Richard Stursberg, president and ceo of Cancom, has resigned from his short-standing position with the satellite company, which, as part of the recent wic-split transaction, has become part of the Shaw Communications group of companies.

Stursberg moved from president and ceo of Star Choice, a position he assumed March 1, 1999, to the head of Cancom when the two companies merged, Sept. 1, 1999.

‘Richard did a great job throughout his time at Cancom. While he was at the helm, the Cancom team successfully merged with Star Choice, grew all of its business lines substantially, raised more than $500 million in new equity and bank financing, doubled its dth subscriber base and quadrupled its stock price, resulting in the company joining the TSE 200 and TSE 300,’ says Harold Roozen, chairman of the board of Cancom.

However, now that Cancom has been integrated as a division of Shaw Communications and will likely no longer stand as a publicly traded company, Stursberg has resigned his position. ‘It seems now the financing, investor relations, strategy…will be handled out of Calgary,’ says Stursberg, adding, ‘I’m going to hang out [in Toronto] for a while and reflect on the future.’

With some ‘interesting possibilities’ to contemplate, he says he has yet to decide his next move. ‘I’m going to take this opportunity to rebuild my intellectual equity.’

With more than 25 years of experience in the communications industry, Stursberg has served as president and ceo of the Canadian Cable Television Association. He has also held several positions with the federal Department of Communications, including assistant deputy minister – telecommunications and technology, and assistant deputy minister – culture and broadcasting.

He is currently the chairman of the Canadian Television Fund. He also sits on the board of governors of the Banff Television Festival and the government of Canada’s Sectoral Advisory Group on International Trade in Cultural Industries.

Earlier this year, Shaw acquired 94.5% of Cancom’s common shares. Its original offer, 0.9 shares of Shaw for each Cancom share, expired Aug. 31, at which time 5% of Cancom shareholders did not tender, keeping the company publicly trading on the tse. By regulation, Shaw is prevented from making a follow-up proposal for 30 days from the expiry date, but once the cool-down period is over, the company will call a shareholders meeting where it will likely make a new offer, says Roozen.

Meanwhile, Peter Classon, exec vp, Shaw Communications, has moved into the Cancom throne on an interim basis to evaluate the future integration of Shaw and Cancom. In roughly six weeks he will report his recommendations to the board, but Roozen is confident that Cancom will become a division of Shaw, with its satellite facilities remaining in Mississauga. *

-www.shaw.ca

-www.cancom.com