WINNIPEG – The founding family of Canwest Global Communications is officially gone from the executive suite.
With his brother and sister resigning from their board positions last month, Canwest Global Communications said this morning Leonard Asper has tendered his resignation as president and CEO and all other director and officer positions with the company his father Izzy founded in the 1970s “in order to pursue other business opportunities and to avoid any concerns regarding potential conflicts of interest,” reads the official press release. The announcement was not a surprise.
Asper will continue to provide the company with advice through a consulting agreement until such time that Canwest emerges from CCAA protection, adds the release.
The president and CEO chair at Canwest will not be filled given the company’s court-supervised restructuring which commenced in October 2009, and the company’s newspaper and online publishing group pursuing a separate court-supervised financial restructuring plan, which commenced in January.
Asper was also part of a late bid to try and retain control of the company, which an Ontario court rejected in favour of a proposal from Shaw Communications.
Canwest’s television broadcasting businesses will continue under the leadership of president and CEO Peter Viner and his senior management team. Canwest Limited Partnership, Canwest (Canada) Inc. and their subsidiaries, which operate Canwest’s newspaper publishing and online operations, will also continue under its existing senior management team.
“I would like to thank Leonard for his years of dedicated leadership and unwavering commitment to Canwest,” said Derek Burney, Canwest’s chairman of the board. “His vision and determination over the last decade has been instrumental in shaping the Canadian media landscape.”
The remaining Board members Derek Burney, David Drybrough, David Kerr and Margot Micallef are independent directors actively involved in the Company’s financial restructuring activities.
