Team - Resonance Consultancy

We Are International and Interdisciplinary

Our diverse team of designers, storytellers, economists, planners, futurists and strategists come from many places and varied backgrounds. We combine smart data, future-focused insights, strategy and award-winning creative with unparalleled knowledge of tourism, real estate and economic development to help shape the future of places—from countries, regions, cities and neighborhoods to destinations, hotels and resorts.

Team

Chris
Fair

President,
CEO

A futurist, facilitator and strategist, Chris holds a Masters degree in Studies of the Future and has married his tourism, economic development, real estate and and marketing expertise with futures methodologies to help a wide variety of clients envision and create development strategies, plans and brands that shape the future of places around the world. As President of Resonance Consultancy, Chris leads a team that has completed more than 100 visioning, strategy, planning, and branding projects for developers and destinations in more than 30 destinations.

He has been featured in Fast Company magazine and is a frequent commentator on lifestyle and leisure trends for leading publications such as The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, The Globe & Mail, Los Angeles Times, The Economist and Worth magazine. In 2013, Chris was recognized as the “Place Branding Thought Leader of the Year” at the World Sense of Place Summit. He designed the World’s Best Cities index, a ranking that analyzes and measures cities based on a unique benchmarking model that blends core statistics with millions of consumer ratings and reviews across 23 categories. The result is a measure of relative “place equity”—attractiveness for talent, investment and tourism—for cities around the world.

Dianna
Carr

Vice President,
Storytelling

For the past three decades, Dianna has honed her storytelling skills in print, television, radio, video and across social media as a journalist, advertising creative director, writer and consultant. Her keen curiosity and singular prose style has found its way into every medium.

Her storytelling career began in journalism in Vancouver, British Columbia, and Montréal, where she became editor-in-chief of the city magazine there, then founded MTL, a bilingual lifestyle publication. Her knowledge of and passion for the city landed her at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation—where she worked as a columnist, writing and performing weekly radio scripts on a wide range of cultural subjects—and on camera at CTV, a national television broadcaster.

As Vice President, Storytelling, of Resonance Consultancy, she has helped organizations and destinations tell the stories that define sense of place, aid economic development, articulate future scenarios in tourism, engage community, and market urban neighborhoods, luxury resorts, regions and developing countries. Her work on projects for tourism marketing organizations, complex urban developments and destinations helps humanize data, clarify positions and engage prospects.

Steven
Pedigo

Vice President,
Economic Development

An expert in real estate and economic development research and strategy, marketing and place branding, Steven has advised cities, universities, real estate developers, nonprofit organizations, Fortune 500 companies, and major media outlets across the globe.

As Vice President, Strategy, at Resonance, Steven leads the economic development practice and works with real estate developers to build more inclusive, creative communities. He is also the director of the NYU Schack Institute of Real Estate Urban Lab, and a clinical professor at New York University.

Earlier in his career, Steven was a vice president and member of the senior management team for the Initiative for a Competitive Inner City (ICIC), a national research organization founded by Harvard Business School professor Michael Porter to encourage private-sector investment into distressed urban areas in the U.S. He was also the founding vice president for business attraction and research for Greater Portland, Inc. (GPI), a regional economic development organization for the Portland – Vancouver metropolitan region.

Steven’s research has been featured in The New York Times, Boston Globe, Washington Post, The Atlantic’s CityLab, Governing, Dallas Morning News, and many others.

Jeremie
Feinblatt

Vice President,
Strategy

Jeremie has more than 15 years of international experience in marketing, business development, and brand and business strategy. He’s worked in culture, hospitality, lifestyle, fashion, and destination brands—from Marriott to Equinox, Reebok to Airbnb, AccorHotels to Nespresso—for major agencies in Europe and North America, including Interbrand, FutureBrand and New York-based MATTE Projects.

Entrepreneurial and engaged, Jeremie holds a Masters in Management at the EDHEC Business School in Lille, France, one of the top five business schools in the country. He founded the destination marketing agency Souple, creating global campaigns and activations for VisitUSA and a range of French destinations. Jeremie has worked in B2B and B2C event creation and management, most recently spearheading sponsorship development for our inaugural virtual WRLDCTY Festival.

Tom
Gierasimczuk

Vice President,
Communications

Tom is an award-winning journalist and marketer with a proven record of developing multi-platform, editorially driven marketing strategies that engage audiences and infuse brand communication with a sense of purpose and utility.

He leads Resonance Consultancy’s marketing, communications and thought-leadership content to drive new business, client retention, audience engagement, and brand influence.

Tom’s experience in the travel and tourism industry ranges from launching an adventure travel outfitter in South America with a global clientele, to leading WestJet Airlines’ inflight magazine and destination content, for which he received ‘Editor of the Year’ honors in 2010. At Rogers Media, Tom led the Marketing Group and Marketing Magazine, Canada’s largest advertising, PR and media resource. As Publisher and GM of Vancouver magazine and Western Living, Tom transitioned legacy brands struggling with online engagement and revenue into lean, daily audience-first resources focused on vital journalism, creative services and event activation.

