OUR CONSULTANTS
Robert Mensies
Over 10+ years in agri-food marketing and communications, Robert has helped to build public trust for provincial and national organizations up and down the value chain. He has worked with clients including the Manitoba Pork Council, G3, Canadian Canola Growers Association, Canola Council of Canada, Food & Beverage Manitoba and the Canadian Roundtable for Sustainable Crops.
Robert knows the good work agri-food workers do to provide healthy and affordable food for all, and relaying this to the public is his passion. In 2019, he co-authored the Public Trust Toolkit, a guide on public trust communications completed for the Canadian Federation of Agriculture.
Robert serves as National Chair of the Canadian Agri-food Marketers Alliance, the professional organization representing Canada’s agri-food marketers and communicators. He is also Public Trustworks’ Senior Consultant and retains a role as 6P Marketing’s Director of Client Strategy and Agri-food Business Sector Lead.
Robert is based in Winnipeg, Manitoba.
Brent Smith
Brent’s extensive work history includes communications positions in marketing plans and brand strategy, within the areas of agri-food and environmental sustainability. His career spans more than 20 years—15 of which he has spent as a full-time Brand Strategy consultant.
Brent has worked with some of the country’s most proactive agriculture and food organizations, including Viterra, Richardson International, Manitoba Pork, IDE Canada, Conviron, Ducks Unlimited, Canadian Federation of Agriculture, and the Canadian Roundtable for Sustainable Crops.
Today he serves as Director of Strategic Consulting and Lead Brand Strategist at Public Trustworks, helping to bring quality, cost-effective strategic solutions to clients.
Brent is based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
FARIMEHR HAKEMZADEH
Farimehr’s international exposure to best practices in consumer behaviour extends to Germany, England and India, where she lived, studied and worked as a business analyst and marketing specialist. For the past 5 years, she has been focused on developing strategic communication solutions for Canadian Agri-food organizations in Western Canada such as Nature Conservancy Canada, AgriHub, Ducks Unlimited (Native Plant Solutions), Canadian Agri-food Marketers Alliance, Canola Council of Canada, Canadian Canola Growers Association, etc.
As a consultant for Public Trustworks with two master’s degrees in International Management and International Business specializing in marketing and communications, she brings her business-minded analytical skills to solve social license challenges for communication directors and corporate leaders across Canada.
As a side gig Farimehr teaches Marketing and Communication at University of Winnipeg, while retaining her position as a Senior Brand Strategist at one of Winnipeg’s largest Communication agencies, 6P Marketing. In her free time, she volunteers as a mentor in Canadian Agri-food Marketers Alliance.
Farimehr is based in Winnipeg, Manitoba.
SHAFIQ JAMAL
Shafiq has garnered over 25 years of extensive experience in crisis, issues, and reputational risk management, covering a wide and diverse range of industries and sectors. He has held increasingly senior positions, both on the PR agency as well as in-house on the client side. Since 2020, he has led his own PR and communications consultancy, and is part of the Public Trustworks’ team as an Associate.
Shafiq has provided counsel and support on a number of agricultural related issues and projects including the Avian Flu, Anti-Microbial Resistance and Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy, and Listeria outbreaks to name a few. Clients he has worked with include ARAMARK Canada, BC Egg Marketing Board, Freybe Gourmet Foods, Nature’s Path, Purdy’s Chocolatiers, and McDonald’s Canada.
In a previous agency role, for close to six years, Shafiq was a senior lead on Bayer’s agribusiness, providing real-time, hands-on issues and communications support to Bayer CropScience on product launches, issues relating to public trust engagement on the farm to fork movement, as well as issues counsel on their $63bn acquisition of Monsanto.
Shafiq is based in Vancouver, British Columbia.
CHRISTINA CROWLEY-ARKLIE
Christina is on a mission to transform the way the agri-food industry communicates. She brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the Public Trustworks team as an Associate, particularly with her firsthand knowledge as a dairy farmer’s daughter, her experience in communications, marketing and government relations, and her particular interest in public trust and how it impacts the future of the Canadian agri-food industry.
Christina is the founder and digital communications strategist behind Crowley + Arklie Strategy & Co., providing communications and digital marketing services and strategy, corporate training and one-on-one coaching to help elevate brands, businesses and leaders in communicating their why. Her ten plus years’ experience have led her to manage the communications efforts in the political, corporate, academic and non-for-profit sectors, inside and outside of agri-food.
An active advocate for Canada’s food system and an engaged community volunteer, on the weekends, you can find Christina with her husband and children in the country, at their cottage down the road from the family dairy farm.
Christina is based in Guelph, Ontario.
Earning Public Trust Conference
Public Trustworks’ Associate Leads Brent Smith and Robert Mensies led and facilitated the second day, a strategic planning session focused on applying the best practices to develop public trust strategic communications plans that would help attendees guide their organizations’ efforts.
CAMA hosted 125 participants from more than 31 Canadian organizations who all left with a workbook filled with building blocks for their own public trust plans.