Head of PR and Communication at Canva - Liz Mckenzie

Liz's Story: My passion is in storytelling - turning boring corporate speak and industry jargon into something with meaning. I'm always on the lookout for new ways to make an organisation stand out. Currently, I'm Head of PR and Communications at Canva, based in Sydney. Prior to joining Canva, I've held comms roles at the CSIRO's technology R&D arm, Data61 and at Red Agency (part of Havas), Ogilvy PR, Recognition PR and Edelman. I am a strategic consultant with a proven track record. In my four years at Red, I was part of the senior team which led Red Agency to its best year on the awards front in 2014 – named by Public Relations Institute of Australia, PRWeek Asia and CommsCon as 2014 PR Agency of The Year and a further 25+ campaign awards at both international and national award shows. Some of my notable achievements include managing one of the first PR campaigns in Australia to win a Cannes Lion. Some of my client experience include managing the PR activities for Microsoft, Google, SuccessFactors (an SAP company), Capgemini, Equinix, HTC, Concur, Okta, AT&T, Fairfax Digital, Indiegogo, Kingston and Mitel. Other non-tech related client experience include Salmat, Kelly Services, The Coffee Club, Jetts Gyms, Reckitt Benckiser and The Whiddon Group. It's not every day you get to make a difference to many, but I have been fortunate to be able to work on several NFPs including The Australian Literacy and Numeracy Foundation, Oscar's Law, WWF, The Sony Foundation, The UN Foundation, Vital Voices and The Prince's Rainforest Project.