His writing and insights about marketing, tourism and place branding have appeared in The New York Times, Entrepreneur, The Globe and Mail, and many other outlets.

Vicki
Fair

Director,
Finance & Administration

Vicki held key roles in agency marketing and account direction for 15 years, controlling budgets on large-scale resort real estate projects, and writing sales and marketing strategies. Also trained as a teacher, Vicki brings patience and precision to work overseeing billing and books for Resonance in New York and Vancouver.

Simona
Forbes

Director,
Client Services

As the Director of Client Services at Resonance, Simona is as comfortable living in the details of a project as she is thinking about the big picture strategy—aiming to be two steps ahead of her clients, ensuring their projects are moving forward efficiently. Having spent time on both sides of the client-agency relationship, she applies her robust experience in managing diverse projects through a collaborative team approach, building relationships that result in best-in-class work.

Prior to joining the team at Resonance, Simona honed her skills at leading advertising agencies in Toronto & Vancouver, helping create insightful solutions for clients such as Coca-Cola, General Mills, and Govt of BC. This was followed by a decade-long stint as part of brand management & marketing communications teams at BCLC and TELUS, respectively; as a result, she has valuable knowledge across strategic initiatives and bringing those strategies to life through multi-media marketing plans.

Smita
Subramanian

Director,
Storytelling

Smita has been in the communications industry for almost two decades, with extensive experience at agencies based in Mumbai and Dubai. In her most recent role, she worked with renowned hospitality, luxury and destination brands, including Kempinski, Fairmont, Viceroy Hotels, Atlantis The Palm, and Dubai Tourism to help craft thought-provoking narratives and concepts rooted in insight and reflecting the true sense of a destination. A recent transplant to Vancouver, she brings a wide spectrum of experiences and insights to her role at Resonance.

Omneya
Fahmy

Director,
Research

Prior to joining Resonance, Omneya worked as a Statistician for the UNESCO Institute for Statistics, where she was responsible for collecting, processing, analyzing and disseminating education and learning outcomes data. She has a Masters in Economics from Concordia University in Montreal and a Bachelors from the American University in Cairo. She brings to Resonance a decade of analytical and data visualization experience.

Nur
Asri

Director,
Placemaking

Nur comes to Resonance armed with nearly a decade of experience advising hundreds of communities across North America and supporting cross-sector clients on real estate and destination development strategies. She has worked on award-winning projects like the City of Cambridge Retail Strategic Plan, Downtown 2.0 Livingston County District Assessment and more; she has also published thought leadership pieces on urban retail and economic development strategies with the Local Initiatives Support Corporation, International Economic Development Council, American Planning Association, and the Design Trust for Public Space.

In her role at Resonance, she will lead real estate market analyses and best practice research to inform key policy, program, and capital investments in urban environments.
Nur is a Policy Fellow with the Design Trust for Public Space. She earned her Masters Degree in City Planning from Pratt Institute, where she focused on the study of public space planning and its impact on migrant populations in Singapore.

Tim
Hasid

Director,
Placemaking

Tim brings a mapmaker’s rigor and a placemaker’s passion to Resonance’s proprietary research, contributing to tourism planning, urban development, and placemaking projects. A Master of Science in Urban Planning and Sustainable Development at University of Bordeaux, Tim also has a BSc in Civil & Environmental Engineering from the University of Cardiff.

Bill
Ellis

Digital
Director

Bill has two decades of experience in the digital field. His work includes interactive and dynamic animation design, front-end development and progressive web apps, and bridges web and OS apps. A skilled graphic and web designer, Bill also works in print as well as interactive, exhibition, and industrial design projects.

Anthony
Hore

Associate
Creative Director

With over a decade of experience under his belt, Anthony moved to Vancouver from New Zealand, bringing a unique global perspective to his nuanced design aesthetic. He is a high-calibre designer and visual artist who enjoys translating robust brand strategy into compelling design solutions, and has worked on prestigious brands like Vega Supplements, Urban Barn, the New Zealand International Film Festival, and Fly Buys. He has the ability to think strategically and develop a good idea into pragmatic and scalable design solutions that are both meaningful and eye catching. When not behind his screen, Anthony loves to travel, with his aim being to visit a new country every year.

Rhiannon
Morris

Business
Manager

An alumna of Ryerson University, Rhiannon has a Bachelor of Technology in Graphic Communications Management, and over a decade of experience in client services. Over this time, she has honed her skills and and gathered experience in industries like retail, events, publishing and health and wellness. Seamlessly liaising between client and creative teams, she has a keen eye for details that’s complemented by her good humour—efficient, organized and positive, she ensures the work we do is high-quality while keeping the vibe low-stress.

Kara
Rothdram

Resource
Manager

Kara brings vast and in-depth experience as a Marketing Professional in the real estate industry, leveraging her skills to help with project and people management within the Resonance team. She has expertise in Strategy and Planning, Design Execution, Digital Marketing, Social Media Content Creation and Management, Communications, and Market Research—making her the perfect addition to any team and project.

