First published in the Jan. 25, 2024 edition of The Weekly Briefing

Byron Garby, General Manager of National Radio Sales with Corus Entertainment, will be retiring at the end of January. Garby’s advertising career spans over 43 years, beginning at McCann Erickson as a media buyer, then account executive. Garby has held senior management roles at Telemedia, Standard Broadcasting, Milestone Broadcasting (Flow 93.5), Zoomer Media, and Bell Media. He joined Corus in 2015. Among other industry associations, Garby served on the Numeris Radio and Audio committees and Radio Connects advisory committee. He’s also a former president of the Canadian Association of Broadcast Reps (CABR) and the Broadcast Executives Society (BES).

Andrew Johnson has joined JAZZ.FM91 (CJRT-FM) Toronto as a Business Development Executive. Johnson was formerly station manager at 106.5 ELMNT FM (CFPT-FM) Toronto and prior to that served as production manager at the former G98.7 (CKFG-FM) Toronto.

Stef Mallaci has been named the new Head of Brand Partnerships at Narcity Media Group. Mallaci was most recently Partnerships Lead, North America for Linkby, and before that worked with Snap as the business solutions lead for CPG (consumer packaged goods) partnerships for Canada.

Sonia Boisvert has been appointed Vice President, Content and Production at TFO, the Franco-Ontarian public broadcaster. Boisvert, who left Radio-Canada in December after 25 years, most recently held the position of Senior Program Manager, Toronto and Windsor. Boisvert succeeds Claude Sauvé, who will remain with TFO as special advisor until the end of March during the transition period. He’s been with TFO since 2021.

Richard B. Levy has been named interim CEO at Just For Laughs Group. Levy assumes the role following the departure of President & CEO Charles Décarie, who is now helming the Canadian Heritage committee seeking the next CBC/Radio-Canada President & CEO. Levy is a partner in the UK-based Primary Talent International booking agency and the founder of GMSE, the parent company of the Sponsorship Exchange platform.

Amanda Handy is assuming ownership of Nomad Films, the Canadian documentary and factual production company founded in 1997 by Mark Johnston. A longtime in-house producer, Handy has been with Nomad since 2006, producing projects including Empire of the Word (TVO, TG4 Ireland, SBS Australia); The Al Qaeda Code (CBC, WDR/ARTE); The Nature of Things doc Giraffes: The Forgotten Giants (CBC); and all five seasons of Political Blind Date (TVO). Prior to Nomad, Handy made her mark on a number of Toronto-based companies, including Fireworks Entertainment, Cinenova, Screen Door, and Media Headquarters. 

Numeris has a new Board of Directors for 2024. Greg McLelland, EVP and Chief Revenue Officer, Corus Entertainment, takes over as Chair, succeeding OMD CEO Cathy Collier. Kevin Johnson, CEO of GroupM Canada moves into the Vice Chair position. New directors joining the board include OUTtv CEO Brad Danks; Deb Gurofsky, VP, Partnerships – Media Pulse, Blue Ant Media; Janice Smith, VP, National Media Sales, Rogers Sports & Media; Hisham Ghostine, General Manager & Chief Revenue Officer, Media Solutions, CBC/Radio-Canada; Samantha Kelley, Touché! Canada and OMG Montreal; and Michelle Mruck, Director, Fabric & Home Care Media, Procter & Gamble.

Gave Lindo, the Head of Content Programming at TikTok North America, has joined the Shaw Rocket Fund as its newest board member. Prior to TikTok, Lindo helped launch CBC Gem, as Executive Director of OTT Programming for the CBC. The Rocket Fund has also enhanced its team with the promotion of Becki Brisson to Vice President, Business Affairs and Operations. Brisson has been with the Rocket Fund since 2012. A new Content Analyst is also being added to the Rocket Fund team. Reporting to Brisson, Mica Taiah brings  15 years of entertainment experience, most recently at Warner Bros. Discovery where she specialized in kids and family content as part of the Digital Team for Latin America and U.S. Hispanic markets. She joins the team following her internship with the Rocket Fund as part of Centennial College’s Children’s Media Postgraduate Program.