Revolving Door

Originally published in the Sept. 14, 2023 edition of The Weekly Briefing

Mary Anne Lavallee, Postmedia’s Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Transformation Officer is stepping down after 11 months in the role and nine with the company, effective Oct. 6. John Bode will be appointed Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Transformation Officer. A member of Postmedia’s Board of Directors since 2018, Bode was formerly Chief Operating Officer at ReaderLink Distribution Services, Chief Financial Officer at Tribune Publishing and serves as a Director on McClatchy’s Board of Directors. He’ll step down from Postmedia’s Board to assume the role, working closely with Lavallee to ensure a smooth transition.

Binder Sajan, former Legislative Bureau Chief for CTV Vancouver, is now the Deputy Director of Communications for the Office of the Premier in B.C. Sajan had been reporting for CTV since 2015.

Carlyle Fiset is joining Julie Atchison on CTV London’s 6 p.m. newscast, taking over the anchor chair from Reta Ismail, who will continue to report for the station. Fiset has been with CTV London for the past year after previously working for CTV News as a videojournalist and anchor in Edmonton.

Jennifer Basa has announced she’s stepping away from the broadcast industry and CTV London. Basa had been with CTV since 2021, first in New Brunswick, before joining the London bureau 11 months later. Prior to that, she was a videojournalist with Global Kingston.

Adel Ahmed is joining CTV Edmonton as a multimedia journalist and anchor. Ahmed arrives from CFJC Kamloops where he’s been a reporter since January. Prior to that, he worked with Stingray’s stations in Lloydminster as a news and sports reporter.

Irem Koca is joining CPAC as a producer on Prime Time Politics. Koca arrives from the Toronto Star where she’s been an Ottawa-based reporter for the past year. Prior to the Star, she was a broadcaster in Turkey, working with Reuters and CNN Turk, among other outlets.

Michael Newman, who has been a community reporter at Global BC since 2018, has signed off from the station. Newman has established his own business as a mindfulness meditation facilitator, offering guided meditation workshops and mindfulness consultation to businesses and not-for-profit groups.

Kabi Moulitharan has left Global Saskatoon for Global Edmonton. Moulitharan has been with Global since 2021 when he started as an intern with Global Toronto. He’d been a digital broadcast journalist with the Saskatoon bureau for the past year.

Stacey Brotzel is joining Daryl McIntyre as co-host of the 630 CHED Edmonton morning show, starting Sept. 25. Brotzel has been a fill-in host and producer with CBC Edmonton for the past two and a half years. She formerly hosted the local edition of CTV Morning Live, alongside Rob Williams, from 2012-20. Prior to that, she spent 15 years as a reporter and anchor with A-Channel and Citytv in the market.

Angela Sterritt has parted ways with CBC Vancouver after more than a decade as a reporter and host. The host of CBC podcast Land Back, Sterritt’s book Unbroken: My Fight for Survival, Hope, and Justice for Indigenous Women and Girls, was published earlier this year by Greystone Books.

Mary-Jean Cormier has been announced as the permanent host of CBC Radio One’s Superior Morning, which kicks off local weekday programming in Thunder Bay and Northwestern Ontario. Cormier has been with CBC since 2000, working with the public broadcaster in both Ontario and British Columbia.

Phil Evans has been upped to Operations Manager, in addition to retaining his Marketing & Promotions Manager duties, at Durham Radio’s Wave 98.3 (CIWV-FM) Vancouver. Geoff Poulton, who has held the title of Vice-President, BC Operations since the station’s launch last year, is stepping away from the role to relocate to Victoria to be closer to family.

Robyn Crawford is stepping into the position of Assistant News Director at CityNews 1130 (CKWX-AM) Vancouver. Crawford has been a producer and anchor with the station since 2021 and more recently had been upped to Managing Editor. Prior to CityNews, she worked as a reporter and anchor with Corus Entertainment’s 980 CKNW and AM 730 (CKGO-AM).

