Meet your storytellers.
Tara Bryk
Partner & CEO
This place doesn’t tick without Tara. She’s our CEO and has the lofty task of overseeing our client portfolio. Which, for her, is a breeze. Tara brings years of agency experience, including award-winning work with brands like IKEA Canada, Cineplex’s The Rec Room and Yellow Tail Wines. She puts out fires before the embers get hot—proactive to her very core.
But despite her impressive resume, Tara is down-to-earth and approachable. Her leadership style pumps the heart into our hustle. She’s all about real connections, the kind that turn work calls into coffee chats and strategy sessions into story time.
Dan Banko
Partner & CREATIVE DIRECTOR
Dan is the big cheese around here. Officially, he’s our Creative Director. Unofficially, he’s a super nice guy with a thousand ideas swimming around upstairs. With a BA (Honours) in Art from McMaster University and a BEd from Brock University, Dan is one of the few classically trained visual communicators in the region. Naturally, his dad still wonders what he actually does for a living.
He’s a dad and a coach, a photographer and a sculptor, a teacher, and a wine and beer drinker (not at the same time).
We like him a lot. And he didn’t pay us to say that, we swear.
John VanDuzer
associate creative director
With over 30 years’ experience, John is the leading creative director in the Canadian charitable sector. He’s won well over 200 shiny awards and helped
charities raise over TWO BILLION dollars. And that’s not a typo. Prior to joining Banko, John led Wishart, his own agency dedicated to philanthropic efforts, which has since become a powerful part of our team. John has developed brands for some of Canada’s leading national healthcare and faith-based charities and created breakthrough campaigns for Sunnybrook, SickKids, and Princess Margaret hospitals.
With a home theatre and a collection of over 2,500 films, what’s his favourite movie? “The next one I watch,” John says with a twinkle.
Lindsay Antoniadis
account manager
Lindsay is a well-balanced yin and yang of creativity and practicality. She is equal parts logical and innovative. A pretty rare combo, which led her to her role as an Account Manager. Lindsay organizes like a mother, and she’ll know everything about your project from inception to deployment, ensuring deadlines are met with room to spare.
She openly admits that she probably spends too much time taking photos of her son (but he’s so cute!) and on Pinterest. Still, she finds time to cook, knit, sew, and dust off the ivories every now and again for a little musicality.
Sarah Bullard
DESIGNER
Sarah’s favourite colour is rainbow. Handy when you’re an illustration-loving graphic designer. She can draw the pictures, design the layout and run the press, thanks to her time working at a large format print shop. She understands design from all angles. If she doesn’t know something, Sarah will figure it out and loves the chance to learn some new skills.
Sarah lives a colourful life. Three cats and a dog mean there’s never a dull moment at her house. If there is any quiet time, she’ll be reading comics, playing video games or listening to music. Sarah feeds her rainbow fix with thrifting for art, stickers, pins, and stationery—the more colourful, the better.
Michelle Hayward
ART Director
There’s a little bit (and sometimes a lot) of Michelle in all of our work. She’s a designer first, but really she’s a creative problem solver with an impressively critical eye for detail. She’s a wizard at creating thoughtful, beautiful designs rooted in strategic thinking. We hear a lot of “Wows” from clients when we present work that Michelle drummed up. It never disappoints. Not ever.
Michelle is also a doer of all things. Literally, all things. She sketches, hikes, bikes, drinks a lot of lattes, loves stationery, collects cookbooks, crochets, makes patterns, watches period-piece dramas, and really, really loves cats.
Julia Marchionda
Account Director
In her past life, Julia was probably a juggler. That’s our explanation of how she can handle so many things at once—well, that and her legendary Google Sheets. Seriously organized, always up on social media trends, and great at building relationships, she handles projects, clients and deadlines with ease.
Julia’s personal connections with clients mean that she can tap into their brands, anticipate their needs, and come up with unique strategies. Plus, she’s a tonne of fun (though we haven’t seen her actually juggle yet). She has an encyclopedic knowledge of RuPaul’s Drag Race and makes the best Spotify playlists.
Andrew McDermid
Videographer
With a keen eye for storytelling through visuals and sound, Andrew has a portfolio that’s as diverse as
a streaming binge-watch list. He’s racked up editorial credits on Netflix, Amazon Prime, HGTV, Discovery, and Hallmark, and a staggering 60M+ views on YouTube, thanks to his original music compositions. These days, Andrew channels his talents into boosting various brands and businesses in his role as our videographer.
Off the clock, Andrew enjoys recording music in his home studio and creating pointless items on his 3D printer.
Sandra Mulder
SENIOR photographer
Sandra joined our team in 2003. She’s a talented photographer, works magic in post-production and stands in as a model when we need her. She also styles food and clothing and holds the title of Banko bowling champion. Come to think of it, Sandra is exceptional at pretty much everything. Which we’d find annoying if she wasn’t so darn likeable.
Sandra’s impressiveness continues outside of Banko Creative Studio, too. She once drove across the country with her husband and two kids and captured stunning photos along the way. We’re not jealous. At all.
Hanna Navarro
Digital project coordinator
Hanna’s path to Banko is a bit different than most. After working as an automation engineer, Hanna discovered her passion for marketing by volunteering for local businesses and community groups. Now, as our Digital Project Coordinator, Hanna keeps tabs on our online campaigns and creates eye-catching content for our clients.
Our resident Busy Bee, Hanna isn’t happy if she’s not buzzing around town. You’re much more likely to catch her walking her dog, or thrifting, or going to a spin class than settling down for a quiet afternoon on the couch.
Ian VanDuzer
Copywriter
Our wordsmith extraordinaire, Ian paid his way through university writing appeal letters for Canadian charities that may have ended up in your mailbox. Now, Ian crafts creative, compelling copy that fits our clients’ every whim, niche, and desire. Adept at writing for platforms big and small, Ian fits compelling stories into whatever space we give him.
Ian spends almost as much time at the local Playhouse Theatre watching indie movies as he does at the office. A self-described movie buff, he gets way too excited about the Oscars.
Lady
Head of Team Morale
Anyone who’s met John has surely met Lady too. These two are as inseparable as the characters in Lady and the Tramp. A purebred Cocker Spaniel, Lady is officially retired from her puppy-mom duties and now gets to enjoy the much easier job of working here at Banko. Her responsibilities include sleeping through meetings and bringing joy to the office.
A tender soul, Lady is loudest when she’s snoring. She loves being pet, but please don’t feed the dog: Lady has a delicate tummy and exquisite taste.