CIMMO Hall Of Benefactors

    Thanks to their generosity and dedication, CIMMO is making good the promise to make the world a better place through Marketing.
    A heartfelt Thank YOU!

    Our History


    Marketers associated with Algonquin College met in Ottawa in 1982 to establish the Canadian Institute of Marketing (CIM). It was modelled after the UK’s Chartered Institute of Marketing. The UK Institute then had over 30,000 members, and there were 27,000 members in similar Institutes of Marketing in twelve other Commonwealth countries, plus Japan.

    CIM was launched to promote and develop the practice of marketing in Canada by encouraging the adoption of professional standards and qualifications by practitioners and to become the leading recognized body for professional marketers in Canada.

    In 1984, CIM’s by-laws were approved based on those of the UK Institute. James (Jim) Jarrett, MCInst.M., FCInst.M was confirmed as the Institute’s National Chairman.

    To develop the membership, Jim and the CIM Board decided to establish independent Provincial Institutes like many other professional Institutes. The first one to be formed was in Ontario, as the majority of Canadian marketers and Canadian corporate head offices were located there.

    In 1987, Jim approached Christine Hart, an MNA in the Ontario Provincial Legislature, to enact legislation to form CIMMO. Even though getting a private bill introduced was a challenging undertaking, Jim was successful. In 1988, Ontario’s Bill Pr5 was introduced under the title:

    “An Act respecting “The Chartered Institute of Marketing Management of Ontario.”

    The 1st Reading occurred on February 8th, 1988 and a 2nd and 3rd Reading followed on May 19th, 1988.

    On 24th May 1988, CIMMO received Royal Assent from her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II.

    In 1990, Jim appointed Nigel Goodall, then President and CEO of Diageo Canada, as the first Chair of CIMMO. Nigel, in turn, appointed a Board of Directors of eight professional marketers who originally were CIM members.

    CIMMO developed a Vision “To be the recognized leading voice of marketing professionals of Ontario by 1996”.

    The Mission was “To provide a forum for continually upgrading the knowledge and professional standards of our members”.

    One key objective was to build on the existing base of members, with an aim of 5000 members by 1996. Several keynote address speaker meetings and Board meetings were held to this end. The severe recession in Canada, limited funds, and failure to attract new members led to CIMMO becoming dormant in 1993.

    Nigel and fellow Director Ian Anderson realized that for CIMMO to be successful, it needed to attract younger entry-level professional marketers and not members who were already established and had less or no need for accreditation.

    In 2015, Nigel and Ian saw the opportunity for a new approach through Canada’s fastest-growing business school at Humber College. They contacted Dr. Youssef Youssef, the program coordinator of the marketing degree at Humber, intending to re-launch CIMMO as an independent entity.

    A historic meeting occurred on July 17 between Nigel and Ian and Humber’s Dr. Paul Griffin and Dr. Youssef Youssef. This led to an agreement to develop a mutually-agreed Action Plan to relaunch CIMMO. Subsequently, Paul was elected Chair, and Youssef, President and Vice-Chair of CIMMO, at the AGM on May 19, 2016.