Cathy Kirkpatrick

Cathy joined the Alphabet^® team in 2012 to build and lead the agency’s tourism portfolio. She has worked across all facets of tourism marketing including destination brand development and strategic marketing planning. This includes the development of annual destination marketing plans across sectors such as leisure, sport, meetings and convention, and travel trade.

Working with client teams, committees, and stakeholders, Cathy provides invaluable input and strategic direction for partnership and product development, creative messaging and brand development, media campaigns, digital strategy, sales support programs, experiential marketing, and more. She is a collaborative and thoughtful professional that is eager to share, learn, and explore new ideas and solutions with clients. Her expertise in performance measurement and goal-tracking helps clients better understand and benefit from both short- and long-term strategies. As a long-time “digital-first” advocate, she is a keen student of the ever-changing consumer and digital media landscapes that critically influence how messages are received, delivered, and resonate. She keeps our clients current.

Cathy has built a reputation as a trusted tourism advisor with strong leadership and partnership development skills. Her client portfolio of current and past clients includes Tourism Kingston, Travel Nunavut, Government of Nunavut, Resorts of Ontario, Ontario Regional Tourism Organization 9, Parques das Aves Brazil, Ottawa Tourism, Brockville Tourism, Zoom Airlines, Go Travel Direct, TIAC, and Parks of the St. Lawrence.

She is an active member of the Tourism Association of Canada, the Tourism Association of Ontario, the Indigenous Tourism Association of Canada, and the Interactive Advertising Bureau of Canada, and she is also a board member at Destination Ontario. Cathy is a frequent guest speaker at industry events – most recently presenting at the City Nation Place Americas conference focused on place branding with client Tourism Kingston and the Kingston Economic Development Corporation.

As a graduate of Advertising at Algonquin College, Cathy has maintained a connection to the college as a part-time teacher in a variety of programs and as a member of the Board of Governors for six years. Her more than 30-year career has included roles in media, retail marketing, and the ad agency business where she has been a senior strategist and account planner on a variety of accounts.