Lee goes for gold

Nancy Lee has exited the top post at CBC Sports, leaving the network after almost 20 years to be COO of the broadcast team for the 2010 Winter Olympics.

Lee, 47, signed off on Oct. 17 and will start with Olympic Broadcast Services Vancouver in November. The Swiss company, owned by the International Olympic Committee, will be responsible for all TV feeds from the Games.

Sports head of programming David Masse will fill in until a permanent replacement is hired.

Her departure comes just as CBC is about to renegotiate its broadcast deal with the NHL, which Bell Globemedia is looking to scoop. CTV has the Canadian rights to the 2010 and 2012 Olympics.

Lee joined CBC in 1987 as a reporter and took over the sports department in 2000 – steering it through the NHL lockout of 2004/05 and a more recent spat with the Canadian Curling Association.

CBC EVP Richard Stursberg cheered Lee’s ‘professionalism, hard work on behalf of amateur athletes and [her] leadership role in promoting women in sport,’ in a memo to staff.

BGM gains Powers

CHUM has lost its top communicator to parent-apparent Bell Globemedia, which on Oct. 17 hired Mary Powers as its new SVP of corporate communications.

Powers was VP of communications at CHUM – running press and investor relations, promotions and brand-building efforts at home and abroad. She had been with the broadcaster for about 20 years.

Her move comes as BGM closes in on its buyout of CHUM, which is awaiting approval by the CRTC and the Competition Bureau. She will stay with BGM regardless of the federal rulings, according to BGM president and CEO Ivan Fecan.

‘Mary’s appointment is permanent,’ he said in a statement. ‘However, if the regulators approve the CHUM transaction, an added benefit of her presence at BGM will be to aid in the integration of two companies.’

Hearings on the deal are expected to begin in ’07.