* Noah Segal, VP of international marketing for Lions Gate Films, is resigning his position as of August to launch a feature film production company in Toronto. The new, ‘pure play’ production house will launch in September, with further details expected by the end of July.

Ira Bernstein, who has been handling syndication for Lions Gate’s newest sci-fi series Tracker, has joined the company on a more permanent basis as president, Lions Gate television distribution, overseeing worldwide sales of the company’s television product. Bernstein, who effectively replaces Segal, was previously president of New York-based Mercury Entertainment, a company he founded in 1999 after serving as president of domestic television distribution for Rysher Entertainment.

* Lucille Veilleux has resigned as director-general, film and TV production with Quebec cultural funding agency SODEC. Veilleux joined SODEC in February 1999, eventually replacing Suzanne Laverdiere in the agency’s top film and TV post. Veilleux’s position is being filled by Beatrice Couillard on an interim basis.

* Heather Conway has been appointed Alliance Atlantis Communications’ executive VP, corporate communications.

Conway was previously TD Bank Financial Group’s executive VP, corporate and public affairs, and a member of the chairman and CEO’s executive management committee.

Janine Coughlin and Noreen Halpern have been promoted to senior VPs, television production, series at Alliance Atlantis Television Productions.

Coughlin and Halpern have been instrumental in overseeing a strong slate of pilot and series development for Alliance Atlantis, including CSI: Crime Scene Investigation for CBS.

* CTV BC, formerly VTV in Vancouver, has wooed yet another familiar face to its expanding anchor team that recently added BCTV defectors Pamela Martin and Bill Good. Mike Killeen, a senior reporter and anchor at Global News at CKVU, will join CTV BC in August. The fate of an independent CKVU newsroom is in question, with the Global branding and programming switching to BCTV and CHEK Sept. 1.

* In Canadian Association of Broadcasters appointment news: Sandra Graham has been promoted to senior VP, public affairs; David Goldstein to VP, government relations; Kelly Beaton to VP, communications; and Sylvia Bissonnette to VP, finance and administration.

* Penny Watier has been appointed national sales manager for William F. White, effective immediately.

The company has offices in Vancouver, Calgary, Winnipeg, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Quebec City and Halifax. It also has affiliates in London, Budapest and Wilmington, NC.

* Award-winning producer Madeline Ziniak has been appointed VP, station manager of Multilingual TV for Eastern Canada, Rogers Media: Television.

In her new role, Ziniak will retain her responsibilities as exec producer of CFMT-TV’s ethnic productions.

* Former CBC anchor and Prime Television host Gisele Danis joins The New VR as reporter/anchor and host for Guide To VRLand.

For the past six years, Danis has worked for Walt Disney Canada, most recently in the position of manager of promotions and communications.