Board of Directors

Peter Sussman Co-founded Kew Media Group with partner Steven Silver. They have built the company into the diverse, international content platform it is today.

Prior, Peter was Co-founder and Chairman of Aver Media Finance, a global media financier primarily for producers and distributors of television programs and theatrical feature films. Aver Media Finance was sold in 2013 to Bank of Montreal.

Prior to Aver Media Finance, Peter was a co-controlling voting shareholder of Alliance Atlantis and Chief Executive Officer of its Entertainment Group.

For more than 30 years, Peter has participated in the financing, production and distribution of thousands of hours of film and television. Peter capped off his years as a multi-award winning producer by assembling and launching, in partnership with CBS, the CSI Television Franchise comprising CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, CSI: Miami and CSI: New York. He has also been personally nominated for three Golden Globe Awards and four Emmy Awards.

Steven Silver Co-founded Kew Media Group with partner Peter Sussman. They have built the company into the diverse, international content platform it is today.

Prior, Steven was a Partner and Co-founder of the Blue Ice Group, which is a majority shareholder in several companies, including Blue Ice Pictures, Out of Africa Entertainment Inc. and South African Media Capital. The Blue Ice Group also partnered with Los Angeles-based Echo Lake Entertainment to form the financing fund, the Blue Lake Media Fund. In 2005, Blue Ice Group acquired a significant equity stake in Barna-Alper Productions Inc. Steven served as Vice President and then President of Barna-Alper Productions Inc. from 2005 to 2009, when it was sold to eOne. Following the sale, Steven spent a year as head of Factual Entertainment for eOne.

Steven is also an Emmy-nominated executive producer, producer and director of countless hours of television series and numerous feature films.

Julie Bristow is the President, sole director and officer of BGM and each of its subsidiaries. Julie has been influencing how Canadians watch television for the past 20 years. She has created thousands of hours of original content, built entire entertainment divisions from scratch, innovated novel and exciting ways to reach new audiences, and garnered multiple industry and business awards for her contributions and leadership.

Before launching BGM, Julie was Executive Director of Studio & Unscripted Content at CBC. Her content portfolio included sports (Hockey Night in Canada, the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio) and many of CBC’s most successful and original programs, including Dragons Den, Battle of the Blades, and George Stroumboulopoulos Tonight. Julie sits on the boards of some of the most influential domestic and international associations including the Academy of Canadian Television and Film and Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport. She volunteers her time to charitable organizations focused on addiction and mental health and is currently on the Foundation Board of the Hincks Dellcrest Centre for Children and Mental Health.

David Fleck has been a Partner and Senior Vice President with C.A. Delaney Capital Management Ltd. since he joined the company in 2014. David is responsible for business development and is part of the client relationship management team.

David has spent over 25 years in the investment industry, most recently as President and Chief Executive Officer of Macquarie Capital Markets Canada Ltd., a global investment bank that offers debt and equity financing services and advises on mergers & acquisitions to an extensive and diverse client base. Prior to this time, he was former Executive Managing Director and Co-Head of Equity Products of BMO Capital Markets. David is a director of Alamos Gold Inc. and has served as a director of a number of Canadian based charities. He is currently Vice-Chair of Soulpepper Theatre Company and a board member of the Art Gallery of Ontario Foundation and Yappn Corp. He received his MBA from INSEAD and completed the Institute of Corporate Directors program at the Rotman School of Management.

Maurice Kagan, qualified as a chartered accountant in South Africa in 1981. He is seasoned executive with a diverse background which complements our executive team.

He was formerly Chair of the Audit Committee of Carfinco Financial Group Inc. (TSX: CFN) and on its special committee, assisting with the sale of the company to an international buyer. Maurice was previously Chief Financial Officer of Residential Equities Real Estate Investment Trust (“ResREIT”) before it was subsequently sold. Maurice is currently Chair of the Audit Committee of LoneStar West Inc. (TSXV: LSI). He has extensive experience with real estate and operating entities and start-ups, as well as in the public company domain.

