Ma
AMAzing Rockstars
Koohzad Khatami
Director Events
Koohzad is an integral part of the Events team and provides strong technical support to our events. In April he ran the technology for our Legendary Leadership series event. In May he was responsible for technology for our Canada’s Marketing Hall of Legends gala. He was the tech liaison with the venue throughout the lead up to the gala. He also made sure the technology worked on site. This year we moved our technology up a level so it was a more complicated task than in other years. Koohzad is calm under pressure and a true rock for the Events team.
Koohzad has 10 years marketing experience and is currently Category Marketing Manager for Mother Parker’s Tea and Coffees.
Maggie Lee
Project Manager, Canada’s Marketing Hall of Legends Marketing
Maggie is a true leader and collaborator. Although new to the CMHOL program, she established a comprehensive project plan that will also provide a foundation for years ahead. She kept a large and diverse team on track for all deliverables without fail. She worked with the Event team and acted as the lead coordinating with them to deliver an amazing event. Maggie also single-handedly managed the silent auction payment program. Maggie has over 20 years of work experience and is Director Business and Revenue Operations Walmart Connect Canada.
Seema Shah
Director, Canada’s Marketing Hall of Legends Marketing
Seema joined the CMHOL gala team late in the game but jumped right in to make a major contribution. She led the process of getting silent auction donations from legends, spearheading both collection and legend liaison. She also led the design deliverables coordinating with the Marcom team and the printer. She developed the gala’s presentation slides and updated the design look and feel. Seema is an extremely hard worker who rolls up her sleeves and gets things done but she also makes the effort to think of every detail to elevate the outcome of an event.
Seema is a Board Advisor for Because I Love It/ BILI Inc a leading social commerce marketplace. She has 20 years of experience in senior positions in Amazon and media agencies.
For more information on AMA:
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] or [email protected]
