Helping sport organizations
be great and do good.
We are strategists first.
We bring senior-level thinking, hands-on delivery, and deep sector fluency with backgrounds spanning brand and commercial strategy, sponsorship and partnerships, research, facilitation, and creative development.
Our experience across sport, social impact, and purpose-driven organizations allows us to navigate complexity, align stakeholders, and build strategies that are both commercially sound and mission-aligned.
Get to know our founders.
After more than a decade working together advising some of Canada’s most prominent sport and sport-adjacent organizations, our founders saw firsthand where strategy too often fell short — long on ambition, short on accountability; strong on ideas, weak on practicality.
The vision for the greater was to build a different kind of strategy firm: one grounded in clarity, commercial rigor, and real-world know how to bridge big ideas with sound implementation. Our focus is simple — help organizations devise brand, business, and partnership strategies in ways that drive measurable impact across the sport system and beyond.
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Managing Partner (He/Him)
Matthew has 15+ years of consulting experience in sport, sponsorship, and social impact.
A generalist by trade, he thrives when facilitating cross-functional teams to help them make big bold decisions and when acting as a strategic muse for business leaders to help them clarify their vision and set long-term strategic directions.
Prior to the greater, Matthew was President of MKTG Canada, a sponsorship agency where he helped the firm earn recognition twice as Agency of the Year by the Sponsorship Marketing Council. When he’s not by his laptop, he’s either on a food adventure with his husband Jensen, playing in the backyard with Charlie the chihuahua/iggy, or cheering on his beloved Detroit Lions.
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Partner & Head of Strategy, MBA (He/Him)
Matt brings 10+ years experience leading strategy & planning teams, working with Boards, Management Teams and Marketing Leaders across corporate, brand and social impact engagements.
Prior to the greater, Matt was VP, Strategy at MKTG Canada (Dentsu) where he oversaw the delivery of strategic planning services to brands across Canada investing in partnerships across sport, entertainment, art, and social impact.
Matt has been recognized by the 5 to Watch Awards which honours leaders under 40 years old and has taught part-time at George Brown. Away from work, Matt loves: a great meal with friends and family, planning the next travel destination, and honing his craft as an average pickup basketball player.
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Strategist, MSc. (she/her)
Emily has a diverse background supporting both non-profit and for-profit organizations across a range of industries. She played a key role in re-imagining Calgary’s Economic Strategy and advancing the city’s innovation ecosystem. More recently, her focus has been on promoting sport and population-level wellbeing through health systems advocacy, research, strategic planning, and community engagement. Emily holds an MSc in Integrative Health & Wellbeing from the University of Westminster and has contributed her expertise to high-impact organizations including Beyond Sport, Heart & Stroke, and the Toronto Raptors.
Outside of the office, she's an avid sports fan - both partaking and spectating - and never misses a chance to enjoy live music.
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Senior Advisor (she/her)
Dana Gladstone brings more than 35 years of experience across Canada’s sport and sponsorship marketing industry. She has held senior roles with Hockey Canada, the Canadian Football League, Molson Sports & Entertainment and Canadian Tire, as well as agency positions with MacLaren Momentum, Lang & Associates and IMG. Most recently, she spent 10 years as Vice President, Partnership Strategy and Licensing at Hockey Canada, leading partnership strategy, client service and property value creation. Dana advises sport properties and brands on sponsorship strategy, commercial development and partnership opportunities, drawing on her experience representing properties, agencies and corporate sponsors. She has also served on the Board of the Canadian Sponsorship Marketing Council and chaired the Sponsorship Marketing Awards.
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Strategy Director (he/him)
Neal is a hybrid strategic planner with a diverse skill set drawing from a multidisciplinary background in marketing and planning.
Through previous roles with Bleublancrouge and Zync developing brand strategy and creative campaigns, or MKTG Canada (Dentsu) leading partnerships, sponsorships, and CSR strategy, Neal has helped draw clarity from complexity for leaders of some of Canada’s largest businesses (Scotiabank, TELUS, BRP) and most impactful organizations (Canadian Cancer Society, St. Michael’s Hospital, Canadian Red Cross, Canadian Olympic Committee).
Away from the desk, Neal is a father of two, loves to travel, and tries to get out into nature as much as possible—camping, hiking, and gardening.
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Senior Strategist, MSc. (he/him)
Calum is a multi-faceted Strategist with a background in creative strategy and digital.
Driven by an insatiable curiosity to understand people's motivations and decisions, Calum has worked with many national and multinational brands in the U.K. and E.U. (Weightmans, University of Liverpool, LEGO Ventures, Kinguin) to uncover new and exciting ways to reach and impact their customers. He holds an MSc in Entrepreneurship and Innovation Management from the University of Liverpool Management School.
In his spare time, Calum loves to work on his embroidery projects and research new red wine vintages to add to his collection.
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Strategy Director (she/her)
Liz is a strategic leader with a background in national and international sport federations. Her career has spanned strategy, operations, and high performance at both USRowing and World Rowing. While at World Rowing, she led the creation of a strategic plan which contributed to the successful inclusion of a new rowing discipline at the LA 2028 Olympics, the re-inclusion of para rowing at the Paris 2024 Paralympics, and the launch of a dynamic new indoor rowing competition format. Before joining the greater, she ran her own independent sport strategy consultancy in the UK, helping organizations navigate complex, hard-to-define challenges and create strategic clarity around where to focus. She is particularly drawn to first-of-their-kind initiatives, and is passionate about improving access to sport in all its forms.
Away from work, Liz loves to take on complex sewing projects and lifting heavy weights at the gym.
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Chair, Advisory Board
Michael Downey is a seasoned executive with a distinguished career as a leader in sports and business.
As CEO of Tennis Canada, he spearheaded initiatives like a National Training Centre in Montreal which contributed to Canada's historic Davis Cup and Billie Jean King Cup victories and helped many Canadians reach the top 10 in the world. His international experience includes leading the GB’s Lawn Tennis Association, where he revitalized grassroots participation and modernized professional tournaments. Earlier roles at Molson Breweries and Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment showcased his strategic planning, marketing and sales expertise. In 2023, Michael was honoured with the ACA Gold Medal for his lifetime contributions to marketing and sports.
Now retired, he resides in Delta, BC, with his wife, Jinder, and enjoys time with their three adult children while contributing actively on multiple boards.
Our values.
Our values go beyond nice words. They shape how we work together as a team and how we engage with our clients.
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The best strategists are confident, not certain. We help you move closer to the outcomes you want—even when the path isn’t perfectly clear.
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We stay curious. Students of our business, our clients, society, and the craft of strategy itself.
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We are better together. We foster a kind, supportive, collaborative environment grounded in respect and care.
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We are collaborative thought partners. We help clients identify strategic challenges and solve them together.
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We diagnose before we prescribe. We are deliberate in our approach and reflective about the why.
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We are grateful for the impactful work we get to be part of. We feel invested in outcomes—not just outputs.
Building for belonging.
Like many purpose-driven organizations, we’re on a journey to build a company that does better by everyone it reaches.
Inspired by the Call for Equity by POCAM we crafted a series of commitments with our team related to Policies, Hiring Practices, Education, and Community engagement with an evergreen goal of fostering a culture of belonging – one where diverse identities and perspectives are respected, celebrated and welcomed.
Each year we review and evolve these commitments. To learn more about what we’ve committed to and the progress we’ve made, click the link below.