Unlike Erica Strange, Sally Catto has few regrets. None that she’d want to travel back in time to change anyway, like the title character in the show she okayed for CBC.

‘All of the choices I have made have ultimately landed me in a place where I am both personally and professionally so lucky… why mess with that?’ says Catto, the newly minted executive director of arts and entertainment at CBC, who shepherded Being Erica from pitch stage to its broadcast debut early last year – in what she describes as one of the highlights of her career.

A lawyer by trade, Catto, who attended law school at the University of Western Ontario, sounds anything but lawyerly.

In her first interview since taking the job in November, she is modest and down-to-earth, and candidly speaks of a love of storytelling that pushed her toward a career in television, which shifted into high gear in 2002 when she was put in charge of movies and miniseries at CBC.

Four years later, as head of drama, Catto took a central role in building up CBC’s primetime drama contingent at the behest of Richard Stursberg, EVP of English services, who put the genre at the center of his mandate to reform the pubcaster. Catto, who supervised shows including the critically well-received Intelligence, Erica and ratings winner Heartland, believes the change has helped grow and sustain the Ceeb’s viewership.

‘Our core audience is returning because we’re offering more ongoing series than we used to,’ she explained on the phone from London, where she was meeting with U.K. broadcasters and producers on coproduction opportunities for new shows.

The role of head of arts and entertainment – to which Catto was promoted when Fred Fuchs was put in charge of production enterprises – means that she is more involved in strategic decision-making alongside Kirstine Stewart, whom she reports to, and less hands-on in the creative process.

Still, Catto understands the significance of staying connected to the production community in what she describes as her ‘favorite part of the job.’

‘It’s important to keep at least one foot in that world. When you find something that works, it [does] not always come in a pretty completed package… it just has to be the seed of something, [and] you don’t always know what that is until you’ve had that in-person meeting,’ she says, noting that the concept for Erica was verbally conveyed to her and Fuchs in a pitch by creator Jana Sinyor in mid-2006.

‘She just talked it through, [and] that concept really spoke to us,’ recalls Catto.

The series’ producers at Toronto’s Temple Street Productions say Catto’s approachable manner makes her an ideal collaborator.

She quickly puts even the greenest of writers or producers at ease, say exec producers Ivan Schneeberg and David Fortier, whose association with Catto goes back to their days as entertainment lawyers. When she does pitch ideas, it’s always done as suggestions, never directives, they add.

The producers are currently developing a third season of Erica, which has sold to over 35 countries, including the U.K., Australia, Spain, South Africa and Japan.

The biggest challenge of the job is the continuous battle for eyeballs against American networks, which has turned the Ceeb’s strategy into one of counter-programming, says Catto.

‘We don’t want to put on programming that’s derivative of CSI. We like to offer something different, something that’s very relevant to Canadians,’ she says, citing CBC shows including The Border, which deals with Canadian-American border relations, and Erica, because there’s currently nothing similar on the air.

‘[They] appeal to Canadians, but also have potential to sell abroad,’ she adds.

Catto is constantly on the lookout for one-hour dramatic series for CBC’s 9 p.m. slot – shows with standalone episodes rather than a serialized story structure. ‘It just works better for our audience, we target a very broad 25-54 demographic.’

Catto, who is also a first-time mom (she stepped into her new role at CBC just a few months after returning from maternity leave), says she considers herself an ‘informed optimist’ when it comes to the state of the Canadian television industry.

‘I do think I have a broad sense of what is happening in the industry in terms of material that crosses our path and the financing that’s out there… it’s a more exciting time than ever, particularly given the opportunities to work with partners around the world, and given the caliber of production that I see in Canada,’ she observes.

As Catto headed back into meetings with U.K. execs, she spoke of a greater motivation and interest from both sides to work together – because of increasing difficulties to completely finance a production within your own country.

‘In the past, our sensibilities haven’t always been exactly the same… you can get your financing in sync, but often, creatively, you may not be on the same page in terms of the stories each wants to tell,’ she explains, adding in her usual upbeat tone, ‘We are finding that common ground.’