Our Firm

At Campbell Strategies we help our clients navigate the politics and process of government decision-making in the context of business transactions or policy developments.

Whether it’s direct engagement with government decision-makers and influencers, outreach and coalition building with like-minded (or different-minded) stakeholders, targeted and strategic communications – or a combination thereof – we approach each mandate with a fresh lens and a strategic approach tailored to the circumstance. But there’s one constant: thoughtful advice based on research and experience.

A number of factors distinguish us from our competitors. We are seasoned experts in government relations. We have backgrounds in law, business, politics, public policy and journalism. We are quick studies of our clients’ businesses. We bring a research-based approach to all our mandates. We do not delegate work to juniors. We can “go political” but are sensitive to the appropriate time to do so.

Over the years we have built our reputation by providing our clients with wise counsel, straight talk and hard work.  We wouldn’t have it any other way.


Meet the Team

Barry Campbell

Toronto/Ottawa

Barry Campbell has extensive experience in law, policy and politics, including as an MP and Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance.

Barry Campbell is the Founder and President of Campbell Strategies. He is one of the leading public affairs consultants in Canada, with a career spanning four decades in law, politics and government relations. Barry has represented many of Canada’s leading corporations across a host of complex policy areas. He has provided counsel in several policy areas including: financial services regulation, taxation, mergers and acquisitions, health and education, among numerous other policy areas.

Barry served as a Member of the Parliament of Canada from 1993 to 1997. During that time, he served as Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance, later Prime Minister, The Right Honourable Paul Martin. In this capacity, he assisted in the development of the budgetary policy of the Government of Canada, and assisted in tax policy, trade policy and financial services sector policy. Barry served for two years as Vice-Chair of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance.

Prior to his election to Parliament, Barry practiced law at Toronto’s leading law firms, first as a partner of McCarthy Tétrault, then at Torys, advising major Canadian and foreign clients on acquisitions, international banking matters, competition law and trade law. Barry served as a Legal Counsellor at the International Monetary Fund in Washington, D.C. and practiced with the Washington law firm of Arnold & Porter, where his practice included representing Canadian interests in major trade disputes and foreign governments in sovereign debt re-schedulings. Barry is a graduate of McGill University, McGill Law School (LL.B.’75, BCL’76), and the Harvard Law School (LL.M.’77).

Clients Barry has worked with include:  American Express Canada, Economical Insurance and The Bank of Nova Scotia.

https://www.linkedin.com/pub/barry-campbell/6/297/771

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Paul Brown

Toronto/Ottawa

Paul Brown has served in senior staff roles to various Federal Ministers and as a strategic advisor to political campaigns at the federal, provincial and municipal levels.

Paul Brown has a broad range of government and public policy experience. From 1984 to 1988 Paul served in the federal Conservative government as Policy Advisor to the Industry Minister, Executive Assistant to the President of the Treasury Board, and Chief of Staff to the Minister of Labour. His primary areas of responsibility ranged from the privatization of Crown corporations, oversight of Crown corporations, regional development policy, aerospace and military matters, and national labour dispute resolution.

Paul has provided strategic advice to numerous companies and organizations in their dealings with government at the federal, provincial and municipal levels. Paul has advised clients across several public policy areas, including: health care, energy and power generation, infrastructure, real estate development, procurement, transportation, financial services, income trusts, insolvency, and regulatory reforms.

From 2006 to 2012 Paul served as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Enwave Energy Corporation – one of the largest district energy companies in North America. In 2012 he also served as Chair of the Special Committee responsible for the successful sale of the company. Paul serves as Chairman of the Board of the Sandbox Project, a non-profit organization dedicated to improving the health outcomes of Canadian children and youth. Paul served on the boards of the Canadian Jewish Congress and Beth Tzedec Synagogue, and was the President of the Oakdale Golf & Country Club from 2008 to 2010.

Paul was a member of the Law Society of Upper Canada, holds a Bachelor of Laws, University of Western Ontario (LL.B.), and a Bachelor of Science in Economics (B.Sc.) from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.

In the 2005/06 federal election Paul served as the Ontario Co-Chair of the national Conservative Party Campaign and remains an active volunteer in conservative campaigns at the federal, provincial and municipal levels.

Clients Paul has worked with include: Home Capital Group, NAIOP Greater Toronto and the Power Workers’ Union. 

https://ca.linkedin.com/pub/paul-brown/27/983/35b

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Natalie Dash

Toronto

Natalie Dash has a strong background in developing advocacy campaigns and managing stakeholder relations.

Natalie Dash is an experienced government relations consultant with a strong background in developing advocacy campaigns and managing stakeholder relations.  She provides counsel and strategic advice to clients on a broad range of policy issues and across all levels of government.

These mandates have included: energy, real estate and infrastructure development, financial services, healthcare, transportation,  aviation, among others.

Through several mandates, Natalie has developed broad and deep experience in financial services sector policy around payments modernization, open banking, the retail payments oversight framework, cyber security and privacy.

Natalie was listed by Maclean’s Magazine in 2014 as one of the top ten ‘busiest’ lobbyists in Ottawa.

As an integral member of the Thalidomide Survivors Taskforce, Natalie spent two years campaigning pro-bono on behalf of survivors of the drug thalidomide. As part of the small team running the national campaign, she built broad political, media and public support for a fair financial package for the survivors. As a result of this effort, the House of Commons voted unanimously to provide survivors with “full support”. The federal government announced $180 million shortly thereafter to fulfil this pledge and provide survivors with ongoing tax-free support for the rest of their lives.

