Jean-François Pruneau, President and Chief Executive Officer of Videotron, is stepping down from his position effective June 4. After more than 20 years with Quebecor and in his current role since Jan. 2019, Pruneau is leaving the company to devote himself to personal investment projects. Going forward, Quebecor CEO Pierre Karl Peladeau will assume the responsibilities associated with the role.
Torstar has announced multiple executive moves, including a new role for CEO John Boynton, who’ll become Vice-Chair of Torstar owner NordStar Capital, as well as President of Digital, with a focus on growing the company’s digital business. Boynton has been president and CEO of Torstar since 2017. Lorenzo DeMarchi, who was named Chief Investment Officer last year, will act as interim CEO. Ian Oliver, until now President of Metroland and EVP of Torstar, will become CEO and co-owner of a new group of companies, including Metroland Parcel Services, which launched last November and provides final-mile retail parcel delivery. He’ll be focused on growing e-commerce business. Pary Bell, Senior Vice President of Commercial Products & Sales Operations, Torstar, is the new President of Eyereturn Marketing.
Lina Kim has been named president at The Podcast Exchange (TPX) as founding CEO Jean-Marie Heimrath announces his retirement. Kim was formerly Managing Director at Havas Media Group. Heimrath plans to remain on the TPX board, providing counsel and guidance, but has relinquished the position of chairman to Ian Lurie, President, Radio at Stingray, which acquired a 30% stake in TPX in 2020. Founding the podcast monetization leader in 2017 followed a more than four-decade career for Heimrath that started in the music industry as a Promotions Manager for Island & Daffodil Records. He transitioned into broadcasting as the Communications and Promotions Director for Telemedia and CJCL Radio, going on to hold numerous executive positions with Standard Broadcasting, including serving as President of Sound Source Networks and Orbyt Media for 21 years and concurrently was a founder and partner in Toronto’s Clear Channel Group. Read more here.
Wes Hall, Executive Chairman and founder of Kingsdale Advisors is joining CBC Dragons’ Den for the show’s 16th season. Hall, who is also founder and Chairman of The BlackNorth Initiative, was recently named to Maclean’s Power List ranking of the 50 most powerful people in Canada. He joins Arlene Dickinson, Michele Romanow, Manjit Minhas and Vincenzo Guzzo, as longtime Dragon Jim Treliving and tech entrepreneur Lane Merrifield depart the show.
Raisa Patel is leaving CBC Ottawa to join the Toronto Star’s Ottawa bureau. Patel has been an online writer and producer for CBC Radio’s The House since May 2019. Stephanie Levitz also joins the Star’s Ottawa bureau after 11 years working on Parliament Hill with The Canadian Press.
Ahmar Khan is rejoining CBC in a term position as part of the local Ottawa reporting team, following an arbitration decision in his favour in January. Formerly with CBC Winnipeg, an arbitrator ruled Khan was improperly fired after sharing with outside journalists how CBC managers compelled him to take down a tweet criticizing Don Cherry as “xenophobic” because it went against the public broadcaster’s Journalistic Standards and Practices. The arbitrator determined the termination was wrong because the information gathered to fire Khan came from a violation of his privacy when a colleague went through private messages on Twitter and Whatsapp after Khan remained signed in on a shared company laptop.
In my entire life, I have not taken a shortcut and while it would’ve been easier to take the money and seek employment elsewhere, I didn’t think that was the right decision for me. I’ve been informed of a “changing” CBC and I hope to be able to see what that’s like.
— ahmarskhan (@AhmarSKhan) April 27, 2021
Craig Silverman is leaving BuzzFeed News after six years. During his time as media editor with the publication, he and Ryan Mac were recognized with the George Polk Award for business reporting for their investigation into how Facebook was slow to remove extremist content. Silverman has been hired by ProPublica to cover voting, platforms, disinformation and online manipulation.
Sandy Heimlich-Hall is retiring from CFAX 1070 Victoria. Heimlich-Hall has been working as a reporter and anchor with the station full-time for the last five years after a 34-year run at CFJC-TV Kamloops where she was Assistant News Director.
Ria Renouf is leaving her anchor position at News 1130 (CKWX-AM) Vancouver next month. Renouf has been the station’s afternoon anchor since Jan. 2019. She’ll be staying with Rogers Sports & Media, joining the local CityNews reporting team.
Charlie Carey is joining News 1130 (CKWX-AM) Vancouver as a reporter and web editor with the station’s digital team. Carey is a recent Langara College Journalism grad.
Catherine Garrett is joining 980 CKNW Vancouver as a reporter/anchor. A 2019 BCIT grad, Garrett has held a similar position with Vista Radio in Prince George for the last year and a half.
Vasilios Bellos is joining Acadia Broadcasting’s stations in Thunder Bay, 99.9 THE BAY (CJUK-FM) and Country 105 (CKTG-FM), as a news reporter. Bellos is a recent graduate of the Radio Broadcasting Diploma program at Fanshawe College and also holds a BA in Criminology from Wilfrid Laurier University.
Simran Hoon has been named the inaugural Chief Executive Officer of Toronto-headquartered QYOU Media subsidiary The Q India. Hoon, who will be Mumbai based, has held executive roles in advertising sales for over two decades with companies like Viacom, Zee, Disney/Star and Sony. She was part of the launch team of one of India’s most successful TV channels, Viacom 18’s Colors, which grew to become the leader in revenue across all Hindi General Entertainment Channels (GEC).
Rey Mena has been elevated to the position of Vice President, Product Design & Development at PromoSuite. Mena joined the company in 2018 to lead the design and development of the new PromoSuitePlus platform and will now also take on strategic oversight of PromoSuite’s entire product line. Mena’s media career spans over three decades and includes key leadership roles at Emmis Communications and Co-President of Emmis Interactive, the digital media division he founded in 2001. In 2014, Mena left the radio industry to launch branding and consulting firm, Menagery, Inc.
David Cohen, former Vice-President of Marketing Communications at Grass Valley, has been named TVU Networks new Global VP, Strategic Marketing. In his new role, Cohen will develop and oversee marketing strategy for TVU Networks renewed focused on accelerating the transition of its brand identity as it delivers on its cloud-based production and media supply chain vision. Cohen has more than 18 years of experience in the media technology industry. Prior to his tenure at Grass Valley, which included several years with Miranda Technologies, he was the president of the PR agency 202 Communications and led marketing activities for the former Harris Broadcast Communications division.
