About Us
The passion, experience, and pioneering spirit upon which Oromo was founded are core to how we manage our business. As we continue to grow and evolve, our values anchor us, remind us of what we are striving to achieve, and from where we draw our inspiration.
Our Story
When we started Oromo, we had the chance to build something from a blank piece of paper with the goal of building a business that would become the benchmark by which our industry would stand up and take notice.
Oromo is a group of veteran performance marketers and digital experts with a long history of helping brands solve their marketing problems. We channel all of this knowledge into creating the best digital campaigns that help your brands reach your objectives. How do we know this? It’s because we purposefully measure everything we do.
We have offices in Toronto and San Francisco and our clients are all over the world
Our Leadership Team
Ken Stopay
President and CEO
Ken’s career spans over 20 years within the healthcare sector. It began in pharmaceutical sales and quickly moved into Product Management, where he discovered his passion for digital marketing. Over the next decade he co-founded a successful digital agency in the healthcare sector where he helped numerous pharmaceutical companies integrate successful digital strategies and tactics into their marketing plans. He has delivered global work for companies like Pfizer, Astra Zeneca, Bayer, Roche, Alcon, Lilly, Genentech and more.
Yakob Makonnen
Vice President, Digital Strategy
Yakob is an expert in digital strategy and trend spotting. Prior to joining Oromo he spent 5 years bringing innovative marketing to Roche with a focus on customer insights and digital channels. Yakob also has a bachelor of science from Queen’s University and a Masters in Biotechnology from the University of Toronto. Yakob specializes in developing large scale digital strategy and executing insights driven digital marketing campaigns.
How we will work together
WE SPECIALIZE - INDUSTRY LEADERS
Ever heard an agency say No? The majority of healthcare agencies claim to be full-service or have the “we can do everything” attitude. At Oromo, we don’t try and do everything, because we’re exceptional at a few things. We throw all of our expertise and energy into our digital strategy and campaigns so that we’re consistently in the top of our field. Our Oromo team has accumulated expert level experience in the healthcare space. We have helped numerous brands launch, expand, and re-imagine themselves in the digital space.
VENDOR NO MORE - WE ARE PART OF YOUR TEAM
As a team, we’re design-focused across every touchpoint or interaction. Everything we do and dream up has a solid design impact. We get up and go in the morning, supercharged to make a difference with design as a top-of-mind solution. We’re a partner, enabler, and true collaborator. We’re a team extension and built around unification.
SENIOR TEAMS - AIMING FOR STELLAR IMPACT
We don’t bring in the A-team of directors and then make you work with the C team of interns. We have an elite team of experienced digital marketers, and you work directly with them. We’ve hand-picked our team of experts, all of whom have years of hands-on experience within the digital healthcare environment.
WE'RE COLLABORATIVE
Let's face it, the more agencies who are open to the concept of collaborating, sharing, and helping just makes sense for clients. We’re excited to be a part of this evolution. We have begun to see a shift emerging with our clients’ perspective on agencies - A growing openness to greater collaboration that works for everyone.
Our Advisory Board
The Oromo advisory board was established to offer assistance to developing an understanding of market and industry trends from a different perspective and experience, encourage and support the exploration of new business ideas and encourage the development of a governance framework that enable sustainable growth of the company. We are honored to include the following advisors who are accomplished experts offering innovative advice and dynamic perspectives.
Brian E. Jahns
Dr. Brian Jahns is an accomplished business leader with robust and progressive experience in the biopharmaceutical industry. Brian joined Roche Canada in 1998, fulfilling various medical, marketing, and sales leadership roles, ultimately attaining the role of Vice-President Oncology. During this time, he provided the strategic framework that enabled brands such as Rituxan, Herceptin and Avastin to exceed blockbuster expectations.
Ken C. Book
Ken is an accomplished pharmaceutical executive with extensive experience in key roles including: Sales Management, Marketing Management, Product Launches (Local / Global Marketing Teams), Key Opinion Leader (KOL) Development and Strategic CME/CHE initiatives.
His 30 plus years of executive industry experience includes leading teams at Sandoz, Novartis and Galderma. Along with establishing newly created healthcare agencies, he has consistently demonstrated innovative and practical solutions. A collaborative decision maker who determines the objective and motivates his team to achieve results.
Alan Bell MD CCFP
Dr. Bell is a family physician and clinical researcher in Toronto, Canada. He is Assistant Professor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of Toronto and on the active staff of the Humber River Hospital. He is a recipient of the College of Family Physicians of Canada Award of Excellence.
Dr. Bell’s involvement in continuing medical education includes the development and presentation of many national projects. He has served as faculty and chair of countless committees and advisory boards dedicated to serving the common interests of the medical profession and the public. His research, commentaries and letters have been presented and published internationally.
Jamie Blackport
Jamie Blackport is the Co-Founder and Partner at Mirador Global LP, Co-Founder and CEO at Mirador Analytics Ltd, and the Founder and Managing Director at Blackport Holdings Ltd.
He has a 20-year commercial and medical affairs pharmaceutical career and specializes in successfully supporting small and mid-sized bio-pharma companies commercially develop and launch products worldwide.
His long tenure with AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals across the UK, Sweden, and Canada and his most recent senior vice president roles in Marketing and Medical Affairs with ProStrakan (a member of the Kyowa Hakka Kirin group), provides an in-depth international experience.
Jamie combines his experience with passion to be a driver of innovation within the industry. Using his expertise in developing, launching, and growing much-needed medicines and fostering positive work environments is integrated into every one of his relationships and projects