TORONTO – Bell Media president Mary Ann Turcke told employees on Tuesday that personnel and strategy changes are just beginning and that the next 100 days will see even more alterations in the way the country's largest electronic media company is run as it pursues less expensive ways to do things.
A comprehensive memo sent out Tuesday morning laid out just who is in charge of what, given the departure of four long time executives Monday, and the hiring of former Universal Music Canada president Randy Lennox to be Turcke's second in command.
Lennox, as we reported, is Bell Media's new president, entertainment production and broadcasting. For long time Bell Media watchers, personnel change is nothing new as the company shed layers of employees over the years under former president Kevin Crull, too.
"The Canadian media sector faces rising content costs, significant regulatory change in 2016 and a rapid evolution in consumer viewing habits, all of which impact traditional revenue streams," said Turcke in her Tuesday morning memo. "Bell Media's cost structure must reflect the realities of revenue performance in media and broadcasting, and our entire organization must be ready to compete within an industry changing faster than ever before."
Lennox, wrote Turcke, "will accelerate our content leadership with the development of new productions and properties, supporting Corrie Coe and Nanci Maclean and their independent and in-house production teams, as well as Jon Arklay and the Bell Media Agency. Randy will also leverage his global music expertise in leading both English and French radio and local TV. In this role, Randy supports David Corey, Dave Daigle, Richard Gray, Robert Gray, Val Meyer, Don Mumford, Len Perry, Lesley Soldat, Martin Spalding and James Stuart."
Turcke also told employees that new structures at the SVP level will be announced September 9 and the re-org will filter down to the VP and senior directors levels in early October, with the entire plan completed by the end of November.
"Our new organization will result in new roles and expanded responsibilities as well as some further departures from our team," wrote Turcke. "We will undertake all changes with transparency and support for the team and keep you fully informed based on the schedule above.
The rest of the memo, complete with new job titles, reads:
"Stuart Garvie: President, Media Sales. A senior advertising executive seasoned in both Canadian and global media, Stuart joined us in June. He leads all national conventional and specialty TV, national radio, out-of-home, digital and multi-platform (Mix) advertising sales and support functions, marketing, and brand partnerships/media creativity. Stuart also takes on leadership for pricing and research, supporting Gianni Di Iorio.
"Domenic Vivolo: President, Content Sales, Marketing and Digital Products. Domenic continues to lead the team that distributes, licenses and markets all Bell Media conventional networks, specialty and pay channels, and non-linear content to affiliates on traditional and digital platforms, including our TV Everywhere services and CraveTV. Domenic also assumes responsibility for digital products development and sales, supporting Jon Taylor, as well as strategic direction and marketing of Bell Media products.
"Wendy Freeman: President, CTV News. Wendy continues to lead our top-ranked news, information and current events programming, including CTV National News, CTV News Channel, BNN and CP24, and all of Bell Media's national newsgathering, editorial development and newsroom operations.
"Gerry Frappier: President, French-language TV and RDS. The long-standing leader of our RDS sports network, Gerry's role expands today to include responsibility for all programming, production and scheduling operations for Bell Media's French-language TV properties, in addition to supporting Le Fonds Harold Greenberg. Gerry now also supports Mario Clément, Patrick Matos, Odile Méthot and Pierre Rodrigue.
"Stewart Johnston: President, TSN. Stewart oversees all day-to-day operations of Canada's #1 sports network, including TSN's five national television feeds, TSN Radio and TSN Digital.
"Luc Quétel: President, Astral Out of Home. Luc is responsible for the Astral Out of Home network of more than 10,500 advertising faces and product lines, including outdoor advertising, street furniture, transportation and digital.
"Mike Cosentino: Head, Programming, CTV Networks and Crave TV. Mike leads the acquisition and scheduling strategy across Bell Media's leading conventional television networks CTV and CTV Two as well as the fast-growing CraveTV, CTV.ca and CTV Extend.
"Tracey Pearce: Head, Specialty and Pay. Tracey leads Bell Media's English-language, entertainment and factual specialty channels as well as our high-profile pay TV services The Movie Network and HBO Canada.
"Scott Henderson: Vice President, Communications. Scott oversees all Corporate and Internal Communications, Community Investment and Events for Bell Media, as well as Entertainment Publicity for all English-language TV, radio and digital properties.
"Jeff Hersh: Director, Strategy and Business Development. Jeff leads all business and corporate development functions as well as strategic planning at Bell Media.
"All of the above leaders are supported directly by me while these Bell Media senior leaders are supported by other Bell executives:
"Nikki Moffat: Senior Vice President, Finance. Nikki is responsible for all financial operations of Bell Media and its subsidiaries. Nikki is supported by Glen LeBlanc, Bell's Chief Financial Officer.
"Kevin Assaff: Head, Bell Media Legal Affairs, Content and Distribution. Kevin is responsible for all legal matters across Bell Media's local, specialty and pay television, radio, digital and on-demand content, as well as for Bell TV. Kevin is supported by Michel Lalande, Bell Senior VP and General Counsel.
"Kevin Goldstein: Vice President, Regulatory Affairs, Content and Distribution. Kevin oversees all regulatory issues for local, specialty and pay television, radio, digital and on-demand content, as well as for Bell TV. Kevin is supported by Rob Malcolmson, Bell's Senior Vice President, Regulatory.
"Sonia Brar: Vice President, Information Technology. Sonia leads IT strategy, delivery, infrastructure and application support for Bell Media, including sales systems, traffic and rights management, and reporting. Sonia is supported by Mike Cole, Bell's Chief Information Officer.
"Anne McNamara: Vice President, Human Resources. Anne oversees Human Resources at Bell Media, including people leadership, talent development and change management. Anne is supported by Bernard le Duc, Bell's Executive VP, Corporate Services.
"Christian Roy: Vice President, Network. Christian heads up Bell Media broadcast centre operations as well as digital media infrastructure development and engineering support for TV and Radio. Christian is supported by Stephen Howe, Bell's Chief Technology Officer.
"Our new senior leadership team and other leaders across Bell Media are the best in the Canadian industry and I'm confident in our ability to keep us out front in a tough marketplace. I look forward to working closely with all of them to make Bell Media even better."
