Jimmy Knowles leads Global Experiential Marketing at Canva, building brand experiences that are rooted in culture and bring the Canva brand to life for communities across the globe. Since joining Canva, Jimmy lead the development of Canva’s signature tentpole event Canva Create that most recently saw 1.5M registrants in its second iteration in March 2023. The Experiential team has since rolled out a global strategy that has seen Canva show up across the cultural calendar including launching Canva’s first ever Developer’s Conference, Canva Extend_, this June. From Sydney’s Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras to the Cannes Lions, Canva is setting the gold standard for creating memorable and meaningful experiences for our community of more than 150 million community members across the globe.
Prior to joining Canva, Jimmy spent over a decade on the agency side as a Senior Leader at Ryan Seacrest’s CIVIC Entertainment Group following his work brand-side with Macy’s Parade and Entertainment Group and FOX Broadcasting Company. At CIVIC his work spanned verticals including tech, entertainment, automotive and lifestyle for Fortune 500 companies across his client portfolio including Airbnb, Disney, WeWork, HBO Max, Ford and Meta. In 2016 Jimmy and his team at CIVIC took home Event Marketer’s Grand Ex Award for their work on the 2016 Airbnb Open, Airbnb’s annual festival that saw 20K attendees in Downtown Los Angeles for it’s most recent iteration.
A graduate of Ithaca College’s Roy H. Park School of Communications, Jimmy now calls Los Angeles home after 30+ years spent on the East Coast and his hometown of Philadelphia, PA. Though these days, you can usually find him on a plane or in the Delta lounge.