Two years and one rejuvenated department later, Sandra Puglielli is stepping down as director of TV publicity at CanWest MediaWorks, and will go into business for herself with a project management company, starting next month.

‘Her accomplishments in such a short time have been truly outstanding,’ said Walter Levitt, SVP of television marketing, in an email on Monday. ‘She has built one of Canada’s most dedicated and… hugely successful national publicity teams.’

In the early 90s , Puglielli worked at CKVU in Vancouver, and later in publicity for Global. She then held a senior publicity post at CHUM before rejoining CanWest in 2005 during an across-the-company effort to shake up its television holdings.
At the time, most publicity for the company was handled by one person, in contrast to the small army of publicists on staff at arch-rival CTV. CanWest now has about 10 PR staffers, posted across the country in Vancouver, Calgary, Winnipeg and Toronto.

Puglielli will stay on until Nov. 2, helping to hire a replacement, and will continue to consult for CanWest on special projects, according to Levitt.