Patrice E. Merrin is an independent Non-Executive Director of Glencore plc, Stillwater Mining Company and Novadaq Technologies Inc. She was Chairman of the board of directors of CML HealthCare Inc., a former President and Chief Executive Officer of Luscar Ltd., Canada’s largest thermal coal producer, and former Chief Operating Officer of Sherritt International Corporation, a Canadian diversified miner. Patrice was also formerly a Director of Enssolutions, a mine tailing solutions company, and of NB Power.

Patrice serves as co-chair of Perimeter’s Emmy Noether Circle. She is also a director of Samara Canada, which promotes citizen participation in civic life in order to strengthen our democracy. She has served as a director of many non-profit organizations including Ornge, the Province of Ontario’s medical transport service, and the Toronto Public Library Foundation. She has been an appointee to Alberta’s Climate Change and Emissions Management Corporation (2009-2014), the National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy (2003-2006) and the Government of Canada’s Natural Resources Ministry’s Expert Panel on Energy Science and Technology (2005-2006).

Early in her career, Ms. Merrin worked in Ottawa as Special Assistant to the Honourable Marc Lalonde, P.C., M.P. during his time as Minister of Health and Welfare, Federal-Provincial Relations and Justice, all the while being Minister Responsible for the Status of Women as well. Patrice is a graduate of Queen’s University and completed the Advanced Management Program at INSEAD.

Stephen Pincus is a Senior Partner at Goodmans LLP, a member of its Executive Committee and Chair of its Capital Markets Group.

He has an extensive practice in mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance and corporate governance. Stephen is widely recognised as one of Canada’s leading lawyers and has played a pioneering leadership role in the development of Canada’s capital markets. Stephen is the Founding Chairman of The Canada Africa Chamber of Business, a member of the Corporate and Securities Advisory Board for Practical Law – Canada, and author of The Canadian REIT Handbook. He has an M.B.A., LL.B. (Osgoode, Gold Medalist) and ICD.D.

John Schmidt has over 30 years of experience building, acquiring and developing successful businesses in the media marketplace. John founded Content Media Corporation (now re-branded Kew) in 2001 and served as its Chief Executive Officer until stepping down from this role in November 2017.

He managed the company through its initial stage of film production, acquired the Fireworks library, built the company’s television and digital businesses and successfully sold to Kew in 2017. He also identified and led the start-up or acquisition of Campfire, Collins Avenue, Jigsaw Productions and Spirit Digital Media, now part of the Kew group. Prior to CMC, John co-Founded and served as co-President of October Films from 1992 to 2000. October Films was a leading distributor and producer of independent theatrical feature films and was acquired by Universal Pictures and renamed Focus Features. John was the Chief Financial Officer of Miramax Films from 1989-1992 and a Financial Analyst at Tri-Star Pictures from 1986-1989. Prior to that, he worked as a documentary film producer and journalist at ABC News. John received an MBA from Harvard Business School in 1986 and graduated from Yale University in 1977.

Mark Segal is Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at Spin Master Corp., where he leads Spin Master Corp.'s global Finance team. Mark was Chief Financial Officer of Spin Master from 2001 to 2011 and rejoined in 2015.

He is an accomplished executive with extensive global financial and operations experience in entrepreneurially driven public and private companies at both the operating and board level. Mark has broad global industry knowledge of the branded consumer goods, retail, manufacturing, and capital equipment sectors. He is bottom-line focused, with a proven track record of playing a pivotal role in value creation, building a scalable platform for profitable global growth, integrating businesses, achieving operating efficiencies, and guiding systems development. Mark has deep experience in U.S. and Canadian debt and equity capital markets, mergers & acquisitions and treasury operations and is adept at integrating capital allocation and liquidity-planning processes to achieve growth and sustainable competitive advantage. Prior to re-joining Spin Master, Mark was Chief Operating Officer at Canada Goose Inc. and Chief Financial Officer at Husky Injection Molding Systems Ltd. Mark has a Bachelor of Commerce, Bachelor of Accounting and MBA from Witwatersramd University in South Africa.