Natalie holds an MSc in Public Policy from University College London (UCL) in the United Kingdom and a B.A. in Political Science from McGill University. She is an active member of the Public Affairs Association of Canada.

Clients Natalie has worked with include: NAIOP Greater Toronto, The Body Shop Canada and Staples Canada.

http://ca.linkedin.com/in/nataliedash

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Christopher Holz

Toronto

Christopher Holz has served in senior roles for a number of Provincial Ministers and in Cabinet Office.

Christopher Holz is a seasoned public affairs executive with over 20 years of experience working with government decision makers and clients.  

Providing counsel at all three levels of government, he has served clients in several policy areas including energy and the environment, real estate and infrastructure development, municipal government, financial services, and health care.  Christopher has been ranked as “one of the top ten lobbyists at Queen’s Park” according to Queen’s Park Briefing, a Toronto Star publication.  

Christopher and his colleagues led a pro bono campaign for Canada’s survivors of thalidomide which received national media coverage and resulted in a unanimous vote in the House of Commons (a rare feat), and a funding agreement of over $180 million shortly thereafter to fulfil this pledge and provide survivors with ongoing tax-free support for the rest of their lives. 

In addition to his consulting experience, he previously served as a Senior Advisor to several Ontario cabinet ministers, including the Minister of Energy, the Minister of Finance, and the Chair of Cabinet.  At Queen’s Park, he was deeply involved in the province’s energy policy decision making and strategic communications, including the province’s emissions reduction strategy, decisions to refurbish and build new nuclear generation facilities, the expansion of renewables, and several conservation initiatives.  

Christopher holds a Masters of Arts from the University of Toronto, and completed research work at the University of Bath (UK) and Katholische Universitat Brabant (Netherlands). 

Clients Christopher has worked with include: The Estée Lauder Companies, The Sub-metering Council of Ontario and Cadillac Fairview.

http://ca.linkedin.com/in/christopherholz

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Gayle Nathanson

Toronto

Gayle Nathanson has a professional background in the private, public and not-for-profit sectors.

Gayle Nathanson has spent more than 20 years working in public affairs, and brings experience in stakeholder relations, government relations and public policy on a range of issues.

Prior to joining Campbell Strategies, Gayle held roles in the private sector, government and not-for-profit organizations including: Director, External Affairs at the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA); Special Advisor to the Assistant Deputy Minister of the Ontario Office of International Relations and Protocol; and Vice Chair of the Ontario Office for Victims of Crime.

Gayle is a lawyer by training and practiced civil litigation at Goodmans LLP in Toronto.  She is a graduate of McGill University and Osgoode Hall Law School.

Clients Gayle has worked with include: Chicago Title Insurance Company Canada, Global Payments and The Estée Lauder Companies.

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Kevin Powers

Toronto

Kevin Powers has particular expertise in stakeholder relations and grassroots advocacy campaigns.

Kevin has spent the past 20 years working successfully on a wide variety of siting issues, including hydro dams, gas plants, factories, airports, waste facilities and nuclear plants. Prior to joining Campbell Strategies, he led public affairs for Canada’s second-largest electricity producer, where he was responsible for securing community and government approval for $16 billion in projects.

Kevin spent six years as head of Communications at the Ontario Ministries of Energy and Infrastructure. He has extensive experience in grassroots and public relations campaign strategies, as well as high-level experience in politics at all levels of government on both sides of the border.

Kevin started his career as a reporter with the Associated Press in Washington DC. He has a Master’s in Journalism from Northwestern University.

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Evan Zelikovitz

Special Advisor, Ottawa

Evan Zelikovitz has extensive experience in public affairs, government relations and strategic communications.

Evan Zelikovitz has been providing public affairs, government relations and strategic communications counsel and advice to Canadian and multinational companies and organizations for 25 years.  Evan advises clients on a myriad of public policy and strategic communications matters and has extensive experience in developing and implementing public affairs programs, which have included advocacy, coalition/stakeholder building, crisis planning, media relations, research, message development, and overall strategic and corporate positioning.

Evan has helped to position, preserve, and enhance his clients’ business interests and credibility with key stakeholders in business, government, not for profit organizations and media, particularly in the face of crisis situations involving reputational scrutiny, business operations, legislative and policy changes, and market entry positioning. He has represented organizations from many industries on a variety of policy issues including: fintech and financial sector policy, mergers and acquisitions, healthcare, natural resources, professional services, and procurement, to name a few.  Evan’s legal background has enabled him to work closely with corporations and their legal counsel involved in class action lawsuits, providing litigation communications guidance and advice.  

Following his call to the Ontario Bar in 1994, Evan worked with the Canadian government at the Competition Bureau and has worked in senior management positions for both national and international public affairs consultancies.  

Evan has been an active volunteer in the Ottawa community and at the national level, including Chair of the Management Committee of the Canada Israel Experience, which included oversight of both March of the Living and Birthright programs.

Evan is a native of Nova Scotia and has lived in Ottawa for 30 years. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University of Western Ontario (1987) and a Bachelor of Laws from the University of New Brunswick (1992).  

Clients Evan has worked with include: American Express, Barrick Gold, and Merck Frosst.

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Associated Firms

Campbell Strategies teams with select boutique government relations and strategic communications firms to provide our clients with geographic scope and specialized expertise as needed.