MEET THE FOUNDERS
Shawn Barrie
Co-Founder · Marketing, Sponsorship & Media
AT A GLANCE
Shawn Barrie
Co-Founder
Marketing, Sponsorship & Media
SHAWN’S STORY
A career built around purpose
Some careers are built around a profession. Others are built around a purpose.
For Shawn Barrie, that purpose has always been helping people navigate life’s important moments. It has shaped a career spanning more than three decades and continues to influence every project, partnership and community initiative he is part of today.
The path to Ageing Well
Long before he founded Bulldog Creative or co-created Ageing Well Expo, Shawn was raised with a simple philosophy by his parents, Phil and Marlene: do the right thing, lead with kindness and, if you have the ability to help someone, step forward before they have to ask.
Those values became the foundation for how he approaches his work and his relationships with others.
Although he spent years searching for what he wanted to be “when he grew up,” everything changed during a Planning and Organizing Events class at Mount Royal University. Sitting in only his second class, Shawn realized he had found the work he was meant to do.
It brought together his love of creativity, strategic thinking and problem-solving with something even more important: creating experiences that leave people better than he found them.
Over the next three decades, Shawn built a career spanning finance, technology, construction, homebuilding, residential and commercial real estate, retail, postsecondary education and the nonprofit sector.
Whether leading international incentive travel programs, developing marketing strategies, building sponsorship partnerships or producing memorable events, his work has remained focused on bringing people together, building trust and creating experiences that make a lasting difference.
Today, Shawn is the Founder and Creative Lead of Bulldog Creative, a boutique creative agency built on the belief that the best marketing does more than promote products or services. It helps people make informed decisions, builds lasting relationships and earns trust through authenticity.
His work has been recognized by peers in the meetings and events industry, including MPI Calgary’s Planner of the Year Award and recognition as one of SPIN’s Top 40 Over 40.
Yet the recognition Shawn values most rarely comes with a trophy. It comes from knowing that someone walked away feeling more informed, more confident or simply a little less overwhelmed than when they arrived.
Why Ageing Well matters
The inspiration for Ageing Well Expo did not begin in a boardroom or through market research.
It began with two conversations between friends.
As Shawn and fellow Co-Founder Kate Kelly navigated the loss of loved ones while helping ageing family members make increasingly complex life decisions, they discovered something countless families experience every day: the information existed, but finding it felt overwhelming.
Questions about health, housing, financial planning, legal matters, caregiving, retirement and community resources rarely had one clear starting point. Families were left piecing together answers from numerous organizations, websites, brochures and phone calls—often during some of the most emotionally difficult times in their lives.
Rather than accepting that as “just the way it is,” Shawn and Kate decided to build the resource they wished had existed for their own families.
Ageing Well Expo was created to bring trusted experts, community organizations, practical resources and meaningful conversations together under one roof. It gives people an opportunity to learn, ask questions, discover options and prepare for the future long before they find themselves in a crisis.
As Co-Founder and Marketing and Sponsorship Director, Shawn is committed to building partnerships that strengthen communities while ensuring every attendee, exhibitor, sponsor, volunteer and speaker feels part of something meaningful.
What guides his work
A lifelong learner, Shawn believes curiosity is one of the greatest investments a person can make.
Whether exploring artificial intelligence, psychology, leadership, human behaviour, marketing, community governance or the future of ageing, he is driven by the belief that there is always something new to understand—and that better questions often lead to better solutions.
When asked what “ageing well” means, his answer reflects the philosophy behind the Expo itself:
“It’s living your best life—as you age, at whatever age.”
If visitors leave Ageing Well Expo having discovered a resource they did not know existed, asked a question they had not thought to ask or simply feeling more confident about whatever comes next, Shawn considers the Expo a success.
Because, in the end, he believes the most meaningful work is not measured only by what we create. It is measured by the lives we help improve along the way.
Stay relentlessly curious. Lead with kindness. Build with purpose. Leave every person, every project and every community better than you found it.