Engage. Activate. Empower.

Brett Bell is a proven innovator in the digital advocacy space, pioneering online campaign methods and applications in Canada and the United States.

As the founder and managing partner of Grassroots Online, Brett oversees a team of skilled developers creating custom tools to identify and activate target audiences identified by clients. Over the last five years, Brett has personally managed the development of several new digital advocacy products that facilitate both online and offline political action.

Brett has deep experience in the mobilization space at the local, provincial and national level, spending over eight years developing and executing advocacy campaigns for industry associations, non-profits organizations and corporate clients across Canada and the United States.

In 2009, Brett was appointed Director of Social Media for a successful provincial leadership campaign and then as the Director of Online Activism for the Ontario PC Party during the 2011 Ontario provincial election, where he designed and managed the Party's digital mobilization infrastructure and online rapid response unit.

Brett is a regular TV and print commentator on the nexus between social media and politics, an active blogger, and co-hosts a weekly video podcast analyzing the latest news from the digital political space. Brett also writes a regular column on social media, Open Source, for the Canadian edition of Campaigns & Elections' Politics magazine.

Brett holds an honours degree in Public Administration from Carleton University and successfully completed the joint Harvard University-MIT program, "How To Deal With An Angry Public", in 2008.

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Mark Hardwick is a web developer with over 10 years of practical experience, specializing in building digital products for online advocacy and political campaigns.

Living and strategizing in the digital political space for many years, Mark has been on the leading edge of technology, building new digital products, in addition to designing, developing and deploying innovative online campaigns for both private and public sector clients.

Fifteen years ago, Mark had the foresight to imagine what opportunities the development of the Internet would offer for clients looking for new and innovative ways to reach their target audiences online. Over the years he has designed and executed successful projects for clients across Canada.

During Mark’s career he has worked at various creative agencies, holding positions, including: Web Developer; Director of Marketing & Communications, Creative Director and Vice President of Business Development.

In 2010, Mark was appointed the Co-Chair of the Technology Committee and served as Director of Candidate Website Services for the Ontario PC Party. During his time in this position Mark designed the vendor evaluation process, while serving as the project manager for the integration process connecting and centrally managing all 107 local sites in Ontario.

For the last two years, Mark has been teaching web design part time at Niagara College. As a professor in the New Media Web Design Program, he teaches students various computer languages, best design practices and industry standards. In this capacity, Mark enjoys encouraging students at the college to grow, learn and push boundaries on the Internet.

Mark graduated from Niagara College with a specialty in the fields of Interactive Multimedia, Web Design & Computer Programming.

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