BCAB 2024 Speakers
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George Stroumboulopoulosis a multi-faceted storyteller, broadcaster, producer and filmmaker. He is a member of the Order of Canada, a 12-time Gemini & Canadian Screen Awards winner, recipient of the Swarovski Humanitarian Award and was honoured as Artists for Peace and Justice (APJ) Changemaker of the Year. He is Canada’s first Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), travelling to Haiti, Pakistan, Darfur, Lebanon and Syria and raising over 2 million dollars (US) for the agency’s programs. He established the George Stroumboulopoulos Music Therapy Scholarship, funding music therapy education. He’s also worked closely with the World Wildlife Fund, Innocence Canada, Amnesty International, Music Heals, and the Michael J. Fox Foundation and serves on the APJ Canada board. His work has helped raise tens of millions of dollars. His past broadcast work has included producing and hosting prime-time news and late-night talk shows, CBC’s The Hour and George Stroumboulopoulos Tonight as well as his own interview series on CNN and anchoring the nation’s most-watched television show, Hockey Night in Canada. He hosted and produced Canada’s premiere culture show, The NewMusic on MuchMusic. “George has built one of the most prestigious broadcasting careers in our nation’s history.” |
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Sean RossSean Ross is author of the Ross On Radio weekly newsletter, covering radio and music trends and history. He is also a broadcast industry researcher, consultant, and playlist creator. He has worked extensively with stations across Canada for the past 20 years, including the beginnings of the Classic Hits format on FM.
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Adam CurrieAdam Currie is a well-known Talent Acquisition Leader, Board Advisor and Subject Matter Expert. As the Director of Executive Search & Senior Leadership Acquisition at Fraser Health, the largest regional health authority in B.C., Adam leads the strategy and execution of the executive and physician talent acquisition programs. He manages a team of twelve consultants who provide talent advisory services to senior stakeholders across the health authority. His group is directly responsible for addressing the recruitment component of the physician shortage in the Fraser Health region of British Columbia. With thirteen years of progressive experience in the executive search sector, Adam successfully built VX Search Group Inc., a boutique consultancy that specializes in the industries that drive the Western Canadian economy. VX Search Group Inc. was acquired by TMG Search Canada in 2023, where he continues to serve as a board advisor. Adam has also held consulting and leadership roles with Korn Ferry, Kal Tire, and Gallagher, leading teams of up to twenty and budgets of up to $2M. At Kal Tire, Adam held the role of Manager, Corporate Talent Acquisition where he led the corporate recruitment program, talent analytics and the national scale up strategy for 250+ stores across Canada. Adam is known for his unique understanding of the labour market and his data-centric approach to talent acquisition. He believes in the power of communicating culture, vision and purpose through storytelling and building connective tissue between the market and opportunity. His approach to talent acquisition has been demonstrated to work at scale and resonate with all key stakeholders from operations leaders to the C Suite and Board.
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Lisa DillonLisa has more than two decades of experience in the media industry, specializing in advertising and marketing research. Having worked at agencies in Toronto and Vancouver, she possesses a deep understanding of the advertising requirements for brands of various sizes and levels of marketing proficiency. Drawing on her extensive background in agency and media ownership, Lisa brings a comprehensive understanding of research needs to her position of Head of Insights at Radio Connects. Her expertise enables advertisers and broadcasters to recognize the benefits of radio and its capacity to generate business results.
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Kevin DesjardinsKevin Desjardins is the President of the Canadian Association of Broadcasters, which represents Canada’s private radio and TV stations as well as specialty services. He was appointed to the position in November 2020, rejoining the organization where he previously served in communications and public affairs roles from 2005 to 2007.Kevin is an accomplished association leader with a wealth of experience in all aspects of association management for industry and professional groups, with a particular focus on federal advocacy and communications. Prior to the CAB, he served in public affairs roles at the Canadian Dental Association, the Tourism Industry Association of Canada and the Canadian Conference of the Arts. He also served for six years on the Board of Directors of the Government Relations Institute of Canada.
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Mike SearsonMike Searson is the Group Vice President of Local Revenue, Client Marketing and Creative Services at Corus Entertainment. Innovation and growth are hallmarks of Mike’s 25 plus years at Corus, Canada’s largest pure play media company. Corus develops and delivers high-quality content and brands across many Mike guides teams that are located across the country and champions leading-edge Go to Market strategies centered on customer centric multi-platform approaches. With a diverse staff of frontline sellers, marketers, creatives and social/digital natives, Mike understands the how to put the right people in the right places to drive exceptional outcomes for Corus’ clients. Recognizing that successful leadership depends on transparency, Currently, Mike is the Governance Chair on both the CKNW Kids Fund and the NABs National Board of Directors.
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David PhillipsAs Chief Product Officer, David provides strategic leadership to our product-focused teams, including Product Management, Data Development, Software Development and Client Services. David has been a senior executive for over two decades, recently serving as President and COO for NLogic (formerly BBM Analytics), turning it into a client-focused, innovative and profitable data-driven company. He is well-versed in data and analytics with extensive experience in data, market research and software development, focusing on the broadcast and advertising industries. David holds a Master of Arts from the University of Hull and is a regular speaker and participant in industry conferences and a long-standing member of several industry bodies. |
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Sue HaasSue Haas is an experienced media executive, having worked on a wide variety of teams and projects across the digital and linear space. She was at Blue Ant Media for over 12 years, managing sales operations as a director and digital media as VP and later SVP. This experience has helped her in her new role as President and COO at NLogic , as they move toward bridging the gap in audience data analysis between linear and streaming platforms. |
Panelists
We Are Excited To Announce Our Recruitment Panel
BC’s broadcasting brands have always competed heavily against each other for the best and brightest talent in the industry. Now, broadcasters are competing against each other and against fresh headwinds in the recruitment space.
Moderated by Global BC’s Sonia Sunger, this panel of key leaders in sales, programming, and education bring critical perspective on how to ensure the talent pipeline in BC broadcasting remains strong into the next generation of bright voices.
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Sonia SungerSonia is the Co-Anchor of Global News Morning. Born and raised in Victoria, B.C., Sonia is a proud second-generation Canadian and speaks Punjabi. Sonia studied journalism at Concordia University in Montreal before graduating with honours from the Radio and Television Arts program at the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology. With two decades of experience as a broadcast journalist, she is passionate about delivering breaking news and believes in journalism’s overall power and ability to create positive change in the world.
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Brian WiebeBrian is the Program Head for the BCIT Radio Arts and Entertainment program. He has deep experience in online content creation, social media, podcasting, and doing media relations for a variety of sports teams and
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Simone GrewalSimone is an accomplished broadcaster, writer and producer and has worked at various television and radio stations in Metro Vancouver for the last 20 years. Currently she is the Program Director & Afternoon Drive host
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Kevin GemmellKevin is a 30-year broadcaster in markets across western Canada and the past 15 years in BC. As the General Manager with Pattison Media Ltd. in Prince George, Kevin Co-Chairs the PML Corporate EE Committee and has dealt extensively with recruitment challenges facing the Radio and Television industry. Kevin is a graduate of the BCIT Broadcast Communications program and is a Past-President of the BCAB.
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