Alison King | President Nobody forgets meeting Alison King. What makes her so memorable is not just that she’s six feet tall, but that her ability to connect with people and to quickly get to the heart of their communication challenges makes her a giant in Canadian public relations. Alison became Media Profile’s president in 2007 after growing and developing the company for more than two decades. She is passionate about Media Profile, and about delivering the highest quality PR services in Canada. She works directly with clients and senior leadership teams, including crisis and issues management. As Media Profile’s leader, Alison ensures that everyone at Media Profile is happy, healthy and has the tools they need to be the best in the business. And if that wasn’t enough, Alison regularly exercises her green thumb at home and at the cottage.
Patrick Gossage | Chair Patrick is one of Canada’s most highly respected public relations practitioners and commentators. As the Founder of Media Profile, he draws on more than 40 years of experience in broadcasting, politics and communications. He served as press secretary to Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau and as the Minister of Public Affairs at the Canadian Embassy in Washington, DC. Patrick provides strategic communications advice and media and presentation coaching to many of Canada’s top political and business leaders. He is a regular political panelist on television and radio, is the author of two books and countless articles, and he blogs, tweets and flickrs. He serves as Vice Chair of the McMichael Canadian Collection and is on the Board of Multimedia Nova, Canada’s premier multicultural publisher. In his spare time, Patrick loves landscape painting and canoeing.
Adrienne Simic | Vice President Adrienne eats, sleeps and breathes public relations. She is known for her imaginative ideas and for the twists she provides to clients’ PR. For 15 years she has been a trusted resource to senior managers for a range of corporate, consumer, entertainment and technology companies. They rely on and benefit from her creativity, perspective and insights. She steps into her clients’ shoes to help them realize their PR potential. Just give her a pair and watch her do her stuff! Adrienne is fluently bilingual and can readily rattle off the best restaurants in Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, L.A. and New York to within 5 kilometres from wherever you’re standing. Feel free to test her on this – the results are always delish!
David Wills | Vice President David brings an astute, creative approach to public relations, honed through nearly 20 years in journalism, public policy and media relations. He believes that great PR starts with a great plan, and a great plan starts with a great vision. That doesn’t mean that David has visions, only that he provides visionary advice for clients. David immerses himself in his clients’ business, developing original strategies that make people take notice. David can most often be found doing what he does best – raising the profile of business and community leaders, writing compelling speeches, leading creative brainstorms and generating real returns for his clients. Regrettably, his vision abandons him while playing goalie in hockey. His kids light him up all day (he claims it’s for confidence building – a PR guy through and through).
John Thibodeau | Vice President John is an expert in corporate communications and image and reputation management. An accomplished speech writer and media and presentation trainer, John knows how to craft a message and just importantly, how to best deliver it. John’s background is in environmental studies and international development and he is known for his precision, strategic counsel, and issues management skills. He also is an amateur music critic, and an avid market watcher, home renovator and shoe collector (yes, we said shoe collector).
Mara Matson | Vice President, Finance and Administration Mara is a financial professional with more than 20 years experience in the services sector. She is responsible for all of the financial and accounting functions at Media Profile, including preparation and analysis of financial statements, government reporting, budgeting and forecasting and cost control. She designs realistic, transparent public relations budgets for Media Profile’s clients, so she understands both their PR needs and their business objectives and financial parameters. Mara also has strong skills in technology management; she uses this expertise to administer Media Profile’s systems requirements. Mara devotes much of her spare time to sports: she is an excellent hockey player, skier, snowboarder, windsurfer and loves cycling and in-line skating.
Susan Reisler | Vice President Susan is one of the best-known public relations practitioners in Canada, having “crossed the aisle” to PR following a 25-year career as a foreign correspondent, journalist, host and producer in television and radio at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Susan provides strategic advice and planning to professional, corporate, financial and entertainment clients. She is involved at the most senior levels in everything from crisis communications support to drafting news releases and media relations. Susan also writes speeches for senior executives and op-eds for newspapers and is a key member of the Media Profile media training team. Susan’s intellectual curiosity drives her extra-curricular activities. From her participation in US-Canada relations through to the Canada Institute of the Woodrow Wilson Center where she is a member of the Advisory Board, to her involvement in causes ranging from the banning of land mines to defending human rights and freedom of speech as a member of Human Rights Watch Canada and the Canadian Journalists for Free Expression, Susan is constantly questioning how to make things better.
