Leadership
Go ahead, call us social media dinosaurs. We’re not offended. Our team of experienced strategists and executives are renowned for being on to this social media thing since the beginning. Our leaders do speaking engagements all over North America and sit on advisory boards to share their unique perspectives. Meet the brains behind our philosophy, processes and products.
Maggie Fox – CEO
Maggie Fox is the founder, CEO and Chief Marketing Officer of Social Media Group, established in 2006 and one of the world’s most highly respected independent agencies helping business navigate the socially engaged Web. Pioneers in their field, Social Media Group has helped some of the best-known brands in Europe and North America get social, including Ford Motor Company, SAP, RBC, 3M and Thomson Reuters. Maggie has been interviewed about social media by Inc. Magazine, The Washington Post, CBC Radio, The Globe and Mail, CBC News, CTV News and The Financial Post, among others. In 2009 she was named one of the Top 100 Marketers in Marketing Magazine’s 100th Anniversary Edition, and in 2011 The National Post named her one of Canada’s Top Innovators.
Maggie is frequently asked to speak to the media and business groups across North America about Web 2.0, and sits on the Advisory Board for SMToday Media, operators of The Social Media Collective and MyVenturePad sites. She is also a member of the Board of Directors for the Empire Club of Canada, a renowned speaker’s forum established in 1903 that includes Winston Churchill, Indira Ghandi and the Dalai Lama among past speakers, ConnectedN.com, a Toronto-based SaaS startup and is a co-founder of the Toronto Girl Geek Dinners.
Download Maggie’s high res or low res headshots, check our her LinkedIn and Twitter accounts.
Leona Hobbs – Vice President & Partner
Leona Hobbs is Vice President at Social Media Group where she leads client strategy and innovation and provides social media and digital communications counsel to SMG clients. Leona has over a decade of experience in public relations and marketing. After completing her journalism training, she joined Fleishman-Hillard Canada. During her seven-year tenure with the agency, Leona worked on a wide variety of clients in industries as diverse as Internet services, telecom, health care, consumer electronics, agribusiness, and food and nutrition. Prior to joining Social Media Group, Leona worked as Director of Marketing and Communications for Tucows, an Internet services company. Leona has also worked with Yahoo! in communications and marketing. A specialist in digital communications and social media marketing, Leona frequently speaks about Internet-powered communications to students and at conferences. She is an advisor to the Public Relations Program at Loyalist College and a volunteer organizer of Toronto Girl Geek Dinners and PodCamp Toronto. In 2010, Leona received The International Alliance for Women World of Difference 100 award in the Community category.
Patrick Gladney – Director
Patrick Gladney is SMG’s group head for Research and Insights at SMG and will ensure quality delivery of the audit and supporting research. Prior to Social Media Group, Patrick was the founder and leader of Northstar Research Partner’s social media practice, Social Currency™. A reformed ad man, working for companies like Doner Advertising, Ogilvy & Mather and Taxi Advertising and Design, Patrick has now fully committed his attention to the fast-moving, ever changing social web based on the belief that its transformational effects are just starting to be felt and understood. Patrick is a graduate of McGill University.
Ruth Bastedo – Director
Ruth Bastedo is SMG’s Group Head, Client Strategy and Innovation, where she draws on her 15 years experience as a digital communications specialist, to provide SMG clients with deep expertise in digital content and communications in a social media context. As co-founder of digital media firm Medium One (1997) and Experience Media (2004), Ruth has been an Executive Producer and Lead Strategist on a wide range of digital projects including marketing campaigns, e-learning programs, internal communications, stakeholder communications, kiosks, commercial CD-ROMs and digital content for social media channels and initiatives.
During Ruth’s career, she has lead award winning projects for large clients in telecommunications, financial services, entertainment, not for profit, government, technology and academia, in Canada, the US and the UK.
Ruth is an engaged member of the business community, and is Past President of Women Entrepreneurs of Canada, and co-creator and program consultant for the “Next Steps Program for Women Entrepreneurs” at the Initiative for Women in Business, at the Rotman School of Management. She has spoken to groups internationally on issues relating to entrepreneurs and small business and technology, and has been featured in national publications such as Macleans, The Globe and Mail, PROFIT Magazine for her work.
Ruth is currently on the Advisory Group for Women in Philanthropy for Providence, and a past member of the Board of Governors for St. Clement’s school in Toronto.
