Originally published in the Dec. 5, 2024 edition of The Weekly Briefing
Ruth Zowdu has announced she’ll be retiring as Senior Managing Director of CBC News, Toronto & the Ontario Region, in March. Zowdu has held the position for the last four years, previously serving as the Managing Editor for CBC Ottawa, the first woman of colour to run a local CBC newsroom.
Ann MacKeigan has transitioned to the new role of Executive Producer, Talent Development at CBC. She leaves the Executive Producer role she’s held for the last seven years on q with Tom Power, and Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud. With CBC since 1988, MacKeigan previously served as Director, Content Development and Production, Radio and Audio.
Lui (Luigi) Valente, Station Manager at multi-ethnic station CFMB Montreal is retiring after a 46-year career. Valente has held a variety of roles, navigating the station through two ownership changes, including its acquisition by Evanov Communications in 2014, when he was named Station Manager. Concurrent with Valente’s departure, CFMB will undergo management restructuring, with more details to come.
Emma Buchanan is now an Assistant Editor at The Logic. A freelance reporter and copy editor with bylines at The Local, CBC and Maclean’s, Buchanan most recently served as Interim Office Manager at The Walrus.
Michael Boyd has announced his retirement from Podcast Atlantic, the Dartmouth, NS-based podcast production company he’s run since 2018. Boyd, a former longtime Halifax Cable/EastlinkTV Program Coordinator and Master Control Manager, says he’s looking forward to helping non-profit organizations create their own podcasts in his retirement years. Podcast Atlantic will live on via Facebook, LinkedIn, X and Instagram.
Lindsay Doyle has joined Netflix Canada as Public Policy Lead. Doyle leaves YouTube where she served as Head of Government Affairs and Public Policy for Canada for the last eight months, and prior to that, held the same role with Google Canada for six years.
Nick Solowski, previously Senior Director, International Sales & Acquisitions, has been promoted at Blue Ant Studios to the position of VP, International Sales. Based in Toronto, Solowski has been an integral member of both Blue Ant Studios’ APAC and Americas teams, reporting jointly to Jon Penn, Managing Director, APAC, Blue Ant Media and Bryan Gabourie, SVP, International Sales & Partnerships, Blue Ant Studios, with a focus on Australia, New Zealand, Korea, Japan, China and Canada. Solowski’s elevated role will see him focus on expanding the scope of existing content partnerships and cultivate new ones, especially with emerging platforms. Prior to Blue Ant Studios, he held distribution sales roles at Tricon Films & Television, Spafax Canada and Alliance Atlantis MPD.
Brent Johnston has been appointed the new CEO at Xplore. Geoff Lowe, Xplore’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO), who recently also served as Interim CEO, has been promoted to President & Chief Financial Officer. Johnston previously served as President of Wireless Services at Rogers Communications and spent more than a decade growing consumer markets nationally for both wireless and wireline products at TELUS. He also held the role of Senior Managing Director at Apple Canada. His appointment comes on the heels of Xplore’s completion in October of a comprehensive recapitalization, with more than C$1.6 billion of new funding committed through both private investment and federal and provincial government broadband programs.
