Originally published in the Jan. 16, 2025 edition of The Weekly Briefing
Alicia Olson-Keating has been named incoming president & CEO of Numeris. Olson-Keating has been working in the media industry for 37 years – 28 of those in Canada – where she’s held roles as VP Strategic Research at Canadian Broadcast Sales (CBS), Market Development & Research Manager at CHUM, and Senior Research Director, Cross Media at Bell Media. From Bell, she joined Australian public broadcaster ABC in 2015 as Head of Audience Insights. Most recently, she’s been serving as CEO and Managing Director of Nielsen TAM, Australia, where her team is responsible for development, execution and delivery of new currency measurement, Virtual Australia (VOZ), which replaced television measurement as the national standard at the end of 2024. Sue Haas, who has been serving as Interim President & CEO, will continue to lead Numeris through the next few months to ensure a smooth transition. Haas stepped into the interim role in July, following the departure of Neil McEneaney, who had served as president & CEO since 2016. Read more here.
Richard Cormier has departed the National Film Board (NFB) where he’d served as Director General, Programming, Creation, Distribution and Marketing, and Head of Programming since September 2023. Cormier succeeded Julie Roy in the position, arriving from Montreal’s MELS, where he held the title of Vice-President, Digital Creative Services and Executive Producer of Virtual Production.

Rebecca Zandbergen is the new host of CBC Radio’s Ottawa Morning. Zandbergen, who has been with CBC for more than two decades, hosted London Morning for six years, before returning to Ottawa in 2023.

Justin Rydell has been promoted to News Director, CTV Barrie. Rydell has been with CTV Barrie since 2009, first as an ENG/EFP photographer, and then Assignment Producer. Most recently, he’d been overseeing editorial, digital, and brand integrations as Senior Producer.

Alex Seixeiro has moved from sports anchor to afternoon co-anchor at 680 NewsRadio (CFTR-AM), alongside Laura Carney. Seixeiro has worked with Rogers Sports & Media since 2006 across Sportsnet 590 The Fan (CJCL-AM), Sportsnet and CityNews.

Geoff Rohoman has fallen to cuts at 680 NewsRadio (CFTR-AM), upon his return from medical leave. Rohoman, who has been battling colon cancer, was most recently focused on “infotainment” reporting. He’d been with Rogers Sports & Media since 2006, with stops at 1130 NewsRadio (CKWX-AM) Vancouver and Sportsnet 590 The Fan (CJCL-AM).

Zack Bodenstein has joined Sportsnet 590 The Fan (CJCL-AM) as a host. Bodenstein has been filling-in as traffic reporter and content creator on Breakfast Television for the past year and has been an anchor and reporter for 680 NewsRadio since 2017.

Noah Rishaug has joined Global Edmonton. A born and raised Edmontonian, the NAIT grad arrives from CTV News Saskatoon.

Matt Scace has joined The Canadian Press (CP) Prairies bureau in Calgary as a reporter/editor. Scace arrives from the Calgary Herald, where he was a business reporter and digital producer for the past two years.

Catherine Morrison has joined the Parliamentary Bureau at The Canadian Press (CP). Morrison arrives from Postmedia, where she’d been a reporter with the Ottawa Citizen for the past two years. Prior to that, she worked for Postmedia’s papers in Fredericton and Sussex, NB.

Bob Willette has joined Indie88 (CIND-FM) Toronto full-time as an evening and weekend host. Willette, who’d been filling in on the station since November, was most recently the Program Director at Corus Kingston, up until last February when Corus realigned its FM radio leadership team.

Christine Puma is now Manager of Sales and Partnerships with Ontario Northland, responsible for brand partnerships, digital and print advertising in station terminals and shelters, buses and the returning Northlander passenger trains. Previously Corus Entertainment’s Sales Manager for the Barrie/Collingwood radio cluster, Puma has also held positions with CTV/Bell Media Barrie, The Barrie Chamber of Commerce, Toronto Star, Rogers Media and the former Autumn Group Advertising Agency.

Mark Ford has been named Chief Creative Officer at Blink49 Studios. Reporting to Tara Long, President of Global Unscripted Television, Ford will oversee the studio’s unscripted media development and production. Ford is the founder of Creature Films, a prodco known for its documentaries and reality series, with a focus on music and pop culture icons, including Paramount’s Behind the Music, A&E’s Biggie: The Life of Notorious B.I.G., Streets of Compton and L.A. Burning.

Richard Welsh has been elected by SMPTE’s membership to serve as the organization’s new president through Dec. 31, 2026. Welsh is currently SVP of Innovation at Deluxe. He has been on the SMPTE board for more than 10 years, most recently serving a two-year term as SMPTE Executive Vice-President. He has also served as SMPTE’s VP of Education and governor for EMEA, Central/South America. Welsh is also on the board of IBC and the chair/co-founder of volumetric asset management company, Volustor. He began his career at Dolby Laboratories as a film sound consultant, later becoming head of operations of Technicolor’s digital cinema, localization, and sound services department.