The Unobvious Ones is a monthly look at movers and shakers who fly below the radar in the Canadian auto industry.
HANIF NORI
‘THE MAIN PERSON’ LOBBYING GOVERNMENT FOR HONDA
In April, Honda Canada announced a $15 billion investment to build electric vehicles and batteries in Alliston, Ont.
Ensuring the project adheres to federal and provincial regulations falls to Hanif Nori, manager of government and environmental affairs.
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“I make sure the people in our company are aware of regulatory changes . . . and what meetings need to happen with key politicians,” said Nori, who works at Honda’s head office in Markham, Ont.
He’s also “the main person lobbying government when major policies affect the company and representing Honda within industry associations.”
After studying law in Toronto, Nori, 47, worked as a lawyer for a private firm and then the attorney general of Ontario. After earning a master’s in international and corporate law at New York’s Columbia University, he returned to Toronto. Following stints at a financial services company and Canadian Tire, he joined Honda in 2011. He began as an in-house lawyer.
“I reviewed and negotiated contracts and worked with our dealer network,” Nori said.
A couple of years later he took on the government relations file.
With new regulations including zero-emission mandates, “we needed to be more active with our lobbying, and in 2017 I devoted my time to government relations and had a team assigned to me,” he said.
In addition to government monitoring, Nori meets regularly with Honda representatives in Japan and the U.S. “Our products built in Alliston go to the U.S. and political frameworks happening in the U.S. affect Canada. . . . We have to take those into account,” he said.
“My legal background is helpful to understand policies, but I also have to read the room. We have to see what’s ahead, understand the key areas to focus on, and tailor the messages when we lobby the government.”
SARA PIMENTEL
A CONSUMER’S EYE GUIDES SUBARU CANADA’S MESSAGING
Advertising in more than promoting a vehicle. It’s also about getting the brand’s message across so people will remember it. As advertising manager for Subaru Canada in Mississauga, Ont., Sara Pimentel makes sure the message hits its mark.
She heads the strategy and development of the national campaigns and new-vehicle launches.
“We lead our [advertising] agency partners, going back and forth on strategy and production of the campaign itself.”
That can entail attending commercial shoots to make sure the brand is properly represented.
Pimentel, 35, always loved to write and earned a degree in media studies and a has a journalism diploma.
After interning with Global News in Toronto, she was hired as an editorial assistant in 2010.
“I did field producing, worked in the control room, the teleprompters, the video library,” she said.
She was there for three-and-a-half years but realized that working with so much bad news wasn’t for her.
“I needed a different industry for my creative side.”
She went into experiential marketing as a brand ambassador, which included a Lincoln event. “I never thought I would work for a car brand, but it was a lot of fun and different from the other clients.”
She joined Subaru in 2016 as advertising coordinator and moved to advertising specialist and then to manager in 2022.
“I’m not a gearhead, and I think that gives me an advantage because I’m seeing our marketing [from the perspective of] an average consumer.”
What’s the mark of a successful campaign?
“People remember our ads from years ago and that tells you it was impactful, and you did your job,” she said.