Victor Findlay is joining the TSN 690 (CKGM-AM) Montreal broadcast team as a play-by-play announcer for Montreal Canadiens games. In addition to calling Canadiens and Ottawa Senators games for TSN, Findlay has been heard on the Champions Hockey League. He’s also called games for the IIHF U18 World Championships, Memorial Cup, and covered hockey at the Beijing 2022 Olympics, among other events. His first Habs game on TSN 690 will air Sept. 25.

Carly Kincaid has joined Border Broadcasting’s 102.7 Lake FM (WLYK-FM) Kingston, licensed to Cape Vincent, New York, in afternoon drive. A freelance voiceover talent, Kincaid has previously been heard on UP! 99.3 (CIUP-FM) Edmonton and 93.1 The One (CJLD-FM) Leduc, AB, among other stations.

Tim Dinesen has joined Cogeco as Senior Vice-President and Chief Technology Officer (CTO), based at head office in Montreal. In addition to consulting work, Dinesen has held CTO roles at Xplornet and the North American Tower Corporation (NATC). He also held various positions at Bell over a decade, leaving in 2011 as VP, Technology & Operations. 

Sheri Somerville is the new CEO of the Canadian Communication Systems Alliance (CCSA), effective Oct. 10. Somerville succeeds Jay Thomson, who is retiring after leading the organization for the last seven years. She previously served as CEO of the Atlantic Chamber of Commerce. Prior to that, she founded and was Principal and Chief Counsel at Pure Symmetry Public Relations, and held previous roles as the Executive Director of the Association of Consulting Engineers (NB), Natural Gas Advisor at the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, Director at MT&L Public Relations, and Canadian Director of Communications for Michelin North America Canada.

Christina Fon, formerly Vice-President/Executive Producer at Rezolution Pictures is joining Shaftesbury as VP, Strategic Partnerships and Scripted Content. Based out of Montreal and Toronto, Fon will be part of the Shaftesbury creative team that will source and develop a new slate of content and seek broadcast and distribution partners to finance those projects. Most recently, she was executive producer on CRAVE/APTN/Fremantle original series Little Bird, which has been picked up for broadcast on PBS this October. 

Solange Attwood is leaving Blue Ant Media where she’s been EVP, International, overseeing Blue Ant’s distribution arm since 2014, to launch her own production business. Attwood will remain with Blue Ant until the end of November.

Jo Redfern has joined Wind Sun Sky Entertainment (WSS) in the newly-created role of Managing Director, Kids. Redfern is tasked with expanding the company’s footprint in the kids’ media business with a focus on the recently-announced Future Chicken, an eco-initiative for kids combating climate doomism and empowering them to make a difference. Redfern is based at the company’s headquarters in Vancouver with day-to-day oversight of the kids’ content team. With a career spanning two decades, Redfern started as Marketing Manager for the Peppa Pig franchise and has since held key Brand and Marketing positions at Disney and BBC.

Kevin Suh has joined WildBrain CPLG, the licensing arm of the Halifax-headquartered children’s entertainment provider, as it launches a new location-based entertainment (LBE) business to drive opportunities for WildBrain franchise and partner brands like Peanuts and PLAYMOBIL, with an initial focus on Asia Pacific (APAC). Based in Los Angeles, Suh was formerly President of Themed Entertainment & Consumer Products at Paramount Pictures and a senior executive at the Motion Picture Association of America. Evi Sari joins the WildBrain CPLG senior leadership team in China as VP of Location-Based Entertainment. Based in Shanghai, she’ll drive regional opportunities for WildBrain’s franchise brands, including Teletubbies, Strawberry Shortcake, Inspector Gadget and In the Night Garden, as well as third-party brands. She was previously VP of Location-Based Experiences at Paramount (ViacomCBS), responsible for building partnerships to develop the franchises of Paramount Pictures, Nickelodeon, MTV and CBS into real-world experiences in Asia.