REVOLVING DOOR:
David Akin has joined Global News as chief political correspondent. Akin was mostly recently senior political reporter at the National Post. Global’s Ottawa bureau chief Vassy Kapelos has also had her role expanded and is now permanent host of The West Block.
Coleen Christie has announced on Twitter she’ll be joining Global’s BC1 news channel. Christie was part of layoffs at CTV Vancouver in January, where she’d been an anchor and reporter since 1997.
Eric Drozd is leaving his talk show hosting gig at 570 News Kitchener to pursue a career with the Waterloo Regional Police force. The Polish immigrant, 31, who has long dreamed of becoming a police officer, has been working with Rogers since 2011, the last three years as host of the Eric Drozd Show.
Ken Whyte, SVP public policy at Rogers Communications, has resigned after 12 years with the company. Prior to his appointment in June 2014, he was president of Next Issue Canada and before that president of Rogers Publishing.
Blue Ant Media has appointed Mitch Dent SVP, Blue Ant Media Solutions. Dent will oversee ad revenue across Blue Ant Media’s Canadian business. He’ll also lead growth of the company’s brand studio, which specializes in client content creation, custom video and social media management. Dent previously spent 16 years at Rogers Media and held EVP and VP positions within the Client Solutions, TV and print businesses.
Shauna MacKinnon has moved from hosting middays to afternoon drive on 100.5 Cruz FM (CHFT-FM) Fort McMurray. She’s also taken over music director duties. Andrew Wilcox stepped away from afternoons late last year to assume the PD role for both 100.5 Cruz FM and Mix 103.7 (CFVR-FM).
Alek Krstajic has announced he will be stepping down as CEO, Freedom Mobile. Paul McAleese takes over the role. McAleese has more than two decades of experience in mobile communications in the U.S., UK, and Canada with i-wireless LLC, Cincinnati Bell, Telefonica and Rogers Wireless.