Nicole Bell | Vice President Nicole loves talking about health. Whether it is promoting the world’s largest yoga fundraiser in support of arthritis research, launching the new health and wellness online publication DailySqueeze.ca or building campaigns to encourage support for translational research into breast cancer, Nicole will be there.
She has more than a decade of experience in healthcare public relations, ranging from consumer health and lifestyle to medical education and physician communications. She has practiced her trade on two continents and has led several global healthcare teams. Nicole has led Media Profile’s work on behalf of HUMIRA in rheumatology for three years, building strong relationships with patients, advocacy groups and physicians. Prior to joining Media Profile, Nicole also led the agency team responsible for Rituxan RA (pre-launch). Nicole manages Media Profile’s healthcare roster, which, in addition to Abbott Laboratories, includes AstraZeneca Canada, the Breast Cancer Society of Canada, DailySqueeze.ca and the Canadian Cancer Society. Nicole has also expanded her expertise since joining Media Profile, developing and executing brand programs for clients in the hospitality, technology and non-profit sectors. She has provided trusted counsel to a wide range of clients such as Microsoft Canada, the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, the Ministry of Health and the World Wildlife Fund. Over the past three years, she has led the team responsible for the brand transformation of Delta Hotels and Resorts, which has included a comprehensive review of all Delta communication activities, creating six new signature initiatives for the brand, developing a new CSR platform and launching the brand positioning across Canada. She is currently working on the external launch of Delta Greens, the company’s environmental sustainability program. Nicole loves to cook and to travel. A self-confessed science nerd, she is also Media Profile’s resident trivia expert.
She has more than a decade of experience in healthcare public relations, ranging from consumer health and lifestyle to medical education and physician communications. She has practiced her trade on two continents and has led several global healthcare teams. Nicole has led Media Profile’s work on behalf of HUMIRA in rheumatology for three years, building strong relationships with patients, advocacy groups and physicians. Prior to joining Media Profile, Nicole also led the agency team responsible for Rituxan RA (pre-launch). Nicole manages Media Profile’s healthcare roster, which, in addition to Abbott Laboratories, includes AstraZeneca Canada, the Breast Cancer Society of Canada, DailySqueeze.ca and the Canadian Cancer Society. Nicole has also expanded her expertise since joining Media Profile, developing and executing brand programs for clients in the hospitality, technology and non-profit sectors. She has provided trusted counsel to a wide range of clients such as Microsoft Canada, the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, the Ministry of Health and the World Wildlife Fund. Over the past three years, she has led the team responsible for the brand transformation of Delta Hotels and Resorts, which has included a comprehensive review of all Delta communication activities, creating six new signature initiatives for the brand, developing a new CSR platform and launching the brand positioning across Canada. She is currently working on the external launch of Delta Greens, the company’s environmental sustainability program. Nicole loves to cook and to travel. A self-confessed science nerd, she is also Media Profile’s resident trivia expert.
Patrick Erlich | Vice President A 13-year agency veteran, Patrick is a valued and trusted resource to clients. His skills and knowledge have been honed serving clients in a range of industries that are as varied as his hair is long. Clients look to Patrick for strong strategic counsel, clear and creative writing and issues management skills. Patrick has a deep understanding of the media landscape in Canada and has developed and nurtured relationships with key media influencers in a broad range of sectors, including education, finance, government, consumer, food, sports and entertainment. Actively involved in the community, he is on the Gala Committee for Project Sunshine, a charity that provides programs and support to children in long-term care facilities, and is a member of the Marketing Committee for the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Centre for Holocaust Studies’ Freedom Day. Patrick is fluent in Spanish, has a dry and biting sense of humour and runs all of Media Profile’s sports and entertainment related pools.