Bell Media has named Mary Ann Turcke as group president, media sales, local TV and radio. She will replace outgoing Bell Media Sales president Luc Sabbatini, who is leaving the company at the end of the year.
Turcke will oversee sales for Bell Media’s conventional and specialty TV networks, along with radio, out-of-home and digital. As part of the company’s stated intention of aligning all client relationships and leveraging sales, marketing and brand partnership at both the national and local level, she will also lead the media company’s local TV and radio division.
In a release, Bell Media president Kevin Crull said Turcke’s leadership skills and vision would be an “invaluable asset” for the company. “She will help our company thrive in an industry that is undergoing fundamental change, and reinforce our focus on serving and supporting every client, partner and team member,” he said.
Turcke said she would make client relationships and ease of service the company’s top priority. “I am confident the joining of sales and operations will make us a stronger team, both internally and externally, regionally and nationally,” she said.
Turcke has spent nearly seven years as executive vice-president of field operations with Bell Canada, where she oversaw a team of 12,000 technicians, internal service representatives and managers to deliver telecommunications services to the company’s residential and business customers.
She is a three-time Women’s Executive Network (WXN) Top 100 award winner, inducted into the WXN Hall of Fame in 2013, recognized for her success in driving the company’s customer-focused service strategy and growth of its next-generation Fibe TV and internet services.
She has also been a leader in the company’s “Bell Let’s Talk” program, and an ardent supporter of the Women@Bell program, which mentors female leaders throughout the company.
She will split her time between Bell’s Toronto and Montreal offices.
