Corus moves Teletoon originals exec to Nelvana

Canada’s Corus Entertainment has moved an original programming boss at its kids network Teletoon to production arm Nelvana.

Athena Georgaklis has been named head of development, and will lead rights acquisition and original content development for the studio.

She takes up her post immediately, reporting to Nelvana president Scott Dyer, and working closely with the recently appointed head of Nelvana Enterprises Pam Westman.

Georgaklis is a 19-year veteran of Canadian broadcasting and production. She was most recently in charge of all original productions at Teletoon, where she oversaw development and production on shows such as Johnny Test, Knuckleheads, Fugged About It, Atomic Puppet and the Total Drama Island franchise.

“Athena joins our team with an exceptional international reputation built on her keen eye for animation and her breadth of knowledge and experience in the industry,” said Dyer.

Georgaklis will remain based at Corus’ Montréal office, but will also have a continued presence at the company’s Toronto headquarters.

Her hire comes three months after former HIT Entertainment Westman, another industry veteran, was put it charge of Nelvana Enterprises, which is the sales, licensing and distribution arm of the studio.

Dyer was named as president of Nelvana in a restructuring last year.