Business Strategist Geetu Pathak Joins TVO Board of Directors

TORONTO, June 1 /CNW/ - TVO is pleased to announce that the Ontario Government has appointed seasoned business strategist Geetu Pathak to the TVO Board of Directors for a three-year term.

Ms. Pathak is the Founder and Director of Snowflakes, a Toronto-based award-wining baby products business. Throughout her ten-year career in Ontario, she has also held a number of senior consulting positions in the banking, transportation, logistics and high technology sectors.

"As TVO forges ahead with its dynamic digital media strategy and its Go Public fundraising campaign, we will surely benefit from Geetu's depth of business experience and her strong focus on strategy, finance and operations" said Peter O'Brian, Chair of the TVO Board of Directors.

Ms. Pathak was a Director with UNICEF Canada where she supported a major fundraising initiative to help children suffering from AIDS in India. She has also sat on the Board of Directors at the Indo Canada Chamber of Commerce and recently served on the Advisory Committee for Premier McGuinty's mission to India in December 2009.

"Geetu has an entrepreneurial spirit, a global perspective and a commitment to making our province and our world a better place," added CEO Lisa de Wilde, "and these are the very pillars of TVO's vision as Ontario's public educational TV."

Ms. Pathak holds an MBA from India's prestigious Indian Institute of Management (IIM) and a Bachelor of Technology in Chemical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT). She began her career in Boisar, India where she was hired as the first ever female engineer at Lupin Laboratories' manufacturing plant.

The following Board members have also been re-appointed this spring for a second three-year term: Vice Chair of the Board Diane Kelly, Kingston; Penny Eizenga, London; Kambiz Kazemi and Judith Robertson, both of Toronto.

    
    Quick Facts about TVO:

    -   TVO's mandate is to use media to foster citizen engagement, to
        prepare children for success in school and to encourage parent
        involvement in their children's education.

    -   TVO has evolved from a single television station to a multi-platform
        media organization with five distinct channels of learning - TVO,
        TVOKids, tvo.org, tvokids.com, and tvoparents.com

    -   TVO produces more than 400 hours of made-at-TVO TV programming per
        year - most of which is available online - plus more than 1300 pieces
        of web-exclusive content including videos, games, chats, wikis,
        animations, blogs and more.

    -   TVO also distributes its content via distribution and revenue
        partnerships with YouTube, Yahoo! Canada, iTunes and Rogers-on
        demand-online

    -   Last season there were 5.2 million podcast downloads of TVO current
        affairs programs

    -   TVO's YouTube channel has had 335,000 video streams since its Spring
        2009 launch

    -   TVO's Big Ideas is the No. 1 podcast in the iTunes Higher Education
        category in Canada and No. 2 in the US

    -   TVO was the first Canadian broadcaster to launch early learner
        educational iphone app - "Melvin's Marvellous Words"

    -   TVOKids.com averages 5 million page views per month
    

About TVO

A registered charity, TVO is Ontario's public educational media organization and a trusted source of interactive educational content that informs, inspires and stimulates curiosity and thought. TVO's vision is to empower people to be engaged citizens of Ontario through educational media. For more information, visit tvo.org.

TVO has launched a new fundraising campaign called Go Public. To view Go Public spots click here

Where to find TVO

Cable channel 2 (channel may vary in some areas), Bell TV channel 265, Shaw Direct channel 353.

For further information: Media contact: Jill Javet, Corporate Relations, Bus: [phone], Cell: [phone], [email protected]