Not only is she a consummate resource and project manager, she also uses her skills in graphic design to support the team as and when necessary; she is also consistently looking for new ways to streamline and improve internal and external processes to make workdays at Resonance efficient and exciting.

Shannon
Duffy

Account & Marketing, Communications
Manager

An avid urban enthusiast with deep experience in marketing, equitable development, and market research, Shannon comes to Resonance with a passion for understanding the relationship between how individuals interact with their communities and how certain policies and spaces either promote or implicate their community engagement.

Her time in a real estate firm showed her how market research is critical to placemaking and how both qualitative and quantitative data come together to demonstrate how built environment greatly impacts behaviour. She has supplemented her experience with a stint as a mobile marketing strategist, responsible for developing event outreach to drive program attendance via email and LinkedIn. She’s sure her skills and intellectual curiosity will empower her to be a valuable member of the Resonance team.

Erika
Gustafsson

Account
Manager

Erika comes to Resonance with almost a decade’s worth of experience working as a Production- and Project Manager within the communication industry. Specializing in brand experiences and design, she is detail-oriented, meticulous, ambitious, organized and efficient.

Her greatest attribute is her ability to demonstrate an understanding of the creative and design development process, complemented by a unique problem-solving approach. Her professional journey spans Sweden and Canada, with notable stops in Austria and Bangladesh.

Brigitte
Matheusik

Account
Manager

A skillful marketing professional with experience in markets that include London, Los Angeles, Chicago, Seattle and Vancouver, Brigitte thrives in a fast-paced, people-oriented environment. Savvy in the evolving world of marketing, she takes on the challenges of email marketing, organic social strategy, client (and vendor) management and creative thinking with ease. In her role at Resonance, she brings knowledge, energy, enthusiasm and a strong work ethic to all projects.

Jen
Dolynchuk

Partnership &
Event Producer

With over 15 years of on-air television and film production experience under her belt, Jen is no stranger to the world of cameras, lights and action. She began her journey in front of the screen at age 5, appearing in over 80 television commercials; she has had many different roles since, including On-Air Host & Reporter, Senior Producer, Director of Communications, Director for Marketing, Director of Video Production, Documentary Filmmaker, Radio DJ, and Entrepreneur, she has also interviewed celebrities like Halle Berry, Matt Damon, Larry DavidMichael J. Fox, Ed Sheeran, Carlos Santana and more. As a digital nomad, Jen has settled in cities such as Vancouver, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Toronto, Orlando, Cabo San Lucas, and Brisbane. As part of the WRLDCTY team at Resonance, she is keen on meeting new people, cultivating meaningful relationships, creating connections, generating joy, and sharing inspiring stories.

Ninwa
Hanna

Destination
Strategist

A destination strategist driven by a passion to create more meaningful connections between people and places, Ninwa brings a unique skillset to the Resonance team, including Strategic Planning, Destination Management, Resiliency Planning, and Destination Stewardship for states and tourism regions. Her journey & passion in the industry is rooted in the MENA region, with extensive experience in international product development, brand strategy, destination assessments, and regional expertise. In her role at Resonance, Ninwa aims to help clients succeed in the tourism industry through effective planning that is innovative, strategic, & industry-informed. Fluent in English, Arabic and Spanish, she brings a truly global perspective to the way we see and speak about places.

Gerardo
Nunez

Graphic
Designer

Having graduated with a Bachelor of Graphic Design and Visual Communication from UNAM in Mexico City, Gerry began his career in Mexico, applying the principles of cultural design into a contemporary aesthetic.

His journey includes stints at Cineteca Nacional, where he created monthly film posters, and Anagrama Studio, where he fine-tuned his craft, working efficiently within a short time period to produce innovative ideas and design. Working out of Resonance’s Vancouver studio, he supports the robust and diverse creative team with his unique perspective on design.

Sheri
Nielsen

Senior
Designer

This graduate of Emily Carr University of Art and Design has worked at DDB Canada, Seven25 and Cossette, and has experience as a studio designer in advertising and for the social sector. A visual problem solver and collaborator, Sheri brings brand development, typography and information design expertise to Resonance.

Shannon
Leung

Graphic
Designer

A graduate of Capilano University’s IDEA program, Shannon has worked as a production artist and graphic designer for various boutique design studios in Vancouver. As detail-oriented, technical and meticulous as she is creative, Shannon loves the collaborative and client-centered approach that distinguishes the Resonance process.

Kelsey
McDonald

Graphic
Designer

A graduate of Vancouver’s Emily Carr University of Art + Design, Kelsey uses her interdisciplinary studies in Communication Design, Interior Design, Industrial Design, Visual Merchandising to fuel a holistic and collaborative approach to design. With an interest in psychology, philosophy, and a passion for visual storytelling, her educational background in the liberal arts continues to inform her aesthetic perspective.

She brings over 5 years of experience in working with hospitality, retail and lifestyle brands to Resonance, as well as experience in conducting product and lifestyle shoots for furniture and jewelry. In her current role at Resonance, she harnesses design’s capacity to captivate, empower, and engage audiences in an authentic way in order to develop brands with the ability to create positive change through a purpose-driven approach.