Meet the team behind the work.
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Lisa Kirbie
CEO & Founder
Lisa Kirbie is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Blackbird, bringing her passion and experience to drive change for our clients. She founded Blackbird in 2019, determined to do government relations differently. Originally from Canada’s west coast, Lisa relocated to Ottawa in 2002 and worked on Parliament Hill for close to a decade, including for members of Parliament, the leader of the Official Opposition, and for the Senate government leader. Upon leaving the Hill, Lisa was the Director of Government Relations and Regulatory Affairs for a large provincial public-sector agency. She later moved to the private sector, where she was the managing partner and Indigenous practice lead at a boutique consultancy in Toronto before launching Blackbird. She is a member of the Canadian Public Relations Society, the Government Relations Institute of Canada, and the International Association of Business Communicators. Lisa has recently been nominated for an Ontario Premier’s Award in the business category, a RBC Royal Bank Canadian Women Entrepreneur’s Award by Women of Influence+, and a WXN Top 100 Most Powerful Women award. In 2023, Lisa received an honourary diploma from Loyalist College in recognition of her business achievements. Lisa is the proud mother of two adult children and a grandmother of two boys, all of whom keep her very busy.
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Dan Pujdak
Chief Strategy Officer
Dan Pujdak is a nationally recognized thought leader on reconciliation and Arctic affairs and a leading policy and public relations practitioner. He has worked alongside major Canadian firms in the finance, resource, and retail sectors to build reconciliation initiatives and enhance the reputation of their brands. He has also worked with Indigenous groups across Canada to build partnerships, design policy frameworks, and grow their internal governance and communications capacity. Previously Dan has served as a senior advisor to Indigenous leaders as well as on Parliament Hill. He is a Fellow at the Public Policy Forum and Arctic 360, and a Senior Fellow at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute.
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Travis Boissoneau
Vice President
Travis Boissoneau is Blackbird Strategies’ Vice President. From Parliament Hill to Standing Rock, Travis has stood with First Nations to defend their rights and advance their interests for decades. A proud member of the Anishinabek Nation from the Ojibway Nation of Garden River First Nation, he has dedicated his life to serving First Nations across Ontario, including as the former Chief Administrative Officer of Nishnawbe Aski Nation, as a Regional Deputy Grand Chief of the Anishinabek Nation, and as an advocate on justice issues on behalf of the Leadership Council at Chiefs of Ontario. Travis brings this same passion and leadership to Blackbird. He understands the importance of developing meaningful ways to engage with First Nations, Treaty partners, and other stakeholders to support the critical work of Indigenous communities. He is also a business professional who holds a degree in accounting and business from Metropolitan University, as well as having attained the designation of Certified Professional Accountant. Travis is a proud father of four and lives in Thunder Bay, Ontario.
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Tom Potter
Director of Government Relations
Tom Potter provides clients with strategic advice on government relations activities, helping them build lasting, productive relationships with decision-makers at various levels of government. He brings several years of parliamentary affairs and communications experience to his role at Blackbird, having worked for multiple Members of Parliament both in Ottawa and in their constituencies, providing our clients with an inside perspective on federal politics and policymaking.
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Riley Wong
Acting Director of Communications
Riley is a strategic practitioner with over five years of experience across the broader communications industry. Throughout his career, he has worked at PR and advertising agencies, as a start-up communications manager, and as a consultant for small businesses, cultivating a blended approach and toolbox to strategic communication. Riley believes the best communication work is directly aligned to larger organizational objectives, and gears his strategic communication planning efforts towards lasting impact and growth.
Riley graduated from the University of Western Ontario in their Media, Information and Technoculture program. He also holds a postgraduate certificate in Public Relations from Humber College. -
Cameron Penner
Senior Consultant
Cameron is a public relations and government relations professional, with six years of agency experience. He has provided strategic counsel in both the PR and GR space for clients across numerous industries, including technology, finance, transportation and food & beverage. His client experience includes Nestlé, Google/YouTube, Moneris, Netflix, DoorDash, Labatt Breweries, Canadian Airports Council, and the Association of Canadian Port Authorities.
Outside of work, Cameron has volunteered his time with both the Conservative Party of Canada and the Ontario PC Party, working on the federal election campaign of 2021 and the provincial by-election for the Ottawa riding of Kanata-Carleton in 2023.
Cameron holds a bachelor’s degree in biology from Carleton University and a diploma in Public Relations from Algonquin College. After graduating from Algonquin, Cameron completed an internship at a Toronto PR firm where he got his first taste of fast-paced and exciting agency work and has stayed in the industry ever since. A former competitive swimmer and lifeguard, Cameron enjoys spending time in nature during all seasons, camping, hiking, and canoeing in the summer and alpine skiing or snowshoeing in the winter. -
Annalisa Harris
Senior Consultant
Annalisa Harris is a Senior Consultant at Blackbird Strategies. She has spent over a decade working at senior levels in federal, provincial, and municipal politics including as Policy and Regional Affairs Advisor to the Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations where she also served as the minister’s Quebec and British Columbia desks. An award-winning public speaker in both English and French, she has prepared ministers, mayors, and business leaders to effectively advocate for their interests. In her spare time, she volunteers as a soccer coach and as a mentor for the next generation of young leaders in sport and politics.
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Naomi Steele
Operations Manager
As a proud member of the Kanien’keha:ka community from Kanesatake, QC, Naomi possesses a deep commitment to delivering exceptional client experiences, working to position them for success. With a solid background of 20 years in the field, she has developed valuable expertise in public relations and project management.
Naomi’s strength lies in building relationships, where her unwavering motivation stems from assisting people in overcoming obstacles and achieving their objectives. By actively collaborating with clients and gaining a thorough understanding of their needs, she excels in providing mutually beneficial solutions that cultivate positive working relationships.
Naomi has completed post-secondary studies at Algonquin College. -
Maddy Eisenberg
Consultant
Maddy Eisenberg is a natural communicator. A graduate of the Radio Broadcasting program at Algonquin College, Maddy is well known in Ottawa as the voice of traffic and weather on 580CFRA and Move100. Her experience in a newsroom means she knows what stories sell and builds strong narratives for our clients. Maddy is an advocate for mental health, leveraging social media to recount her own mental health journey and work for more accessible resources within our community.
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Aaron O’Quinn
Consultant
Aaron brings experience in communication, writing, and research in government, non-profit, and academic settings. Across these roles he has acted as a researcher, writer, and editor, identifying the key elements from a broader set of issues so that our clients can advocate for policy solutions that are in their best interest. His education is situated in the Humanities and has been interdisciplinary in practice, which has allowed him to conduct research across disciplines and make deliberate connections between disparate fields of knowledge.