Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer
Meet Paula
Paula Roberts is an award-winning not-for-profit marketer and fundraising professional with three decades of senior executive experience. Her NFP career spans health care, international development, social services and amateur athletics, including some of the largest charities in the country. She honed her strategic abilities and deep understanding of how to motivate audiences early in her career working at world class advertising agencies on brands like FedEx, Mercedes-Benz, adidas and Apple.
As Executive Vice President, Marketing and Development at Plan International Canada, Paula led multiple global brand initiatives including the introduction of the celebrated “Because I am a Girl” campaign focused on transforming the lives of millions of girls through education. Paula oversaw teams that raised 45M+ and in partnership with the Canadian government, successfully advocated the United Nations to declare October 11th the International Day of the Girl.
As Vice President, Strategic Communications, Paula led SickKids Foundation's first large scale integrated campaign – “Believe”, supporting double digit fundraising growth and annual funds raised of 100M+. She also authored the organization's current Vision Statement “Healthier Children. A Better World”.
Both “Because I Am a Girl” and “Believe” won multiple awards for marketing effectiveness.
In 2015 Paula founded HALO Brand Leadership, a consultancy specializing in the development of compelling brand strategies and fundraising campaigns for NFPs. She has led HALO’s efforts for almost two dozen clients on a variety of initiatives – from stakeholder research, through to campaign and creative development, to execution of large scale fundraising programs. Clients include the Canadian Cancer Society, Make-A-Wish Canada, UNICEF Canada and the Children’s Aid Foundation of Canada.
A seasoned Board Director, Paula was the first ever female Valedictorian of the University of Toronto’s coveted Directors Education program in conjunction with the Institute of Corporate Directors and has served on the Boards of for profit entities including MEGA Brands (TSX:MB) and HomeEquity Bank. She currently serves as Chair of the Board for Alpha Canada, Vice Chair of the Foundation Board of Trustees for Gamma Phi Beta International, and is past Vice Chair of the Women’s Philanthropy Institute Council at the University of Indiana's Lilly Family School of Philanthropy.
A double graduate of the University of Oklahoma (B.A. and M.A.), Paula lives with her husband Bill outside Toronto, which is home to their extended family.
Co-Founder and Strategic Planning Lead
Meet Bill
With four decades of experience, Bill Roberts brings a unique set of skills to HALO Brand Leadership. As a strategist, he understands that compelling insights are integral to the creation of innovative and effective branding and marketing campaigns. As an entrepreneur, he is inherently creative and solutions minded. This combination is potent, particularly for clients in the not-for-profit sector who need to stretch each and every donor dollar.
Bill is a graduate of the internationally recognized Ivey School of Business at Western University with a Master’s in Business Administration (MBA) degree. He spent the first ten years of his career in account service at a large multi-national advertising agency where he worked on major packaged goods, including General Foods and MARS for which consumer research served as the foundation upon which successful brands were built.
Bill was then actively recruited to join an entrepreneurial marketing services company that was intent on leveraging his strategic mindset to expand its client base into mainstream advertising. Through his leadership and vision, the agency was completely re-branded and became one of Canada’s leading integrated marketing agencies, attracting a number of major brands including adidas, GE, Benjamin Moore, Bridgestone and Sleeman.
Two decades ago, Bill started his own agency which he branded Groundzero – to meet the needs of innovative marketers who wanted to go beyond the status quo and craved fresh, innovative thinking. Initially, this start-up focused on consumer insight research, brand strategy and strategic planning but quickly expanded to also meet client’s creative and channel management needs.
After 15 years of operation, Bill saw an opportunity for a Groundzero sister agency focused on the underserved not-for-profit sector. Bill welcomed his life partner, Paula Roberts to the business and together in 2015 they launched HALO Brand Leadership.
For almost a decade, HALO has made a name for itself, building brand strategies and fundraising campaigns for many of this country’s pre-eminent non-profits including Canadian Cancer Society, Canadian Children’s Aid Foundation, Hockey Canada Foundation and UNICEF Canada among others. As co-founders, Bill and Paula are deeply grateful to have had the opportunity to bring their unique combination of experience, strategic skills and entrepreneurism to these leading NFP organizations and all those who they serve.
