Prentiss Fraser, Chair
Senior Vice President, Worldwide Sales & Acquisitions, Entertainment One
As Senior Vice President, Worldwide Sales & Acquisitions, Prentiss oversees all of Entertainment One’s international sales, including the USA, United Kingdom, Germany, Spain, Australia and Eastern Europe. She represents over 3,000 hours of third party productions, including the CBS/CTV primetime drama The Bridge, the Teletoon tween comedy series Majority Rules, and the hit titles ReGenesis, Iggy Arbuckle and Kenny vs Spenny. In addition, Prentiss regularly provides consultation on acquisitions, project development and financing to eOne’s television production division and other producer clients.
Madeline Ziniak, Vice Chair
National Vice President, OMNI Television
Madeline Ziniak is widely-known as the principal driving force behind multilingual/multicultural television in Canada. With over 30 years’ experience in ethnic media, Madeline has received numerous community, government and industry-related honours. She is the current Vice-Chair of the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council (Ontario Region); Chair of The Canadian Ethnic Media Association (CEMA) and the former Co‑Chair of the Task Force for Cultural Diversity on Television. Madeline is also on the Advisory Board of Ryerson University’s School of Radio and Television, a member of the Toronto Press Club and a founding member of the Strategic Alliance of Broadcasters for Aboriginal Reflection.
Edith Myers, Interim Treasurer
President, CEI Management
Edith was formerly Managing Director of Pinewood Toronto Studios, Canada’s largest studio complex providing facilities for film, television and commercial production. Previously, Edith was the Chief Operating Officer for the Scott Group of Companies owned by film directors Ridley Scott and Tony Scott. The Scott Group includes RSA Films (London and Los Angeles), one of the world’s largest television commercial production companies, and Scott Free, a film and television production company responsible for Black Hawk Down and Déjà Vu, as well as the television series Numb3rs and The Good Wife.
Kara Russell, Secretary
Associate, Fine & Deo, Barristers and Solicitors
Kara Russell is an entertainment law practitioner who offers a wealth of experience to clients in all entertainment sectors. Prior to Fine & Deo, Kara was an associate at Hall Webber LLP Entertainment & New Media Law, and prior to that she was Legal Counsel for Telefilm Canada. During that time, Kara was involved in all aspects of film financing, both foreign and domestic, and was responsible for the successful completion of numerous feature film financing underwritings. She has extensive experience with financing and contractual issues on an international level, and has presented many papers, speeches and seminars relating to the Canadian film industry and its funding requirements.
Mary Bredin
Vice President, Guru Studio
Mary Bredin is the Vice President of Guru animation studio. The company is in production on its first original show, Justin Time, for which Mary is Executive Producer. Guru is also recognized for its work on the animation of The Backyardigans and provides animation for a number of other series. Prior to Guru, Mary worked as a TV executive at Disney in London, England for eight years. While there, she developed expertise in branding/marketing, channel management and programming. She has worked in television as both a producer and broadcaster and is a lawyer called to the Bar of Ontario. She first joined WIFT-T in 1992 and has been a member of the Paris and London chapters.
Victoria Ha
Partner & Producer, Stitch Media
Stitch Media partner Victoria Ha has extensive production experience in media with a background that includes coordinating international news events, editing, and production management for a large-scale, award-winning alternate reality game and several award-winning international documentaries. At Stitch Media, Victoria produced “Workout with Sidney Crosby” for Reebok and Sympatico/MSN; a web-series called Saving Penny that educates women to be financially savvy; and a three-part TV series, full-length feature documentary and integrated interactive website called Redress Remix.
Maureen Judge
President, Makin’ Movies
Maureen Judge is the President of Makin’ Movies and a Genie Award-winning documentary producer/director. She is the Executive Producer/Producer of the theatrical documentary FLicKeR (in co-production with the NFB), which won the 2008 Hot Docs Special Jury Prize for a Canadian Feature Documentary. Additional credits include the vérité documentary trilogy Unveiled, including The Mother Daughter Relationship (Genie award-winner), In My Parents’ Basement, and Mom’s Home, the final film that is slated to be broadcast on TVO, Knowledge Network and SCN. Her company has also produced Family Secrets for W Network and two seasons of Heart of a Poet for Bravo!
Gaye McDonald
Director of Marketing Activation, CBC Revenue Group
Gaye McDonald has over 15 years’ experience specializing in broadcast programming and brand partnership. Recognized as one of the country’s leaders in product integration and associative brand marketing, Gaye is a sought-after media spokesperson for initiatives regarding sponsorship, broadcast partnership and brand integration.
Samantha McWilliams
Legal Counsel, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
Samantha joined the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation as Legal Counsel in 2006. She is part of the transactional team at CBC with a focus on contract negotiation. She works with CBC Sports on both amateur and professional sports rights acquisition and enforcement, and is an officer with an active role in the partnership with documentary. Samantha has also played a central role in the corporation’s procurement process, conducting cross-country training and acting as the legal liaison for the English Network.
Jade Raymond
Managing Director, Ubisoft Toronto Inc.
Jade Raymond is Managing Director and studio head of Ubisoft Toronto, where she is building a multi-title AAA game studio that is expected to go from zero to 800 employees within the next 10 years. As Managing Director, Jade is responsible for studio strategy, executive management and production oversight. Jade also serves as Executive Producer for Ubisoft’s Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell franchise. Prior to Ubisoft Toronto, Jade was best known as co-creator and Executive Producer of Assassin’s Creed, which won multiple Game of the Year awards and sold over 30 million units across all titles worldwide.
Muriel Solomon
Vice President, Marketing Strategy, Specialty, Shaw Media
Muriel Solomon oversees marketing and publicity activities across 18 of Shaw Media’s specialty channels, including Showcase, HGTV, Food Network, TVtropolis and History Television. Muriel joined Shaw Media (formerly Canwest) in January 2008 after seven years in Alliance Atlantis’ marketing department, where she spearheaded some of the company’s most successful show and channel launches. Prior to joining Alliance Atlantis, Muriel was a strategic business consultant for Ecostrat Inc. and spent five years in progressive brand management positions at H.J. Heinz Company of Canada.
Joanna Webb
Principal, Mojojo Media
Former Senior VP of Programming at Bell Media (CTV), Joanna Webb oversaw the network’s family of cable channels, including Bravo!, The Comedy Network, SPACE, and Star!, played an integral role in CTV’s conventional and specialty cross-channel program synergies and scheduling strategies. Prior to joining CTV, Joanna was VP Head of Programming and Production at Corus Entertainment, where she oversaw programming and production for all of Corus Television. During her tenure at Corus, Joanna was also VP Programming of Kids Television and VP Programming of Women’s Specialty TV, responsible for the launch of the Cosmopolitan Television, Viva and W Movies channels.
Diane Williamson
President, Digital Wizards Inc.
Diane Williamson has worked in broadcasting and new media for marblemedia, CBC and Corus Entertainment, while also running interactive media shop Digital Wizards. Diane’s experience spans both independent production and that of large media entities. She also contributes to the University of Waterloo’s digital media initiative in Stratford, working closely with the Director of Research and other industry partners. Diane provides digital media consulting and strategy for clients and has been active on advisory committees to governments and media trade associations.
