At GCI Canada, we have the best and brightest talent in the industry. Our team of strategists, consultants, and creatives deliver custom-made communications solutions – creatively brilliant, and brilliantly executed – for our clients. Here are full bios of the cast we are proposing to bring the Mounjaro story to life.
Kristy Derkson
General Manager and Executive Vice President
To call Kristy’s career “multidisciplinary” doesn’t quite do it justice. She’s spent decades as a communications expert deep diving into multiple sector and service areas.
She is a master at solving problems. It’s what gets her up in the morning: her passion for new ideas and approaches coupled with her demonstrated success in leading integrated teams means her campaigns are always on the cutting-edge.
When it comes to health care communications, Kristy has worked with large multi-national pharmaceutical companies and small new market entrants. She’s supported hospitals, hospital foundations and patient groups. She’s worked on Rx and OTC products, on conventional chemical therapies and originator biologics and biosimilars. She’s supported therapies throughout their life cycle, from pre-launch to reimbursement to off-patent. Her world-class experience includes working across therapeutic areas such as: dermatology, oncology, diabetes, arthritis, bone health, cardiovascular, rare disease, neurology and more.
From launching innovative products and programs to lending her expertise as organizations build their brands and reputations, Kristy has seen and done it all.
Nicole Tuschak
Senior Vice President
An agency veteran with 20 years of communications experience, Nicole loves nothing more than a good story that makes things happen.
She has done it all on her career journey, developing and implementing integrated campaigns across a range of sectors. No matter the client campaign, Nicole’s career has led to strategic and tactical mastery—a mastery she now deploys for our health and wellness and consumer clients at GCI Canada.
Nicole lives and breathes collaboration: leading high-performing teams that achieve clients’ goals and reach their target audiences with impact. She has led those winning teams to support a diverse set of clients across sectors including consumer health and wellness, technology, financial services, e-commerce, corporate, entertainment and consumer packaged goods. Her achievements include award-winning campaigns, such as driving awareness of life-saving technology and leading a brand through their Olympic journey.
Anna Campbell
Vice President
Anna Campbell has spent her career honing her craft in health care communications — from strategy development to media relations, federal regulatory approvals to market access, and social media to executive thought leadership.
An agency veteran with more than a decade of experience, she is a detail-oriented multitasker who ensures every client need is met seamlessly. She is well-versed in PAAB and ASC regulations, ensuring content is both balanced and compliant.
Her deep experience across different therapeutic areas includes oncology, cystic fibrosis, diabetes, pain management, neurology, vaccines, dermatology, sexual and women’s health, and more.
Anna has helped build brand-supportive and corporate communications programs for Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Canada, Eli Lilly, Bristol Myers Squibb, Medicago, AstraZeneca, Novo Nordisk, AbbVie, Novartis, The Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada, and Pancreatic Cancer Canada Foundation, among others.
Anna is a graduate of the University of Guelph and studied communications at Seneca College.
Michelle Jamieson
Vice President
Tapping into influences from a background in the arts as a ballet dancer and black & white film photographer, Michelle Jamieson is a storyteller at heart. She is excited by diverse perspectives and new ways of approaching a problem.
Whether she is working in health care and wellness, hospitality and tourism, fashion and the arts, or technology, it is through research and investigation into motivations, trends, behaviours and environmental factors that leads Michelle to create meaningful engagements between brands and target audiences. Michelle sees the internal and external communication process as an integrated part of a company’s business strategy.
Michelle also champions the need for collaboration as effective communications is a team effort where respect and empathy are essential skills and values. Having lived, worked and travelled abroad for a majority of her life, Michelle leverages these diverse experiences to help craft solutions to best address cultural, social and political opportunities.
She currently is the day-to-day lead on several health care files including Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Canada and Genexa and has worked with other brands including Medicago, AstraZeneca, Roche, Johnson & Johnson, and EMD Serono. Michelle’s health care experience is complimented with current and past work in the luxury hospitality industry, technology, and other consumer brands including current work with Expedia Group and past experience with Centara Hotels & Resorts, IBM, Toronto International Film Festival to name a few.
Genevieve Brown
Senior Associate
Genevieve Brown has more than 20 years of experience in health care communications and strategic planning. She has helped companies with brand relations, issues management, organizational change and acquisitions, restructurings and shutdowns, community and stakeholder consultations, event management and corporate reputation management.
Genevieve started her career in agency where she held senior health care communications positions before moving client side at Wyeth (now Pfizer). At Wyeth, Genevieve was responsible for strategic support and counsel to the President and senior management on extensive direct-to consumer marketing campaigns and ongoing issues management initiatives. During her time at Wyeth, Genevieve was appointed to the Public Affairs Committee of Innovative Medicines Canada where she served as Vice-Chair.
