About

More than 30 years in communications

Brian has extensive communications experience gained during his career as a private sector consultant, a political assistant and a public servant. He founded Redbrick Communications in 2002 with a mission to empower people and organizations to tell their own story, no matter how great the challenge. Brian leads Redbrick’s large public sector practice and he has served as the primary communications strategist for the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) for almost two decades.

He is a sought-after Canadian media trainer and conference speaker. In addition to developing and delivering training programs for organizations such as AMO and the Association of Municipal Managers Clerks and Treasurers of Ontario (AMCTO), Brian has chaired the Summers Direct Municipal Communications Conference for more than 15 years. He regularly provides training for a variety of public and private sector organizations and is the trainer of record for a number of provincial ministries.

Formerly Vice President of Howe & Company Corporate Communications, and an Account Group Director with GPC International in Toronto, his specialties include corporate and public sector communications, issues and crisis management, social media use, stakeholder relations and media relations.

Brian earned his M.A. in Journalism from Western University.

25 years in communications and journalism

Farah is an experienced public relations professional and former journalist. She has provided communications counsel to a variety of organizations, ranging from consumer products and healthcare companies to government agencies and provincial ministries.

She specializes in media relations, issues management, internal communications and writing. An experienced trainer, she has taught strategic communications planning and writing at Humber College.

At Redbrick, Farah has helped upper-tier and small urban municipal clients to develop internal and/or external communications strategies to support community and social services, planning matters, emergency medical services and corporate-wide initiatives. She has provided strategic counsel on regional scale initiatives involving contentious issues and multiple stakeholders.

Farah formerly served as Director of Public Relations for a North American-wide medical technology company and Account Group Director with GPC International in Toronto. She honed her ability to turn complex information into compelling prose as a reporter at The Hamilton Spectator and The Buffalo News. As a journalist, she reported on a wide range of subjects, including municipal government, health care, environment and education.

Farah has a B.A. in Political Science and English from the State University of New York at Buffalo. She received an M.A. in Journalism with a fellowship from the University of Maryland, College Park.

18 years in communications and change management

Andrea is a senior communications and change management professional. She has over 18 years’ experience as a trusted advisor to elected officials and senior executives in the public, non-profit and private sectors. She specializes in strategic communications planning / implementation, organizational change and internal communications, issues / crisis management and public / stakeholder consultation. In addition, Andrea regularly conducts communications audits to help organizations enhance their communications function to deliver more value.

She was the media spokesperson during two back-to-back municipal labour disruptions, leading all internal and public communications. She has led change management efforts for corporate reorganizations and enterprise system implementations. She led the crisis response for two significant weather events and has worked on complicated, high profile and sensitive files like affordable housing, new correctional facilities and wastewater treatment plants, and water fluoridation.

Andrea trains leaders and staff on driving successful change, presenting with confidence, writing effective council reports and managing difficult conversations.

Andrea was the interim Communications Director for the City of Cambridge, a Communications Advisor with Halton Region and a communications lead for the Province. She is a skilled public speaker, trainer and writer. She is a certified Change Management Practitioner through Prosci and is accredited by the Canadian Public Relations Society. Her post-secondary education includes certification at the University of Ottawa’s Institute for Strategic Communications and Change, and an honours B.A. in French from the University of Waterloo.

10 years in communications

Jacqueline joined Redbrick in May 2011. Her responsibilities include everything from planning and analysis to writing and strategy execution. She has worked on some of Redbrick’s trickiest issues management files and has the ability to turn complicated topics into discussions that decision makers can understand and act upon.

For more than nine years, Jacqueline provided strategic communications planning and hands-on support to AMO’s administration of the federal Gas Tax Fund and the Municipal Pension Centre of Ontario (MEPCO). She has delivered training sessions, presentations and webinars related to social media for municipal governments and several public sector associations and helps to manage Redbrick’s annual social media survey.

Jacqueline is a graduate of the corporate communications and public relations postgraduate program at Centennial College and completed an internship in the issues management and information services division of the Ontario Ministry of Children and Youth Services. She holds an honours B.A. in Political Science from the University of Toronto and is pursuing continuing education in the field of public participation and engagement.

Kaitlyn joined Redbrick in August 2020. Kaitlyn is a creative thinker and designer who can bring any concept to life through graphic design, videos, and more. She helps lead Redbrick’s digital media offering and has a dynamic variety of skills that enhance and elevate Redbrick’s tools for communication.

In the past two years, Kaitlyn has served a range of clients to develop compelling and engaging visuals that support and amplify their communications. She has designed key identifiers for conferences, such as ROMA 2022 and AMO’s “We All Win” campaign, as well as infographics and visual content for major projects, initiatives, and organizations. She has created high quality videos using motion graphics and other techniques to help clients tell their stories, and to effectively explain complex topics, including a video on a major municipal land acquisition that was used in local news coverage. Kaitlyn’s versatility as a designer allows her to draw upon a multitude of mediums to help clients execute their vision while maintaining strong brand identity.

