Chris McLellan

Worth knowing

Chris McLellan is an Ottawa-native and a tech marketer with a proven record of growth, built over 15 years with innovative startups based in London, UK and Canada, from leading the marketing launch for Lyft Canada to building and running the marketing function at companies backed by leading investors including Sequoia and Sir Richard Branson. He’s well connected through the National AI Committee of the Canadian Marketing Association and Ask AI (askai.org) the nonprofit and podcast he founded in 2016 and still runs as volunteer producer. He also co-authored and remains Technical Lead for the Data Collaboration Framework, an ISO and Canadian national standard that squares the circle between data ownership and trust-based innovation, including AI systems. He’s a regular speaker on data, trust, and AI, with recent appearances on Canadian Marketing Association panels, a presentation to the Federal Chief Data Officer Council of Canada, talks at various industry associations, and guest posts and podcast interviews. He bridges marketing and tech, explaining data and AI in plain terms to non-technical audiences. In short, Chris is a senior marketer who understands AI from the standards level up and can turn it into structured growth systems for multiple types and sizes of business.

Story

A talk on machine learning at the University of Toronto in 2016 sent Chris off to start Ask AI (askai.org), a nonprofit on AI and the future of work that he still produces as a volunteer. His day job was marketing: fifteen years of it for SaaS, enterprise data and marketplace companies in Canada, the UK and the US, including startups backed by Sequoia, Union Square Ventures and Accel Partners. Enterprise data pulled him in further. After heading marketing at Cinchy he helped start the Data Collaboration Alliance in 2019 and ran its operations, then moved to the standards side at the Digital Governance Council in 2022. From Ottawa he now leads the technical committee behind the framework and advises as Principal at Friends Electric.

Canadian story

Chris McLellan is the founder and volunteer producer at Ask AI (askai.org), a nonprofit launched in 2016 to increase awareness of the issues surrounding AI and the future of work. He’s also an AI-forward marketing consultant who led the marketing launch for Lyft Canada and worked for B2B and B2C tech startups backed by leading investors including Sequoia and Sir Richard Branson. He is co-author and Technical Lead of the Data Collaboration Framework, a Canadian and international standard defining data ownership within digital and AI innovation. Chris holds the Chartered Marketer certification a

Highlights

• Co-author, Data Collaboration Framework; national standard, Standards Council of Canada (…
• Founder, Ask AI nonprofit (2016); Microsoft Canada tier 1 sponsor
• Co-founder, Data Collaboration Alliance (2019)
• Launch Manager, Lyft Canada; led first out-of-home brand campaign, Toronto (2018)
• Chartered Marketer, Canadian Marketing Association; member, National AI Committee