Former Shaw Media exec Emily Morgan has joined Zone3 to help the company expand its presence in the English-Canadian market.

Morgan takes on the title of executive producer, national productions, and will report to New York-based Julian Locke, EVP and head of Zone3 USA. She will be responsible for overseeing Zone3’s development and production of factual entertainment for the English-language Canadian market. She is the first Zone3 executive to be based out of Toronto, but she will be the only employee in the city for the time being.

Prior to joining Zone3, Morgan was the senior director of Shaw Media’s lifestyle channels. There, she was responsible for the development and production of Canadian original programming and oversaw series such as Top Chef Canada, Chopped Canada and Big Brother Canada. Morgan also held the position of VP of programming for Food Network Canada, HGTV and DIY Canada for Canwest, and VP of programming for Showcase Action, Diva and IFC for Alliance Atlantis, where she oversaw the launch of those channels. Morgan left Shaw Media last July, after she decided she wanted a more hands-on experience with production after working on the broadcaster side for almost 20 years. 

“It was great to be there because my job kept changing every few years,” Morgan said of her past positions through the various ownership changes of the channels. “I loved what I was doing. But I got to the point where I wanted to be exploring something different,” Morgan told Playback Daily.

The opportunity to help Zone3 move into a new area of business attracted her to the job, and she plans to use her existing relationships with broadcasters to help the prodco increase their presence in the English Canadian market.

Zone3’s current English-language titles include Comedy Network’s Match Game and God, Guns and Automobiles on the History channel in the U.S. The prodco also recently wrapped production on Almost Genius for Corus Entertainment.