Kaitlyn is a graduate of the innovative Creative Industries program at Toronto Metropolitan University (formerly Ryerson University) where she earned her B.A., with Distinction.

Megan’s 10-year career has been divided between municipal service, rural economic development, and journalism. She is based in Marmora, about an hour north of Belleville.

Megan started her career working with rural municipal governments in Eastern Ontario. Over a seven year span, she worked with federal and provincial funding programs, assisted with municipal elections and bylaw development, established a successful community hub, and implemented strategic plans. Her communications responsibilities included communications planning, content creation and social media management.

In 2020, Megan worked with the Toronto Star as a community reporter, photographer, and content creator. As is often the case with on-line, rural ‘newsrooms’, she did everything but deliver the paper.

Prior to joining Redbrick, Megan specialized in freelance contributions for tourism and economic development initiatives in Eastern Ontario. She is currently a Board Member for Community Futures of North and Central Hastings and South Algonquin.

Megan is a graduate of Loyalist College’s journalism program, and she has an Associate’s Certificate in Local Government Administration from Dalhousie University, with a focus on rural government, law and finance.

Fara Ali joined Rebrick as Office Manager. Her strong organizational skills and attention to detail help the Redbrick team stay focused on serving clients. She is the point person for accounts receivable, accounts payable and training inquiries.

Fara has more than 25 years of experience in multiple roles, including Business Analyst at AT&T, Marketing Analyst at Revlon and most recently Payroll Specialist for a mid-sized business. She holds a Bachelor of Business Management degree (with honours).

Bruce Malloch is a seasoned communications practitioner, strategist, senior manager and leader. He brings more than 35 years of professional expertise and experience in providing strategic communications counsel and services to organizations in the public and private sectors.

From 2011 to 2022, Bruce served as communications director for Toronto Community Housing Corporation. In this role, he provided senior communications counsel to help the company implement its business plan and strategic priorities, and deliver timely and effective responses to a range of issues and emergencies.

Prior to joining Toronto Community Housing, Bruce worked for nine years with two national public relations agencies in Toronto, where he provided strategic communications consulting services to clients in the federal, provincial and municipal sectors. As well, Bruce spent 15 years in progressive positions within the Government of Ontario, including serving as communications director at the Ministry of Transportation, the Ontario Native Affairs Secretariat and the Ministry of Natural Resources.

Bruce has managed teams on high-profile, multi-phased communications programs, public consultations, media strategies and emergency responses. He has managed media and special events in Toronto and communities across Ontario. As well, he has developed and delivered communications training workshops on clear writing, media interviews, briefing notes, event management and other topics.

Bruce began his career as a journalist with Cinema Canada, a national film and television newsmagazine, where he wrote trade news, feature articles and reviews. He has an M.A. in English literature from the University of Toronto and a B.A. in communication studies from Concordia University. He also taught for two years as an instructor in the corporate communications and public relations program at Centennial College.

Ismail Aravai brings seven years of leadership experience in both non-profit and for-profit sectors.

In the midst of the global pandemic, Ismail applied a social media driven campaign to become the President of Fanshawe College’s Student Union. He got out the vote by connecting with students studying from home-offices in more than 100 countries.

During his term as President and CEO of Fanshawe Student Union, Ismail managed stakeholder relationships and implemented a communication program that significantly increased student participation in elections.

He is a Founding Member of Ontario Student Voices, , a advocacy organization for Ontario College Students that emphasizes strategic partnerships and collaboration to achieve better outcomes for students and institutions alike.

Since his arrival to London in 2020, Ismail has enjoyed exploring Ontario and Canada. He contributes to Redbrick’s media, social media and communications training programs, and he welcomes the opportunity to hit the road and visit the many communities that Redbrick serves.

Ismail has a Post Graduate degree in Business Management from Fanshawe College and a Bachelor's degree in Commerce from the University of Mumbai.

Alec Mackinnon is a recent graduate from McMaster University with an Honours degree in Communications Studies and Multimedia. He’s excited to join the Redbrick team and assist in delivering high quality results and making clients’ lives easier.

Before joining Redbrick, Alec supported the social media, marketing, and communications needs of a local art gallery in his hometown of Toronto. There, he developed engaging content and promotional materials that raised awareness of upcoming exhibits and events being held at the gallery. He also honed his digital data analysis skills, researched which style of posts resonated the most with the gallery’s audience to ensure all content aligned with their interests.

Alec appreciates clear and concise communication. When he worked as a teaching assistant, he discovered his passion for public speaking and how valuable the use of plain language is when helping students understand complex ideas. He is excited to explore the field of Communications and feels that Redbrick is a great place to do that.