CMA Marketing Week: Vancouver: Global Brand, Local Soul

What if the problem isn’t that audiences don’t care—but that they no longer feel they matter? In a time defined by urgency and overload, it’s understandable that brands feel pressure to escalate volume and immediacy. But when everything feels loud and unyielding, people don’t disengage because they’re indifferent—they disengage because they feel powerless.

BC Children’s Hospital Foundation offers a perspective shaped by building a deeply trusted brand in one of the country’s most discerning markets. Surina reflects on how resisting performative noise and grounding brand work in human truth can restore a sense of agency, build belief, and enable impact that travels far beyond place.

Surina Sproul
Vice President, Brand Strategy, BC Children’s Hospital Foundation

Surina focuses on how organizations earn trust, relevance, and build long‑term value in complex, purpose‑driven environments. At BC Children’s Hospital Foundation, she leads the work that shapes how the organization shows up in the world — from brand storytelling to engagement and connection across public, donor, and government audiences — helping reinforce public trust and confidence for one of British Columbia’s most highly-regarded institutions.

The Foundation’s marketing work under her leadership has been recognized with provincial and national honours, including BCAMA Marketer of the Year and Canadian Marketing Association awards. Surina brings a systems‑level perspective to brand, informed by more than two decades of experience working with iconic B.C. organizations on values‑driven work.

Jill Schnarr
Chief Social Innovation and Communications Officer, TELUS

As TELUS’ Chief Social Innovation, Communications & Brand Officer with more than 30 years of telecommunications experience and communications expertise, Jill Schnarr leads its Corporate Citizenship & Communications team. At the helm of communications, public relations, brand marketing, sponsorship, public policy, sustainability and community investment, Jill brings TELUS’ social purpose to life to drive social change, leveraging TELUS’ world-leading technology and  compassion to enable remarkable human outcomes. A gifted storyteller, Jill has significantly influenced, built upon and safeguarded TELUS’ reputation as a global technology leader, fostering strong, positive relationships with customers and Canadians and enabling TELUS to be one of Canada’s most valuable and trusted brands.

The uncomfortable truth: B.C.'s most successful brands aren't scaling despite their local identity—they're scaling because of it.

But here's the catch: B.C. consumers expect substance over symbolism and can smell inauthenticity from provinces away. So how do you stay unmistakably B.C. while competing globally? How do you honor West Coast values while navigating economic pressures to homogenize?

This panel confronts the messy realities keeping marketing leaders awake—the tough decisions and calculated risks when staying authentic almost killed growth ambitions.

Maya Lange
Vice President - Global Marketing, Destination British Columbia

Maya Lange is the Vice President of Global Marketing at Destination British Columbia, where she leads international and domestic tourism marketing efforts for the province under Super, Natural BC and the new brand family of iconic brands. She is recognized for unifying BC’s tourism industry under a data-driven, digitally focused strategy and was named Canada’s Marketer of the Year in 2018. Maya has extensive experience in global marketing and is known for her innovative, collaborative approach to destination branding. 

Avish Sood
Director, Partnership Sales, Canucks Sports & Entertainment

Avish Sood is an award-winning marketing leader with 15+ years of experience building consumer-first, purpose-led brand and partnership strategies across sports, CPG, and entertainment. Currently serving as Director, Partnership Sales with Canucks Sports & Entertainment, Avish is supporting revenue development across the corporate partnerships business for the Vancouver Canucks, Vancouver Warriors and Abbotsford Canucks.

Previously, Avish held roles with the National Football League (NFL) and The Clorox Company, where he supported in the delivery of record-setting sponsorship revenue, drove material market-share gains for the Clorox and Brita brands, and launched multiple consumer-led integrated marketing campaigns. His work has included branded content built around some of the world’s most recognizable brands and athletes.

Known for combining creativity with an entrepreneurial mindset, Avish has built his career around sponsorship marketing, brand storytelling, media strategy, and cross-functional leadership. Beyond his corporate roles, he is the founder of The Sponsorship Space, a global community for sponsorship professionals, and on the Board of Directors for the Sponsorship Marketing Association. He is also an acting advisor for multiple cultural and charitable initiatives that connect brands with passion-driven audiences. Avish has been recognized by Marketing Magazine’s 30 Under 30, the NFL’s Commissioner’s Awards, and multiple industry organizations as an up-and-coming marketing leader within North America.

Cameron McFadyen
Vice President, Strategic Growth Ipsos

Cameron is based in Vancouver and leads business development for Ipsos across Western Canada, as well as in several key national sectors. His extensive experience leading national brands gives him a marketer's mindset, which he applies by leveraging Ipsos' wide range of national and global research studies to deliver compelling insights to interested audiences.

Morgan Watt
Vice-President Client Services, Head of Western Canada, Media Experts

Morgan is VP, Client Services and the Vancouver office lead at Media Experts. He started his marketing career in 2009 and joined Media Experts in 2018. Known for calm, pragmatic thinking, Morgan helps brands turn complexity into clear direction.  Whether launching in Canada, scaling a challenger, or reinventing a mature business. He supports teams by clearing obstacles and keeping the work grounded in audience understanding and media fundamentals. His client experience includes supporting brands like Specsavers,  New Balance, Oura Ring, BC Hydro, Best Buy, and Whitecaps FC. He’s also contributed to the industry through supporting NABS (including planning and fundraising for the Vancouver Cannes Screening), BCAMA partnership building, and is a current member of the CMA BC Marketing Forum.