Mary Powers has left her post as CTVglobemedia’s SVP corporate communications to start her own strategic communications and brand-marketing company. Powers Communications will have CTVgm as a lead client, and will focus on developing the company’s industry relations. Meanwhile, the company has appointed veteran PR woman Bonnie Brownlee to take over the internal position.

In a statement, Powers says launching her own communications company ‘is the realization of a long-term goal.’ Her career in broadcasting has been long and prominent — she started with CHUM Limited about 20 years ago, and held the post of VP communications and handled investor relations. Well-known and respected in the industry, Powers also sits as chair of the Banff Television Festival Foundation, which owns the Banff World Television Festival and contracts Achilles Media to run it.

Last October, after CHUM was swallowed up by CTVgm (then Bell Globemedia), president and CEO Ivan Fecan brought her over to the CTVgm fold. She had to oversee PR in the anxious time ahead of the CRTC’s decision on the deal, which ultimately saw CTVgm forced to divest itself of the five Citytv channels, while it successfully took over the CHUM specialties.

Brownlee, whose appointment is effective immediately, was previously VP communications for Astral Television Networks, director of national media relations for Bloomingdale’s New York City, and worked with the Government of Canada as an EA to former prime minister Brian Mulroney and Mrs. Mulroney. She has also been an advisor to the Duke and Duchess of York and the late John F. Kennedy Jr., and has worked with CTV on key strategic planning and partnership initiatives. She currently sits on a number of philanthropic committees in Canada and the U.S., and is chair of the board of Canada’s Walk of Fame.

CTVgm’s group SVP of corporate affairs Paul Sparkes, in announcing Brownlee’s appointment, praised her for providing the company with ‘expert strategic direction on a number of files spanning corporate, political and entertainment spheres both internationally and domestically.’

From Media in Canada