CMA Sport & Event Marketing Forum: The Currency of Culture

How quiet investment, year-round storytelling, and the rise of professional women’s sports are redefining the Canadian marketing playbook, CBC

In Canadian sports, cultural currency is no longer defined by a predictable formula. Fueled by a surge in demand for live experiences and year-round content, a new roster of high-performance athletes is rewriting the marketing playbook. But lasting commercial impact isn't built overnight on the world's biggest stages.

In this session, Chris Wilson (Executive Director, CBC Sports & General Manager, CBC/Radio-Canada Olympics) and Andi Petrillo (award winning sports host) will explore the new blueprint for sports and event marketing. Discover how a deliberate, six-year commitment to 50/50 gender parity across all sports programming—now hardwired into CBC’s DNA—laid the groundwork for today's professional sports explosion.

We’ll break down the art of high-performance storytelling: how to transform seemingly "niche" sports into massive cultural moments, elevate Canadian athletes into household names, and harness the commercial momentum fueling the rise of leagues like the WNBA, PWHL, and NSL.

The Olympic flame isn't the only time to shine—the biggest brand equity is built in the seasons leading up to it. Join us to learn how to engage Canadian fans year-round, build authentic athlete equity, and partner with the pipelines shaping the future of sport.

In this candid conversation, Meghan Nameth, CMA Board Chair, sits down with Jacqueline Ryan, Chief Brand and Commercial Officer of the Canadian Olympic Committee and CEO of the Canadian Olympic Foundation. From her time as a sponsorship marketing leader in the financial sector to architecting the Team Canada brand into a year-round cultural identity, Ryan shares the leadership experiences that shape her – and her perspective on the future of sport and event marketing in Canada.

Sports and entertainment sponsorships are often judged against an unrealistic expectation: that every dollar invested must generate more than a dollar in immediately measurable revenue.

Drawing on sponsorship measurement work across major brands and properties, Hilary Borndahl, Founder and CEO of Miix Analytics, will share practical benchmarks for understanding sponsorship ROI and explain why a measured return of $0.99 for every $1 invested may represent a highly successful and profitable program once longer-term and less directly measurable effects are considered.

This session will explore what marketers should measure beyond impressions, how to distinguish short-term returns from lasting brand value, and how better analytics can help brands make more confident decisions about where to invest, optimize and grow their sponsorship portfolios.

Hilary Borndahl
Managing Director, Miix Analytics

Hilary Borndahl is the Founder and CEO of Miix Analytics Inc., bringing over 20 years of experience in Market Analytics. Before launching her own firm, Hilary held senior roles at global leaders Kantar and Nielsen, where she led high-performing teams and drove significant growth in Advanced Analytics. A recognized expert in Marketing Mix Modeling (MMM) and ROI, Hilary has consulted with more than 150 brands across both advertisers and agencies, including many in the Fortune 500 in Canada, the US, Europe, and Global Scopes. Her work has consistently helped organizations unlock data-driven insights to improve marketing effectiveness and business performance.

In a marketplace where audiences expect brands to do more than simply show up, the most effective sponsorships are the ones that connect cultural relevance, community impact, and authentic storytelling. CIBC will share a brand-side perspective on its partnership with the Toronto Tempo and what it reveals about the evolving role of sport in modern marketing. Using the Toronto Tempo as a case study, this session will explore how brands can move beyond traditional logo placement to participate meaningfully in cultural moments that matter. It will examine why women’s sport has become one of the most important growth stories in marketing, how the right partnership can reflect a brand’s values and business priorities, and why action matters as much as narrative in building credibility. Attendees will leave with practical insights into how sponsorship can become a platform for stronger storytelling, deeper audience connection, and longer-term brand value. Key Takeaways: · Why women’s sport represents a powerful platform for modern brand storytelling · How activation brings a sponsorship to life through tangible audience and community experiences · What makes a partnership feel authentic to audiences and communities · How brand value, community impact, and business outcomes can reinforce each other

Jennifer Bairos Hofer
Senior Director Brand Marketing, CIBC

A leadership conversation hosted by CMA Board Chair, Meghan Nameth

What does it take to lead at the highest level of Canadian sport – and what can that journey reveal about where the industry, both at home and globally, is headed?

In this candid conversation, Meghan Nameth, CMA Board Chair, sits down with Jacqueline Ryan, Chief Brand and Commercial Officer of the Canadian Olympic Committee and CEO of the Canadian Olympic Foundation. From her time as a sponsorship marketing leader in the financial sector to architecting the Team Canada brand into a year-round cultural identity, Ryan shares the leadership experiences that shape her – and her perspective on the future of sport and event marketing in Canada.

Meghan Nameth
President & Owner, Pattern & Path Consulting

Meghan Nameth helps organizations grow by aligning business ambition, brand, and human insight into clear, actionable strategy.

A senior marketing executive, strategist, and executive coach, she brings over 25 years of experience leading brand, marketing, and analytics functions at scale across North America. She has held senior leadership roles at Loblaws (SVP, Marketing), Hudson’s Bay Company (CMO), and PwC, TD Bank, Mars, and Procter & Gamble—where she has been accountable for driving enterprise growth, strengthening market position, and building modern marketing capabilities.

