Best Content Director Award
This individual or small team should be a leader who has a proven track record creating content that simultaneously meets the needs of the target audience and delivers on the client’s business and/or marketing objectives. They will have a well-developed understanding of the role of content marketing and take advantage of a wide array of content types and channels to effectively communicate their message. They will be admired by peers and employees as well as encouraging collaboration.
Congratulations to 2017 winner, Maryam Sanati!
Editorial Director, Strategic Content Labs at St. Joseph Media
Maryam Sanati is editorial director of Strategic Content Labs, St. Joseph Media in Toronto. The company’s portfolio—which includes award-winning consumer media brands such as Toronto Life, Fashion, Where Canada and Canadian Family—has an annual readership of more than 9 million readers in print and 15 million online. In her role, Maryam leads a diverse range of consumer, custom, exhibition and experiential content programs and audience engagement strategies. Clients include Nordstrom, Sephora, Lindt, Manulife Financial, the Senate of Canada, Canadian Automobile Association, Toronto Pearson Airport and Birks Group. Recently, she led a team of writers, editors, art directors and visual artists in creating a dynamic range of content across 50,000 square feet of exhibition space at the National Music Centre, a new and innovative cultural institution in Calgary, Alberta. Maryam is also the former editor-in-chief of Chatelaine magazine, and has held numerous senior editorial positions, among them at The Globe and Mail and Report on Business Magazine, where she edited National Magazine Award-winning storytelling.
2016 Winner: Tom Sather, Senior Director, Research, Return Path
Tom Sather is the research director at Return Path
where he leads the corporate marketing department including the research, content marketing, public relations and customer advocate teams. As an email marketing expert, Tom
has worked with top- tier brands to diagnose and solve strategic marketing issues as a consultant with Return Path. Tom is a frequent speaker and writer on marketing trends and
technology, where his research and commentary is widely cited across leading business media outlets including the Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, AP, and Ad Age.
2015 Winner:Jayne Haugen Olson, VP Content, MSP Communications
Jayne leads the editorial and design teams at MSP Communications, including the company’s content marketing agency, MSP-C. Jayne’s approach to content creation, packaging, and
presentation comes from her combined 25 years of experience in journalism, retail, and marketing. Her multi-channel approach and key understanding of voice and tone—both
verbally and visually—influences the way she guides her teams to capture the attention of today’s busy consumers.
As a content strategist, Jayne oversees the work of more than 60 creatives developing work for 15 proprietary and custom magazines, as well as digital, social, and video platforms, and editorial-driven special events for clients such as General Mills, United Healthcare, 3M, IBM, McKesson, and Delta Air Lines.
Continuing to be active in daily creative work, Jayne serves as editorial director for Mpls.St.Paul Magazine, the most-read magazine in the Twin Cities, and editor-in-chief of Delta Sky magazine, the world’s leading onboard magazine with more than 4.6 million monthly readers.
2014 Winner: Nic McCarthy, Content Director, Seven
As a best-selling editor in the UK and US for over a decade, Nic has edited a handful of our best-known women’s titles. From five years at OK! selling a million copies a week with exclusive coverage of celebrity events like the Beckhams’ wedding and Elton’s John’s star-studded White Tie & Tiara parties, to running a team of 70 journalists at New York’s Us Weekly magazine, to commissioning beautiful fashion and groundbreaking features for the sophisticated readers of Eve Magazine.
As Content Director of Seven for the past five years, Nic has used this editorial expertise to partner big UK consumer businesses in creating brilliant all-platform content to grow their brands. In 2012 Nic was appointed to the Group Board at Seven, working alongside the CEO, MD and CFO to create a thriving and valuable business for Seven’s shareholders, and making editorial excellence the watchword for the agency.