Newmarket, Ont.-based content creator and distributor Brain Power Studio has hired former Netflix and 9 Story Media Group exec Jasmine Gard as its new VP of finance and operations.

In her role, Gard (pictured) will head the company’s finance and accounting operations as well as provide strategic guidance around capital financing options, according to a news release.

She will also be tasked with overseeing production and corporate finance as well as risk management activities, in addition to leading consolidation efforts and managing relationships with third-party lenders and auditors.

Gard is a certified public accountant and chartered accountant  with more than 10 years of accounting and finance experience in the media and entertainment industry. She launched her career in 2010 at public accounting firm Hilborn LLP, where she worked in audit and tax across a multitude of industries, including entertainment.

She moved on to 9 Story Media Group in 2015, where she rose to VP, production finance, handling the company’s international greenlight efforts. Gard joined Netflix in 2020, where she was responsible for the financial management of the Netflix-owned kids and family production slate.

Beth Stevenson, CEO and executive producer at Brain Power Studio, said in a statement that Gard’s “expertise will help manage Brain Power’s accelerating prime time and feature film slate as well as our next phase of corporate growth.”

Brain Power Studio recently optioned the screen adaptation rights to Dana Corbit Nussio’s romance novel The Flower Girl Bride after adapting her Harlequin novel Child In A Manager in 2019. The company has also partnered with other IP brands to adapt filmed entertainment, including Cirque du Soleil and Paul Frank Industries.