Today, Meghan is President of Pattern & Path Consulting and Co-Founder of ShiftUp Coaching, where she partners with senior marketing leaders and executive teams to navigate complexity, make better decisions, and translate strategy into meaningful progress. She brings a practical, experience-led perspective on how growth actually happens inside complex organizations.

She also serves as Vice Chair of the Canadian Marketing Association, where she is focused on helping to future-proof the marketing industry in Canada. Meghan is a Chartered Marketer and holds an MBA from the Rotman School of Management.

Jacqueline Ryan
Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Olympic Foundation Chief Brand and Commercial Officer, Canadian Olympic Committee

Jacquie Ryan is the Chief Brand and Commercial Officer at the Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) and CEO of the Canadian Olympic Foundation, where she oversees all commercial operations, including revenue growth, brand strategy, marketing, partnerships, digital, and sustainability. Since joining the COC in 2019, she has led transformative initiatives such as the launch of the Team Canada app, the Team Canada Impact Agenda, award winning brand campaigns, and the re-set of the Canadian Olympic Foundation business, while also securing landmark partnerships with lululemon, Tim Hortons, Canadian Tire, and RBC.

With over two decades of leadership in brand, sponsorship, and sport marketing, Jacquie previously served as Vice President, Sponsorship Marketing and Philanthropy at Scotiabank, where she led the historic $800 million Scotiabank Arena naming rights deal and oversaw acclaimed hockey marketing programs. Prior to that, Jacquie was Head of Olympic Marketing at RBC, where she and her team delivered the highly successful Vancouver 2010 Olympic Games marketing program.

Jacquie’s contributions to marketing and sport have been widely recognized. In 2024, she was named Marketer of the Year by the Canadian Marketing Association. In 2023, she was honored with the Sport Business Journal Game Changers award recognizing women leaders in the sports industry. Other accolades include Bay Street Bull’s 2021 Women of the Year, The Hockey News’ Top 100 People of Power and Influence in Hockey (2019), Toronto Star’s Most Influential Women in Hockey (2018), and 2026 Western University Faculty of Arts Alumni of the year.

Jacquie currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Canadian Marketing Association and is a previous Board Director with the Michael Garron Hospital Foundation, and the Sponsorship Marketing Council of Canada.

In a world where digital has become the true first screen, X and MLSE show how publishers and platforms are partnering to deliver premium sports content at unprecedented scale, turning passive viewing into interactive, authentic experiences that let brands meet fans where they are, own the narrative, and convert in real time.

Jamie Bierman, Original Content , X

Jamie Bierman leads Original Content at X, where they build and scale the platform’s video series that bring its biggest talent, cultural conversations, and moments to advertisers. Since launching the X Originals team, they have overseen the production and distribution of 35 series—exclusive or first-to-air partnerships with premium publishers and talent that allow brands to run true integrations inside the content rather than simple pre-roll. The work sits at the center of X’s video-first strategy: conversation fuels the content, owned channels and paid media amplify viewership, and the result is measurable revenue for the platform.

Before joining X in late 2023, Jamie spent several years supporting senior leadership across entertainment and media. Roles included Executive Assistant to the Chairman of Business Affairs & Operations at NBCUniversal, Executive Assistant to the Chief Content Officer of HBO Max at WarnerMedia, and earlier positions at STX Entertainment. That foundation in operations, talent, and content strategy now informs the day-to-day work of turning cultural moments on X into advertiser-ready series.

Adam Burchill, Vice President of Marketing, Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment

Adam Burchill is Vice President of Marketing at Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment, overseeing marketing across the organization’s teams, brands, and live entertainment portfolio, including the Toronto Maple Leafs, Toronto Raptors, and Toronto FC. 

Adam’s career has focused on the intersection of Music, sports, and technology. He first joined MLSE in 2012 as part of the company’s music partnerships venture with Live Nation, helping develop and execute brand partnerships across North American music properties. His responsibilities later expanded to MLSE’s Live Entertainment division, where he led marketing and communications for the company’s concert business and major initiatives including the 2016 NBA All-Star Game and the launch of Drake’s members-only Sher Club at Scotiabank Arena.

In 2020 Adam joined TikTok as part of the company’s inaugural Canadian leadership team. After serving as Head of Music in Canada, he was promoted to the North American leadership team overseeing Sports and Gaming across Canada and the United States, managing the company’s relationships with athletes and organizations including the NFL, ESPN, and WWE.

He returned to MLSE’s senior leadership team in 2025 focused on growing the organization’s global commercial footprint. Outside of his duties at MLSE, Adam is a proud member of the Board of Directors of CARAS - parent organization to the Juno Awards and MusiCounts.

Successful sponsorships are built over years, not seasons. Shelley Johnsen, Managing Director, BMO Sponsorship, will share how BMO’s 20+ year commitment to soccer evolved into one of the bank’s most recognizable brand platforms. Discover the strategies, activations, and measurement approaches that helped turn sponsorship investment into sustained brand equity and business growth.

Shelley Johnsen, Managing Director, Sponsorships at BMO

Shelley Johnsen is Managing Director of Sponsorships at BMO, where she leads the bank's North American sports partnerships. She oversees BMO's sponsorship portfolio across Major League Soccer, the NBA, the NHL, and most recently, Canada Soccer, creating integrated partnerships that deliver memorable fan and client experiences while strengthening the BMO brand and driving business growth.