The CBC has appointed Sandra Kleinfeld to the role of senior director of documentary.

Reporting to Jennifer Dettman, CBC’s executive director of unscripted content, Kleinfeld will be responsible for heading up CBC’s documentary team, handling the documentary strands Firsthand and The Nature of Things, as well as some doc-based digital shorts.

The position was created following the departure of CBC’s long-time director of doc programming, Mark Starowicz, last year. Starowicz spent almost five decades with the broadcaster, most recently as the executive director of documentary programming, before his departure to pursue independent production.

“She has a strong reputation in the independent production community, and will build on those relationships to further our success and commitment to documentary storytelling on CBC,” said Dettman in a statement.

Prior to joining CBC, Kleinfeld was production executive, original programming at CanWest Global TV overseeing social issue documentaries for the first year of Global Currents. In her most recent role with the CBC, Kleinfeld held the post of director of development unscripted content.