Will has spent almost 20 years in public affairs in Canada and is currently the Senior Vice President and National Lead for Public Affairs and Advocacy at Hill and Knowlton (H+K) Strategies Canada. In this role, Will oversees one of Canada’s largest and most impactful Public Affairs practices in the country with 60 professionals across 8 Canadian offices. Will’s main focus is utilizing integrated campaigns communications tactics from across H+K’s various departments to supercharge public efforts and persuasion campaigns with the most innovative tool from public relations, marketing, and digital tactics to ensure our campaigns are heard and win.

Immediatly prior to H+K, Will spent a number of years as an executive in Canadian start-ups. Most notably, will was Senior Vice President of Harvest One, a publicly traded international cannabis house of brands in the health and wellness space, and prior Will was a member of the leadership team of Hiku, the cannabis company responsible for such brands Tokyo Smoke, Doja, and Van der Pop which resulted in a successful exit in a sale to Canopy Growth Corporation.

In this time, Will was also appointed by the Ontario government to the position of Chair of the Advertising Review Board of Ontario. The ARB is a regulatory agency of the Ministry of Government and Consumer Services created to demonstrate the government’s commitment to protect the public’s trust in the assignment of communication contracts; to ensure that fair and responsible practices are followed in the acquisition of communication services; and to ensure that the government receives value for money in all of the communication services it contracts.

Will spent more than a dozen years as Managing Principal at Navigator and founding Principal at Ensight. Through his consulting work, Will has earned the trust and respect of leaders in corporations, government and not-for-profit organizations for his expertise as one of Canada’s leading public affairs advisors.  

Prior to joining Navigator and founding Ensight, Will served as Chief of Staff to the Honourable John Baird in a variety of portfolios including Social Services, Chief Government Whip, and Energy in the province of Ontario. Will has also been a member of the Advisory Board of Lift (Lift.co), A board member of Young People’s Theatre in Toronto, and advisor to McMillan Vantage Policy Group, and currently sits on the Board of Directors of the Women’s Brain Health Initiative.

A respected media commentator on politics, public policy and social media, Will appears regularly on television, radio, and in print as a strategist. Will was honoured to be chosen by the Hill Times as a member of its Top 100 Lobbyists for seven consecutive years under two different governments, and was awarded the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal for his contributions to Canadian public policy.