Management team.

At J5, management is more than a role, it’s a practice rooted in listening, learning, and co-creating with the people we serve. Together, they set the tone for how we work: with humility, curiosity, and an understanding that real change happens when we roll up our sleeves alongside clients, employees, and communities.

To our clients, our leaders are trusted partners who help navigate complexity, align diverse stakeholders, and turn good intentions into practical, human-centred solutions. To our team, they create the conditions for growth, creativity, and wellbeing, ensuring that every project reflects the values and purpose that define J5.

John Vardalos
Founder

Kevin Drinkwater
President

Sydney Johnson
Head of Design

Leadership team.

The risk of poorly designed services or strategies are high, and the path to change is often complicated. Our practice leaders ensure that our work is grounded in rigorous methods and nurture the culture within J5, mentoring and supporting our teams so that we can continue to bring creativity, resilience, and humanity to every engagement.

In short, they help us do what J5 does best: design with people, not for them. And in doing so, they help the organizations we serve build services, systems, and strategies that are truly fit for the future.

Tim Chen
Team Lead

Annand Ollivierre
Team Lead

Erika Mahoney
Client Lead

Kristofer Kelly-Frere
Creative Lead

Jaclyn Ap
Team Lead

Kyna Ceschini
Digital Lead

Lily Lo
Team Lead

Design team.

At J5, our entire team is made up of strategists, designers, researchers, and engineers who lead with curiosity, creativity, and care. We come from diverse backgrounds such as public policy, healthcare, architecture, technology, business and the arts, but what brings us together is a shared belief that design can change lives.

You’ll feel the difference when you work with us, because we don’t just show up with answers, we show up with open minds and open hearts.

Julie Kuhn
UX Designer

Dan O’Shea
Service Designer

Hannah Kim
Service Designer

John Hutchings
Service Designer

Katie Saxon
Service Designer

Floriane Rousse-Marquet
Service Designer

Katie Pula
Service Designer

Autumn Sanders
Service Designer

Natasha Mawji
UX Designer

Cindy Lam
Visual Designer

Rhea Kachroo
Service Designer

Amy Bronson
Service Designer

Meng (Bo) Li
UX Designer

Pachy Orellana-Fitzgerald
Service Designer

Gabrielle Dickson
Service Designer

Join our team.

If you're a kind and creative designer, developer, strategist or something in between and want to make the world a better place, please take a look at our open roles.