Lisa de Wilde came to TVOntario from Astral Television Networks.Tom Sandler CIA for the Globe an/The Globe and Mail
After 14 years as chief executive officer of TVOntario, Lisa de Wilde will step down from her post on Oct. 30, at the end of her current term. In a public memo to “my TVO community,” de Wilde said it was time to move on to her “next challenge,” but she did not specify what that challenge would be. The 63-year-old Winnipeg native leaves behind an annual salary of $298,426.68, and a legacy crediting her with overseeing the transformation of the education-focused public broadcaster from analog to fully digital on all its platforms.
In a statement released by TVO, former Ontario premier William Davis praised de Wilde’s pivotal leadership “at a time of significant transition.” It was under Davis’s watch as education minister and minister of university affairs in 1970 that TVO (then the Ontario Educational Communications Authority television network) was established. This past year saw the broadcaster relaunch its online high school, known as ILC (Independent Learning Centre). It is considered the largest high school in the province, with more than 20,000 students.
The McGill University-trained lawyer came to TVO from Astral Television Networks Inc., where she had risen to the rank of president and CEO. Within a year of her TVO appointment on Nov. 1, 2005, the broadcaster’s flagship current affairs program, The Agenda with Steve Paikin, was born.
De Wilde was not available for an interview. In her statement, she said that her priority now will be to work with the TVO board and her team to “ensure an orderly transition.”
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Brad Wheeler