Originally published in the April 10, 2025 edition of The Weekly Briefing
Stewart Johnston, Senior Vice-President of Content at Bell Media, is departing the company to take on leadership of the Canadian Football League (CFL) as its 15th commissioner. The former President of TSN will depart Bell Media on April 24. He had been with TSN since 1997, rising through the ranks to hold the VP of Programming role by 2006. Johnston was promoted to President of the sports network in 2010, before being named SVP of Sports and Sales in 2021. Read more here.
Richard Gingras, longtime Vice-President of News at Google, has been named Chair of the Board of Directors at Village Media. The digital executive and entrepreneur brings over four decades of experience in digital media and journalism innovation to the Sault Ste. Marie-headquarted digital news publisher, including serving as CEO of Salon Media Group, Worldwide Services at Apple, and Vice President of Content at early consumer broadband provider, @Home Network. Read more here.
Boyd Leader, Program Director at Edmonton’s 104.9 Virgin Radio (CFMG-FM) and 100.3 The Bear (CFBR-FM), has parted ways with Bell Media. Leader had been the Edmonton PD since 2021. Prior to that, he was Group PD for Bell’s stations in the B.C. Interior, Kelowna and Victoria. Leader has held previous roles in the Edmonton market as Director of the CFWE Radio Network and Windspeaker Media, and had a 14-year run at Corus Radio Edmonton in various on-air and programming roles.
Greg Johnson has parted ways with Corus Entertainment. Johnson was the Regional Program Director for the Corus Country network, based in Edmonton. He’d been with the company almost 14 years. Eric Stafford has moved into the role of interim Senior Program Manager for Alberta. Stafford, a veteran programmer and GM, was most recently PD at Rogers Sports & Media’s 95.9 CHFM Calgary. He’s done a previous stint with Corus Radio as a Brand Director in Ottawa. Read more here.
George Leith has joined AdCellerant as President, International Partnerships. The Denver-based digital marketing tech solutions provider plans to open its first Canadian offices soon in Calgary and Saskatoon. Leith announced his departure as Executive Vice-President of Harvard Media in January.
Michael Vincent, the founder of arts publication, Ludwig Van, has departed ZoomerMedia. The company acquired the Toronto-based digital site in 2023. Vincent, a former Toronto Star music critic, founded Ludwig Van in 2017 to keep coverage of classical music alive.
Jon Wilson has been appointed the new CEO of Grass Valley. He had served as President and COO since October 2023. Louis Hernandez Jr. remains Executive Chairman and will continue to play a key part in shaping Grass Valley’s long-term strategy, while supporting the leadership team in achieving growth objectives.
