NICK CLEMENTS | PRINCIPAL

Nick Clements, an accomplished marketing visionary, leads high-performing, cross-functional teams to deliver impactful marketing solutions. With over 25 years in the industry, Nick’s expertise bridges product and marketing through innovation and data-driven insights.

Beginning in the creative field, Nick developed campaigns for iconic brands like Disney and Vodafone. He spearheaded globally recognized projects for brands such as S.A.F.E. and Stella Artois, earning acclaim for his creativity.

In 2008, Nick joined the Walt Disney Company as Director of Brand Marketing for Club Penguin, expanding its reach to over 170 countries in five languages, amassing 300 million accounts.

Now, as founder of The Brand Department, Nick supports partners like Carbon Counts, Starlink, Lingokids, and The Rise, launching successful brands worldwide. His career reflects a dedication to excellence, fusing creativity and strategic marketing for lasting impact.

NICOLE RUSTAD | IMPACT OFFICER

From start-ups to Disney, Nicole is passionate about building and scaling purpose-driven projects, nonprofits, and businesses. An expert in ESG (Environment, Social, and Governance), sustainability, cause marketing and building cross-functional teams to tackle the world's greatest problems,  Nicole believes that business may be used as a force for good.  An inspirational leader with an award-winning track record, Nicole thrives on bringing together the right humans to create and execute strategies that win for business and the planet. For nearly ten years, she led the corporate social responsibility of Disney's tech division, activating millions of people globally through programs like Disney’s Hour of Code, which received a Gold and Silver Halo Award. Nicole is the founder of VortoVia Consulting and works cross-collaboratively with the Brand Department. She also serves as chair of Accelerate Okanagan’s Board of Directors.

DEANNA KENT | creative director

A former educator, Deanna has almost a decade of communications, story, and product and brand/marketing experience with Disney. She has worked with brands like Club Penguin, Pixar, Marvel, Discovery Channel, and also in the HealthTech sector. She lives and breathes experience design and creates seamless real-world experiences for kids and families (for example, the Vancouver Acute Teck Children’s Hospital), digital experiences (for example, as narrative designer/Sr. Writer for Club Penguin—a kids’ virtual world with over 200 million members, and as story and communications director for Carbon Counts—a purpose-first mobile game studio), and as a creative strategist and writer. Deanna is the creator of three 3-book series published Macmillan NY and Penguin Random House.

david yang | brand strategist

David is a strategic leader, brand innovator and storyteller, and consumer decipherer. He has an ability to extract true insights, make sense of disparate pieces, and create strategic simplicity that is holistic and adoptable across a breadth of disciplines. Challenging pre-existing norms throughout his career, David has been passionate about unlocking the meaning behind brands that allows for the evolution and extension of their stories. He has worked on some of the most beloved and exciting portfolios in entertainment and gaming through his time at Epic Games, Disney, and Mattel. An alum of UC Berkeley (Molecular and Cell Biology) and the Marshall School of Business at USC (Marketing), David lives in LA and enjoys staying active with his family, coaching and mentoring kids, and buying more sneakers than he has space for.

FRANCISCO CARREON | EXECUTIVE PRODUCER

Francisco Carreon has worked at the intersection of technology and design with digital agencies, games, social media, education, and entertainment industries for over 10 years. He has overseen successful product management teams and led the product strategy to fruition.

Neil Hooson | Art Director

Neil started his art career as an illustrator, animator, and motion designer at Teletoon and Family Channel. From there, he worked for Critical Mass as a motion designer on videos for Mercedes-Benz, Hyatt, USAA and Dell. In 2008, he was hired by The Walt Disney Company to work on Club Penguin as an illustrator, and animator, and then moved to the Disney Interactive Brand Marketing team as an Art Director. He has helped shape brands and sub-brands, as well as design their look and feel. One of his favorite projects was helping to develop the Club Penguin digital sub-brand of Card-Jitsu, where he helped create the games, character designs, animations, merchandise—and even a new villain. 

Nathan Karsgaard | Designer

Nathan has studied at UBC, Emily Carr and BCIT. He worked in design agencies while living Vancouver and moved to Kelowna to become the Lead Interaction Designer for Disney's Club Penguin. Nathan was also the Senior Product Designer at FreshGrade, a start-up serving the Education industry. As a multi-disciplinary freelance designer, Nathan desires to help individuals and companies reach their goals through creative direction, brand and identity design, communication design, UI/UX design and product design.

IVY WONG | SENIOR MARKETer

With over 8.5 years of dynamic experience in brand, B2C, and product marketing within the gaming and mobile sectors, Ivy has demonstrated a passion for crafting compelling strategies and driving impactful campaigns. Her journey began at BOOTUP in Menlo Park, where she managed corporate events and redesigned websites, before progressing to roles at BLUESTACKS and JAM CITY, where she led international product marketing efforts for renowned titles like Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery and Panda Pop. Recently, Ivy served as a Senior Product Marketing Manager at CARBON COUNTS, spearheading the Go-To-Market strategy for EverForest, a groundbreaking mobile game with a mission to re-green the planet. Her dedication to creativity and teamwork is evident in her establishment of innovative research programs and management of creative production to support marketing endeavours.

Fluent in English, Mandarin, and Cantonese, Ivy excels in cross-functional collaboration and leveraging user insights to inform strategic decision-making.