Our Mission

Darren Slind, Managing Director

Joins Clarify Group as a co-founder and equity partner after a distinguished tenure leading global business units for J.D. Power. Most recently, Darren led the Company’s operations across South Asia, South East Asia and Oceania, focusing on voice-of-the-customer based insights and solutions that supported the growth and success of automotive clients across nine countries including India, Thailand, Vietnam and Australia.

Prior to his assignment in Singapore, Darren led automotive operations in Canada and Latin America.

Darren began his career at Xerox Canada Ltd. before joining Nissan Canada Inc. in sales and dealer operations. He has consulted with leading brands across several industries to achieve business performance gains through a deeper understanding of customer expectations and the alignment of key customer touch points to these expectations.

Darren earned a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Toronto and an MBA with distinction from the Schulich School of Business, York University. He completed the Digital Business Strategy online executive program at MIT Sloan School of Management in 2020.

Dr. Gordon Shields, Research and Analytics Director

Gordon has over 18 years experience in the automotive industry, conducting research and advisory projects across major automotive markets in Asia, Europe, GCC, Oceania and North America.

Before setting up his own research agency, Angus MacBride in August 2020, Gordon held several senior roles at J.D. Power in Singapore and Europe from 2003 to 2020, most recently leading the agency’s work on electric vehicle benchmarking.

Gordon’s focus is on supporting automotive brands on brand health, customer experience (sales and service), and product performance and quality projects. In addition, he has managed a series of market entry studies from Australia to Thailand and is equally comfortable running competitor intelligence projects.

As a highly experienced international researcher, Gordon manages single and complex multi-market quantitative and qualitative studies, as well as providing deep insights to clients directly or via senior stakeholder workshops and ideation sessions.

Gordon prides himself on providing outstanding value to clients, and is open to new research challenges, industries and markets.

He received his doctorate from the Eberhard-Karls Universität Tübingen, Germany in Political Science.

Niel Hiscox, President

Niel Hiscox leads Universus, a leading developer of automotive content for digital platforms. Their work includes video production, marketing creative, blog and other online writing, enews creation and deployment, and digital signage installations at dealerships across the country.

In addition to his automotive work, Niel is a past and founding member of KPMG’s Digital Strategies practice. He is a past advisory committee member for Georgian College’s Advertising and Marketing program, and a former instructor at the Automotive Business School of Canada.

Niel is a frequent speaker and panel moderator at industry events, including CADA’s Summit, Kijiji’s DealerTalk conferences, the Nova Scotia Dealers Association’s CADEX event, the publishing industry’s annual Magnet conference, as well as dealer events put on by provincial dealer associations across the country.

Niel earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Concordia University in Montreal, and an MBA in Marketing from McGill University.

Todd Phillips, SME

Todd Phillips is Vice-President and Director of Innovation at Universus Media Group Inc., a marketing agency, automotive industry publisher and software reseller based in Markham, Ontario.

Universus is a leading developer of automotive content for digital platforms. Their work includes video production, marketing creative, blog and other online writing, enews creation and deployment, and digital signage installations at dealerships across the country.

For more than a decade, Todd has been the editor of Canadian auto dealer, the leading media property for Canada’s car dealers, gaining invaluable and in-depth knowledge of Canada’s automotive ecosystem.

An award-winning journalist with more than 30 years experience in newspapers, magazines, television and online media, Todd regularly interviews key players across all parts of Canada’s auto industry, including OEM leaders, prominent dealers and heads of dealer groups across Canada, and suppliers.

Todd has also worked as a media analyst for governments and private-sector clients.

He received his Master of Arts in Journalism from Western University in London, Ont. and his Bachelor of Arts High Honours in Political Science from Carleton University in Ottawa, Ont.

Kushal Dhamija, Manager, Automotive Advisory Services

Kushal Dhamija joins Clarify Group with nearly a decade of automotive industry and consulting experience on two continents.

Kushal began his career in 2012 in sales and dealer operations with two leading automakers — Tata Motors and Honda Cars India.

He then joined the automotive practice of Ernst & Young in the Mumbai office in 2016 as a consultant, supporting retail standards, customer experience, financial performance and business transformation projects across multiple clients including BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Skoda-Volkswagen. Kushal was promoted to senior consultant in 2018.

On arrival in Canada, Kushal joined Tiger Auto Parts Ltd. in 2020 with responsibility for business development and account management across the collision and auto repair sectors. Kushal added concurrent responsibility for customer service shortly thereafter.

Kushal earned his MBA from the Welingkar Institute of Management, a Bachelor of Technology degree from Galgotias College of Engineering and Technology, and completed the Sales and Marketing Bridging program at Humber College in Toronto.