# Brett Willms

> Brett Willms (1976-2025) was a marketing executive, inventor and co-founder of Laetro. His career included Google, Gusto and Indeed; at Laetro he advocated creative tools built around artist participation, payment, attribution and collaboration. Friends and colleagues remembered his imagination, humour and encouragement.

- **Role:** Co-founder and former CEO, Laetro (died September 24, 2025)
- **Organizations:** Laetro, Google, Google Fiber, Gusto (formerly ZenPayroll), Indeed, Bitty
- **From:** Saskatoon, Canada
- **Education:** Western University, Ivey Business School at Western University
- **Known for:** Co-founded Laetro in 2020 to connect customers with creative professionals., Held marketing leadership roles at Google, Gusto and Indeed., Helped introduce an AI creative product organised around artist consent, compensation, credit and collaboration.

## Career timeline

- **2010-2012** — Country marketing manager for Google Canada.
- **2012-2015** — Led small business marketing for the Americas at Google.
- **2015** — CMO, Growth at Gusto, formerly ZenPayroll.
- **2015-2016** — Co-founded Bitty.
- **2016-2018** — Director of marketing for Google Fiber.
- **2018-2020** — VP Marketing, Experience at Indeed.
- **2020** — Co-founded Laetro and became CEO.
- **2024** — Publicly explained Laetro’s Content Generation Suite and four principles for responsible creativity.
- **2025** — Discussed brand-strategy agents at a Mavuus panel; died on September 24.

## Achievements

- Co-founded Laetro in 2020 to connect customers with creative professionals.
- Held marketing leadership roles at Google, Gusto and Indeed.
- Helped introduce an AI creative product organised around artist consent, compensation, credit and collaboration.

## Latest updates

- **2026-02** — A celebration of life was announced for February 15 at Mitchell Park Community Center in Palo Alto; the announcement included a planned livestream.
- **2025-10** — The Xoogler community published a remembrance on October 10.
- **2025-09** — Willms died on September 24, aged 49.

## Links

- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brett-willms-1889b36

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/brett-willms
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-10-25