Humans of ACL
Behind every powerful AI agent is a team of even more powerful human ones.
At Advanced Creative Labs, our platform may be built on cutting-edge technology, but it’s powered by people. From strategists and storytellers to engineers and product thinkers, our team brings the curiosity, craft, and care that make the magic happen. We combine human insight and machine intelligence because we know that great ideas don’t start with prompts. They start with people.

Mark McQuillan
Mark has spent over two decades at the intersection of technology, creativity, and business transformation. As the founder and former CEO of Jam3—one of Canada’s most celebrated digital agencies—Mark helped build a global reputation for innovation before leading its acquisition by MediaMonks. Now, as CEO of ACL, he’s focused on shaping the future of marketing strategy by putting powerful AI tools in the hands of human thinkers.
Mark often finds ways to naturally integrate The Simpsons quotes into day-to-day conversation (even at work). Whether he's referencing Mr. Burns' "excellent" or channelling Homer mid-pitch, you're never more than a few minutes from a Springfield cameo.

Greg Shortall
Greg is the founder of Advanced Creative Labs and brings over 20 years as a top-tier creative leader at agencies like Leo Burnett, Ogilvy, and Cossette. Greg has worked with some of the world’s most iconic brands and still gets excited by a beautifully written brief.
Born and raised in Newfoundland, Greg still carries the charm, grit, and early mornings of his East Coast roots. He’s also a dedicated runner which, depending on the day, is either a meditative ritual or a slow-motion brainstorm session. If you're cruising the streets of Toronto, there's a good chance you'll spot him cruising past with headphones in and a half-baked product idea forming stride by stride.

Greg Ponesse
Greg is the operational force behind Advanced Creative Labs, combining years of executive leadership with a deep love for systems, scale, and solving problems that matter. As a seasoned startup leader and investor, he’s helped build and commercialize companies across sectors—from gaming and design strategy to B2B tech and AI. At ACL, he’s focused on building a future where creative teams move faster, think deeper, and get better results without the bloat.
Greg’s day often starts before the sun does; either on a 6AM bike ride that makes your quads hurt just thinking about it, or a long walk with his dog Kobe, who’s also the unofficial Chief Barketing Officer of ACL. Rumour has it, some of Greg’s best business insights come between Kobe’s mid-walk sniff breaks.

Reuben Greenspoon
Reuben leads Growth at Advanced Creative Labs, where he oversees marketing, sales, and client success and occasionally reminds everyone that “strategy” and “results” can actually be friends. With nearly 20 years of experience across in-house teams, agencies, and fast-moving startups, Reuben brings clarity to the chaos and momentum to every meeting.
When Reuben is in the real world, he is a vinyl record obsessive. His idea of a perfect Saturday involves a crate of dusty LPs, and the faint hope of finding a mint condition Miles Davis record. If you're ever on a Zoom call and hear the faint crackle of a needle drop, no you didn’t.

Nolan Debeau
Nolan is the technical leader behind the product vision at Advanced Creative Labs. With over 20 years of experience leading product innovation at the intersection of design, code, and emerging technology, he’s helped build everything from decentralized finance platforms to generative AI systems, always with a relentless focus on clarity, usability, and what's next.
Nolan lives in Collingwood—aka the Ontairo Alps—and yes, he skis. A lot. In fact, his most productive product sprints often happen on actual slopes. If you ever see a roadmap update come through at 7AM, there’s a good chance it was drafted somewhere between chairlift rides 2 and 3.

Julian Ritchy
Julian is the original engineer at Advanced Creative Labs and has been instrumental in building the platform from prototype to production. With a background spanning AI development, systems integration, and full-stack engineering (not to mention a past life programming industrial robots) he brings deep technical experience and relentless curiosity to every line of code.
If Julian's Slack status says “At the gym,” it’s not an auto-reply, t’s a lifestyle. When he’s not writing elegant code, there’s a good chance he’s writing his next personal best in dumbbell curls. Rumour has it he can debug a Python script and hit a deadlift PR in the same hour.

Wanlin Li
Wanlin is a machine learning engineer at ACL, bringing deep expertise in data science, AI systems, and bioinformatics to the heart of our platform. From refining RAG pipelines to developing multi-agent frameworks, she plays a key role in making our AI smarter, faster, and more insightful.
Wanlin was ACL’s very first intern—a title she wears with quiet pride and plenty of Git commits. Originally from China, she balances machine learning with multi-language fluency, lightning-fast debugging, and a supernatural ability to make Streamlit apps look good.