As it prepares to celebrate its 35th anniversary, Toronto’s Balmoral Multicultural Marketing has formed an advisory board to direct its future growth.

CEO Sharifa Khan has appointed three notable marketers to the board—longtime York University marketing professor Dr. Alan Middleton, agency veteran Mike Lang, and PR executive Bob Richardson—to help her guide senior marketing executives in better understanding where their marketing and communications blind spots lie.

“With diversity, equity and inclusion reaching critical mass over the last few years, multicultural marketing as a discipline is maturing, evolving, and reaching new heights today,” said Khan in a release. “Having these legendary leaders’ support, advice and mentorship as our agency experiences unprecedented growth, is of immeasurable value for our senior leadership team.”

Khan is regarded as a pioneer of multicultural marketing and received federal government recognition from Prime Minister Jean Chrétien for entrepreneurial success in 1999.

Dr. Middleton has more than 23 years of agency experience with the former JWT Worldwide, followed by 28 years spent in marketing academia and executive training in Canada, China, Japan, Norway, the UK and the U.S. He was inducted into the Marketing Hall of Legends in 2005.

Lang brings 40 years of experience as the past COO for WPP’s Y&R and Pareto, and current operating partner Polar Capital, Lang Partnerships, and Invatron Systems.

Richardson is the senior counsel to National Public Relations, and principal consultant at Hammersmith Consulting. His previous roles have included senior executive for Edelman Canada, Ipsos Reid, and Angus Reid Group.

“It is incumbent upon every marketer to recognize that Canadians today expect brands to include many diverse perspectives in their communications and community-building efforts,” said Richardson. “I want to help leaders embrace this task with both authenticity and integrity, and I’m eager to work this stellar Balmoral team to do just that.”