Dennis Skulsky is resigning as president and CEO of the publishing division of Canwest Global Communications Corp. effective April 30, the company announced this morning.
The publishing division, known as Canwest Limited Partnership, is operating under court supervision and is up for sale.
A statement announcing the change said Skulsky wants to spend more time with his family and pursue other opportunities closer to his home in British Columbia.
“This was a very personal decision and one that I made with my closest advisors–my family,” wrote Skulsky in a note to Canwest employees. “My dear wife, our daughters and son-in-law, our precious new granddaughter and my elderly parents, all of whom live out West, are what I treasure most in my life and this decision was driven primarily so that I could spend more time with them. It will also allow me to pursue other opportunities closer to home.”
Skulsky will continue to lead Canwest LP’s newspaper and other publishing operations and actively participate in its ongoing financial restructuring efforts until the resignation takes effect at the end of April.
He will be available on an advisory basis to both the special committee of Canwest’s board of directors and Canwest LP’s senior management until the end of August.
“The decision I have made is not a signal of any change of strategic direction for the publishing group,” said Skulsky.
Skulsky was appointed to his current position in May 2006 after spending six years as president and publisher of the Pacific Newspaper Group, which operates the Vancouver Sun and the Province daily newspapers.
Canwest LP is Canada’s largest publisher of English-language paid daily newspapers and also owns and operates more than 50 websites.
Winnipeg-based Canwest, which owes billions of dollars to its creditors, is operating under court supervision. Most of the division’s lenders have supported a sale of Canwest LP.
Earlier this month, Leonard Asper resigned as Canwest’s president and CEO saying he intended to “pursue other business opportunities and avoid any conflict of interest,” though it’s been reported this week that he is part of a group making a bid for the Canwest papers.
