Critical Mass is freshening the senior leadership of its Toronto office with Jon Toews joining as vice-president of creative and Shannon McEvoy-Halston getting promoted to VP of insights and planning.
Toews returns to Critical Mass after departing in 2008 to become creative director at Bensimon Byrne. McEvoy-Halston, meanwhile, has been with Critical Mass for four years.
Critical Mass is also filling out the ranks of the creative and strategy teams by bringing on industry veterans Allison Humphries as planning director, Amanda Buchanan as experience architect director and Dylan Gerard as associate creative director. Humphries was most recently director of strategic planning at Cheil Worldwide, and Gerard arrives from Blast Radius in Toronto where he worked on brands such as BMW, Mini and Nike. Buchanan spent more than three years at Bensimon Byrne, and has previously worked at Blast Radius, Proximity Canada and Digital Cement.
“We’re pleased to add top talent from across the industry as well as promote strong contributors within the organization,” said Matt DiPaola, senior vice-president and managing director at Critical Mass, in a statement. “Under Jon and Shannon’s guidance, we have strong leaders and smart contributors to drive our clients’ forward while continuing to broaden the agency’s offerings.”
Critical Mass’ Toronto office has more than 100 employees, and works with clients such as Citi, Infiniti and Scotiabank. In addition to regional growth in Toronto, it has been investing in global expansion, recently opening its first hub to service the Latin American market.
