Julie Bristow may have one foot out the door at the CBC, but the media veteran won’t be closing it behind her.
CBC announced Wednesday that Bristow, its executive director, studio and unscripted content, is leaving the public broadcaster. June 14 will be her last day.
But a CBC release says Bristow will keep professional ties with the broadcaster moving forward. In the release, Bristow stated she looks forward “to a continued relationship with the CBC, albeit from a different vantage point” as she starts the next part of her career. She tweeted on Wednesday from @jbristowCBC that she’s moving onto “an exciting and new global venture,” adding the hashtag “bigthingstocome.”
In an interview with Marketing on Wednesday, Bristow said she wasn’t able to reveal more about where she’s headed, but did add that “CBC and I are going to have an ongoing strategic content partnership.”
She said she’d be able to reveal more details “shortly.”
Speaking about her contributions to the CBC – where she has worked for two decades, climbing the ranks from roles including senior producer on The Health Show and CBC Evening News (Toronto) to executive director of factual entertainment – Bristow addressed her part in helping to modernize CBC as a public broadcaster. “I think over the last several years that’s what we’ve done with shows like Dragons’ Den and Battle of the Blades and Canada for Haiti,” she said.
Bristow has been in her current role since 2011, and has developed multi-platform content in genres including sports, entertainment and news. She said she’s most proud of adding the sports content – the Olympics and hockey content – and “really just being able to bring entertainment values to genres across the company” while with CBC. Bristow spoke with Marketing at last week’s 2013-2014 CBC season preview about engaging Canadians around hockey though Hockey Night in Canada initiatives, including second screen experiences.
Interim executive vice-president of CBC English Services, Neil McEneaney, said in the release that the CBC is excited at the prospect of working with Bristow “in our shared goal of celebrating the best in Canadian content.”
CBC’s head of factual entertainment, Jennifer Dettman, will step into Bristow’s role on an interim basis when she leaves.
Bristow’s departure marks the second recent announcement of a senior CBC/Radio-Canada executive leaving the company. Kirstine Stewart announced a month ago that she was leaving her post as executive vice-president of English Services to become managing director of Twitter Canada. Stewart had been with the CBC for seven years.
