With over 25 years of experience across the industry, Rachel Nelson spearheads a diverse portfolio of Scripted and Unscripted content as Vice President of Original Programming at Corus Entertainment. In this role, Rachel leads strategies for commissioning, developing, and producing first class series for Corus’ slate of channels, and continuously demonstrates a devotion to empower and inspire world-class talent in an ever-evolving market.

Under Rachel’s leadership the Original Programming team oversees Canadian content for all of Corus’ original flagship channels including, but not limited to: Global, History, HGTV, Food Network, YTV, and Adult Swim. With a passion for character-first storytelling, Rachel has also grown content in the Corus Studios catalogue, which has garnered interest on an international level with more than two hundred hours of content sold thus far.

Over the years, Rachel has worked closely with the independent production community and possesses an exceptional ability to discover the next generation of content creators. She has led multiple teams in the Canadian content space and has partnered with independent producers from coast to coast. She has been a key leader in the production of many hit series in her career, with hundreds of hours of content created under her purview, and helped build the Canadian industry into the success it is today.

Surrounded by deep relationships in the media space, Rachel has left an indelible mark on dozens of award-winning, top-rated shows in Canada, the U.S., and abroad.

Sally Catto is the General Manager of Entertainment, Factual and Sports for CBC. She oversees the strategic direction for all Entertainment, Factual and Sports content across all platforms including CBC TV, CBC Gem and CBC Listen. Content includes drama, comedy, factual entertainment, arts, documentary, kids, sports, podcasts, books, radio & audio music and arts.

Catto has an accomplished history at the CBC from her earliest days in 2001 as an Executive in Charge of Production, Drama to her subsequent positions including Creative Head, Drama and Executive Director, Commissioned & Scripted Programming.

Catto has been recognized for her outstanding contributions to Canadian storytelling, including being named Playback’s Programmer of the Year in 2015 and WIFT-T’s Crystal Award Winner for Creative Excellence in 2014. With Catto at the helm of programming, CBC was recognized as Playback’s Media Company of the Year in 2016.

Catto started her career as a lawyer at Stikeman Elliott and Goodmans. She also worked as a literary agent for film and television and at production companies and spent a year overseas at Australian broadcaster SBS working in scripted and business affairs.

Jocelyn Hamilton leads all operations for Lionsgate Canada’s television business which includes the strategic planning and day-to-day management of Lionsgate’s television development and production activities in Canada. In her role, she focuses on building and broadening strong relationships with creative talent and Canadian broadcasters, while overseeing all aspects of the studio’s original slate across all genres.

As Executive Producer, Hamilton has helped bring to life such high-profile projects as Cardinal (CTV/Hulu); Mary Kills People (Lifetime/Global); Nurses (Global/NBC); Private Eyes (Global/ION); Ransom (Corus/CBS); Burden of Truth (CBC/CW); Moonshine (CBC/CW), The Spencer Sisters (CTV/CW); and newest series Mistletoe Murders (Hallmark). She also oversees all unscripted content including Billionaire Murders (Crave); Thunder Bay (Crave); Arctic Vets (CBC/Roku); Border Security (Global/Netflix); Project Bakeover (Food Network); Make it to the Moon (Discovery); Chicago Strangler (Discovery+); and Death in the Bayou: The Jennings 8 (Discovery ID).

Hamilton also oversees the Lionsgate Canada podcast network under the umbrella of Lionsgate Sound which includes popular titles such as Think Queen, hosted by former Canada’s Drag Race contestant, Kyne; Lights Out: The Loss of a Lifetime with sports journalist Matt Stanmyre; My Friends Do Dope Shit hosted by content creator Sasha Exeter; and Somewhere in the Skies hosted by author Ryan Sprague.

Hamilton has over 35 years of creative, strategic and business experience in the entertainment industry. Prior to Lionsgate Canada, she served as VP, Programming & Original Productions for Corus Entertainment where she was responsible for all content strategies, programming and original productions. She held a number of other key roles over many years at Corus Entertainment, which included overseeing Comedy and Drama original programming for all Corus specialty networks as well as Movie Central and HBO Canada. Hamilton was named to The Hollywood Reporter’s 2024 inaugural Most Powerful Women in Canadian Entertainment list.