In her current role, Genevieve supports clients such as Gilead and Air Canada Pilots Association.She also sits on the board of a community centre in an a priority neighbourhood and acts as Fundraising Chair for an overnight summer camp foundation.
Jon Koidis
Account Director
With 10 years of experience, Jon Koidis is a seasoned communications professional who has worked with a wide variety of clients to plan, strategize, and execute programs that drive results.
With an innate ability to translate insights, data and product benefits into stories that pull on heartstrings, Jon’s superpower is merging function and feelings to help brands authentically integrate into the cultural zeitgeist.
Jon’s multi-discipline background also enables him to bring big picture thinking and creative solutions to all projects. As a result, he has been the driving force behind numerous integrated communication plans that create mass awareness, engagement and brand love for global brands such as Gillette, Tide, Walmart, Kraft Heinz, Crave, LG, Amazon, Citizen Watches and Mercedes-Benz. He prides himself on finding creative solutions to complex problems and building campaigns that turn media and influencers into true brand advocates.
Tanvir Janmohamed
Account Supervisor
Tanvir is a seasoned strategic communicator and issues advisor with proficiency in project management. Tanvir’s experiences span from advising cabinet ministers in government and building curriculums on public policy to leading advocacy campaigns and managing stakeholder relationships.
She thrives at the nexus of communications and public affairs, with a track record of navigating tough issues as a political communicator at the federal and provincial levels of government.
Tanvir has firsthand experience as a media spokesperson and understands the realities and nuances within the Canadian media market. As a result of her broad experiences, Tanvir thinks about communications and how to spread the right message strategically with an emphasis on target audiences. The pandemic brought a need for digital solutions in healthcare and in 2021, Tanvir is excited to bring her experiences and participate in the growth of digital communications in the health and pharmaceutical spaces, especially through more personalized and narrative based strategies.
Tanvir completed her undergraduate degree in Political Science and Human Rights and her Masters Degree at the Clayton H. Riddell Graduate Program in Political Management, both at Carleton University.
Calida Montes
Senior Consultant
Calida — or Cali, as she is called here at GCI Canada — supports a diverse set of clients with her influencer and media relations skills, event management savvy and impeccable attention to detail.
Cali works with health and wellness, consumer, and corporate clients. Her boundless energy and collaborative spirit is what makes her a sought-after team member.
She brings hype and humour to every task and takes pride in her work engaging influencers for Abbott Diabetes Canada, VinFast Canada and Crave and generating media coverage for Expedia and Chipotle.
Prior to GCI, Cali interned at Junked Food Co. and supported event management at the Cashmere fashion show.
Michelle Soares
Account Coordinator
Michelle is a recent graduate from Humber College’s Post-Graduate Public Relations Certificate program. Here at GCI, Michelle supports health accounts using her content development and influencer relations skills.
Though Michelle is new to the world of PR, she is never afraid to jump into new projects with poise and an open mind. She has been immersed into the healthcare space, acquiring the fundamentals of media relations, influencer relations and client relations skills.
Michelle is a natural creative and brings her can-do energy to every piece of work and team collaboration. Being a balance of calm and energic, she has been a helpful team member for Medicago, Abbott Diabetes, Hologic, ACPA and Bristol Myers Squibb Canada.
Brett Pedersen
Account Coordinator
After starting his career supporting community management for leading toy and gaming brands, Brett joined the GCI Canada team in summer 2022.
A natural creative with an eye for insights and a strong aptitude for writing, Brett provides media relations, influencer relations, content development, analytics and event planning support for clients such as LG Electronics, Egg Farmers of Canada and the Air Canada Pilots’ Association.
Brett brings a collaborative, team-oriented spirit and a can-do attitude to GCI and all his client teams. Building on his signature brand of good humour, he takes comedy classes at Second City. He is a graduate of McMaster University.
Christine Cater
Senior Art Director
Christine picked up a camera at a young age and fell in love with creating compositions. Her fate was sealed—she was going to be an art director.
For more than thirteen years, Christine has been refining and perfecting her craft as a storyteller through design. Her experience spans health and wellness, consumer, corporate, technology, agriculture, sports and beyond. She does everything from ideation to planning and execution.
Christine has developed traditional and digital content for GCI’s health clients including Abbott Diabetes, Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Canada, Medicago, BMS and more.
She also designs logos (including GCI Canada’s), plays key roles in launching rebrands, develops brand guidelines, creates visuals for client programs and events and manages photo and video shoots.
For Christine, great design starts with listening — to understand the client’s needs—and is followed by research-based insights, strategic thinking and flawless execution.