Chief Jammers

Chief Brand Steward

Larry Donen, a genuine brand steward, brings a new service business to the competitive branding and communications industry. Larry is well known by the businesses he has built and the brands he has stewarded over the past 20 years in British Columbia.

Larry's high profile brand stewardship ranges from directing the 100th anniversary campaign for the PNE and directing the brand identity for the Vancouver Grizzlies, to creating the Winning Spirit retail for the Vancouver Canucks. His depth of retail branding includes Baby’s World, Metropolis at Metrotown and the new Uptown development on Vancouver Island. Larry guided and led the rebranding of Tourism Vancouver, Cruise BC, and YVR Retail Merchants, as well as the Resort Municpality of Whistler, Whistler Blackcomb, Intrawest Resorts and Achorage Alaska. He also directed the repositioning, marketing strategies and rebranding of White Spot Restaurants, Triple O’s, Winchells Donuts, as well as UBC Food Services.

Larry has held positions as President of Traction Creative Communications; Vice President, Properties and Licensing for Orca Bay Sports and Entertainment; Vice President and General Manager of Winning Spirit; and President of DCI Strategies. He is a board member of Tourism Vancouver. The Advisory Committee for Vancouver’s 125th Birthday 2011, the Advisory Council for Re-think Tourism. Co-Chaired, Professional Sport Franchises Marketing and Merchandising 1994 – 1996. Board member for the 1994 Grey Cup and 1996 PGA Air Canada Championship. A graduate of the University of Manitoba with a degree in Business Economics. Currently, Larry is an instructor at BCIT School of Business.

Specialities:
Business Growth Strategies and Plan Implementation, Development of New Product and Service Brands Designs, Brand Audits and Management, Marketing / Sales Planning, Company Cultures Branding, People Development, Retail Environments, Experience Branding, Professional Sports Marketing, And Executive Team Coaching.

Chief Creative Steward

Magda Nowak-Batten is a rare creative force. She received her degree from the prestigious NSCAD University. After graduating, she went on to be a designer at the Nova Scotia Maritime Museum, where she worked on many of the museums exhibits. Magda moved to Toronto where she joined the award-winning, cutting edge studio Mental Art & Design. At Mental, Magda worked on accounts such as Second Cup Coffee, Ikea, high-end fashion design team Marlowe and Liquor Control Board of Ontario. Moving west to Vancouver, Magda worked with Tandem Design and V-Group Design, where she worked with numerous clients, including the cultural organizations, Esquires Coffee and UBC. For the past 8 years, after having children, Magda has been running her own business, where she collaborated with many design and advertising agencies, and clients, among them Fireworks Marketing, the British Columbia Securities Commission and Capilano University.
Magda is an outstanding creative talent, combining a great business sense, disciplined client service, outstanding conceptual skills, an amazing design sense and the ability to deliver her work through to final production. As an experienced manager, Magda has run teams of design partners, production artists and coordinated with suppliers. Magda is the recipient of dozens of awards and the accolades of numerous delighted clients.

Specialities:
Strategically conceptualization. Packaging. Corporate identity. Brand Development. Annual Reports. Advertising. Retail. Event. Exhibit. Web.

Chief Marketing Strategist

Nancy Donen. Passionate, detailed, focused, enthusiastic and professional are just some of the adjectives that Nancy’s clients and co-workers have said about her, over her 25 plus years of marketing and event management experience. As Chief Marketing Strategist for jamjar, Nancy is the consummate marketing and sales executive who thrives in robust and challenging business environments.

In the 80’s Nancy learned her sales skills and diplomacy on the front lines, with Xerox Canada, CP Air, Cathay Pacific, Vancouver Magazine and Taito Software. The 90’s saw Nancy, enter into the spectrum of marketing and event management, for membership and non-profit organization, where her natural, trusting and passionate characteristic garnered instant success in the very competitive fund raising sector.  

As Director of Sales and Marketing for the Vancouver Board of Trade, she developed and spearheaded the monthly speaker series, and created, directed and managed the very successful “business to business” trade show events. Later she took on the challenging role as Director of Marketing and Business Development for the Kinsmen Rehabilitation Foundation, setting new fund raising records for this established, world-renowned organization.

Nancy joined her husband, Larry Donen, in their band practice when they launched DCI Strategies in 1996, and over the past 14 years has continued to build on her event marketing and fund raising prowess with local events raising money for Breast Cancer Research and West Bay School. As a partner at jamjar, Nancy launched a campaigned called “Loud Shirt Day” for the Children’s Hearing and Speech Center of BC.

Nancy is fluent in 2 other languages; she studied in France and Italy, and has traveled extensively throughout the world. Nancy graduated with a BA in language arts with a degree in French from the University of British Columbia.

Specialities:
Corporate branding and event planning; Brand activation strategies; Non-profit branding and marketing; Idea generation for business developmnet; Sponsorship development strategies; Sales Promotions and Product Launches; Direct Mail strategies and campaigns; Training of Marketing and Sales Teams; Relationship marketing and management strategies; Direct Selling strategies and tactics