Hamilton is on the board of the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television and Hollywood Suite, was Board Chair for Women in Film and Television for five years. She has won numerous awards over the years including Emmy, Gemini and Canadian Screen awards, and was named the recipient of the 2022 Women in Film & Television – Toronto (WIFT-T) Crystal Award for Outstanding Achievement in Business.

Virginia Rankin is an award-winning producer working across scripted development and production in Canada, the U.S. and internationally. At Blink49, Virginia is Executive Producer of Sight Unseen (CTV/CW) and Producer of Wild Cards (CBC/CW), both of which are going into second season. Virginia was also EP of Blink49’s first scripted series Ride (Hallmark/Bell Media/CW.) Prior to joining Blink49, she was Executive Producer of multi award-winning medical drama Transplant, which aired to critical acclaim and ratings success on CTV and NBC. Virginia also served as Executive Producer of four seasons of the International Emmy-nominated police drama 19-2 (CTV). She also executive produced This Life S1 and S2 (CBC) and Bad Blood (Netflix). Previously, Virginia was Executive Creative Consultant on the CTV/CBS hit drama Flashpoint.

Founder and CEO of award-winning production company New Metric Media, Mark Montefiore executive produces the multiple Canadian Screen Award winning Hulu/Crave original comedy series Letterkenny, the Hulu/Crave Letterkenny spinoff series Shoresy, CTV’s half-hour comedy series Children Ruin Everything, and the all-new half-hour Crave comedy series Bria Mack Gets A Life. Montefiore also produced the Netflix/CityTV original drama Bad Blood (starring Kim Coates of Sons of Anarchy, Anthony Lapaglia of Without a Trace, and the late Paul Sorvino of Goodfellas). Montefiore is responsible for leading the Letterkenny brand across a variety of revenue-generating marketing initiatives including a North American live tour, apparel lines, collectibles and a partnership with Labatt’s for Puppers Golden Lager. Most recently, he was featured in The Globe & Mail’s list of The Most Influential People in Canadian Television for 2023. Previously, he was named The Hollywood Reporter’s Next Generation Under 35 and Playback’s Top Ten to Watch. Montefiore is a graduate of the CFC’s Producers Lab, the Berlinale Talent Campus, and the Schulich School of Business.

Teza Lawrence is an award-winning producer and the co-founder of Amaze. She is a passionate storyteller and has a wide variety of interests that she hopes will positively impact the planet, specifically a deep love for trees. Over the past 20 years, Teza has co-built Amaze to be a creative incubator and producer of market-driven television and films. Past projects include the feature film, EVERYTHING’S GOING TO BE GREAT, starring Bryan Cranston and Allison Janney. Amaze produced AMAZON PRIME VIDO’S first scripted Canadian comedy, called THE LAKE, starring Julia Stiles. CARTER for SONY and BELL MEDIA, THE STANLEY DYNAMIC for CORUS, and CALL ME FITZ for HBO CANADA. She also executive produced three feature films: FINN ON THE FLY and SAINT RALPH, which had their world premiere at TIFF, and BEING CANADIAN, which premiered at HotDocs.

Matt Orenstein is Vice President of Acquisitions and Strategy at Vortex Media. Previously, Matt was the co-founder of the Canadian film distribution company, ABMO Films, which released films including Academy Award-nominated First Reformed and Suspiria. Matt also worked at eOne as part of the US acquisitions group and is a graduate of the University of Western Ontario and the Newhouse School at Syracuse University with an MS in Media Management.

One of Canada’s most prolific producers, Daniel Bekerman produced The Witch (Sundance and Indie Spirit winner), Falling (directed by Viggo Mortensen), Come To Daddy (starring Elijah Wood) and Percy Vs. Goliath (starring Christopher Walken) amongst many others. His company Scythia Films is also one of the country’s leading service production providers (How It Ends, Ready Or Not, The Craft, Firestarter)