Managing Director | Com.Motion | Toronto | Age: 30

“Experience isn’t necessarily a yardstick of talent,” says Ed Lee.

It’s an appropriate observation from a man who entered the PR game by “accident” and in six short years became Veritas Communications’ youngest ever managing director when he was appointed to the lead role of the social media division Com.Motion at just 29.

London, U.K.-born Lee studied anthropology and politics at Oxford Brookes University before a friend told him about an internship at Golin Harris in London.

“I turned up not knowing anything about PR,” he says. Lee received “amazing on-thejob training” and stayed at the firm for a year. He and his then-girlfriend (a Calgary native who later became his wife) moved to Toronto in 2004. Lee started as an account director at Strategic Objectives before moving to Fleishman- Hillard. It was here he realized his passion for the online space, and after three months moved over to the firm’s interactive arm, iStudio.

This past January, he received a call from Com.Motion founder Keith McArthur, who was looking for his own replacement after accepting a job as senior director of social media and digital communications for Rogers. The two met up, along with Veritas president Beverley Hammond, who after 10 minutes knew Lee was a “rock star.” In February, he joined Com.Motion.

Lee “is the kind of guy who gives you complete confidence in his knowledge,” says Hammond.

Since his arrival, Com.Motion has doubled in size (Lee currently oversees a team of four) and has added Guinness, Subway, Genworth Financial and Wines of Ontario to its client roster. An obvious advocate of social media, Lee isn’t one to innovate for innovation’s sake, says Hammond. All of Lee’s programs evolve from the same starting point: a strategic look at the client’s business and communications objectives and their key audiences.

For example, Lee gave hockey fans a place to rally in support of Canadian BlackBerry billionaire Jim Balsillie’s bid to bring a new NHL hockey franchise to southern Ontario. He developed the content for MakeItSeven.ca, where visitors could add their names, voices and video messages of support, and link to other social media sites.

The effort generated around 28,000 Facebook fans and 4,500 Twitter followers, while nearly 200,000 fans signed up for the campaign newsletter. The Globe and Mail compared the effort to Barack Obama’s presidential campaign for its use of social media to recruit and engage supporters.

Outside the office, Lee maintains his own blog, Blogging Me Blogging You and co-founded Third Tuesday Toronto, a meet-up dedicated to introducing social media to the mainstream communications community. The group has more than 2,200 members with chapters in Halifax, Montreal, Ottawa, Calgary and Vancouver. Lee is definitely one to watch, and you can, on his blog… Twitter… Facebook…