Upon first meeting Phyllis Yaffe in 1994, Laura Michalchyshyn says she was very impressed by her ‘clear vision’ and ‘great strategy.’ Watching Yaffe lobby the independent production and distribution community, Michalchyshyn thought, ‘When I grow up, I want to work for…

‘Competitors beware!’ says Alliance Atlantis head honcho Michael MacMillan of Phyllis Yaffe. And he ought to know, having faced her from the opposite side of the fence, before the merger of Alliance and Atlantis brought them together….

‘Phyllis is the best of the new breed of broadcasters that has been created largely because of the licensing of specialty channels,’ according to Arthur Weinthal….

‘The interesting thing about Phyllis is that she has a number of really dull and boring virtues, but she is far from dull and boring,’ says Trina McQueen. ‘She is extremely well organized, completely straightforward and trustworthy; she is reliable, so…

Everything Phyllis Yaffe knows about negotiation started with trying to talk her way out of a parking fee….

Whether stranded on a mountaintop near Cannes with members of her team calmly sipping wine on a park bench in the town square at 3 a.m., or making her staff ‘jump through flaming hoops to earn their stripes,’ Norm Bolen says…

‘If Phyllis contributes to other organizations like she does with ours, she must have exceptional time-management skills,’ says Jane Logan….

In 1985, First Choice had a big problem. Awarded a national pay-tv licence in 1982 at a time when many thought that pay-tv would replicate hbo’s performance and deliver 30% to 50% of cable subs, it had only managed to get…

a sometimes overlooked credit amongst all of Phyllis Yaffe’s achievements is that she is the founding chairperson of the Harold Greenberg Fund (formerly the Foundation to Underwrite New Drama for Pay Television). The fund’s current chair of four-and-a-half years, Wendy MacKeigan,…

Robert Lantos’ first impression of Phyllis Yaffe was memorable – ‘It was love at first sight.’ Lantos, at the time head of Alliance Communications, is still unwavering in the admiration he felt upon their first meeting. ‘I thought she had all…

When Janet Eastwood walked into Phyllis Yaffe’s office to interview for a marketing communications position with History Television, she wasn’t at all convinced that she was ready to make a career move from ctv. But Yaffe’s personality was enough to change…

When Phyllis Yaffe was making the Omnimax Theatre dream a reality at the Ontario Science Centre, then acting ceo Debra Feldman saw her working style up close, and it left an impression: ‘I’m a fan!’ she says….