marblemedia Brings on Industry Veteran Blake Tohana as CFO & COO
TORONTO, ON (September 6, 2011)—marblemedia today announced the appointment of Blake Tohana to the newly created role of CFO & COO. He will be working closely with Partners/Executive Producers Mark Bishop and Matthew Hornburg to lead the company’s growth and execute its strategic plan.
Blake will oversee the expansion of new divisions and departments, including marblemedia’s Interactive group and its International Sales & Distribution arm, Distribution360. In addition, he will be responsible for growing the company’s newly-created Factual & Lifestyle division, which is launching its first cross-platform property—What’s in a Name?—on History Television (Canada) on September 12th, 2011.
“We’re very pleased to welcome Blake to the marblemedia team. Over the past decade, we’ve been fortunate to have grown significantly from a two person start-up to an award-winning multi-platform production studio. Blake will be implementing strategies to further expand our business in Canada as well as in international markets,” said Mark Bishop and Matthew Hornburg, Partners and Executive Producers at marblemedia.
Blake has nearly 15 years of senior management experience in the media and entertainment industry. Prior to joining marblemedia, he spent seven years as Executive Vice-President and CFO of Magna Entertainment Corp., which was North America's largest horse racing company with media operations that included a U.S. television network and Internet wagering business. Prior to that, he held various senior management positions (including CFO) at Fireworks Entertainment Inc., which was a film and television production and distribution company that he helped take public before it was subsequently acquired by CanWest Global Communications Corp. Blake got his start in the industry as Corporate Controller of Alliance Communications Corp., which was Canada's largest filmed entertainment company at that time.
Blake currently sits on the Board of Directors of the Ontario Media Development Corporation. He is a Chartered Accountant and has an MBA from McMaster University and a B.Sc. from The University of Western Ontario.
For more information, please visit:
www.marblemedia.com
About marblemedia
Founded in 2001 by Mark Bishop and Matt Hornburg, Toronto-based marblemedia is an award-winning content creation company at the forefront of television and new media production, devoted to telling stories that entertain and engage audiences across all platforms. marblemedia was named Company of the Year by the Canadian New Media Awards and was recognized by the Hollywood Reporter as a Next Generation Content Producer. Notable marblemedia projects include: the hit preschool series and websites, This is Daniel Cook and This is Emily Yeung; the first television series and website in American Sign Language, deafplanet.com; the mobile short film anthology, Shorts in Motion: The Art of Seduction; Taste Buds, a Gemini Award-winning kids’ cooking and food adventure cross-platform property; the teen competition series The Adrenaline Project; The Dating Guy, a hooked-up animated comedy about the single life of twenty-somethings in the city; Skatoony, North America’s first animated/live-action comedy series that pits tweens and cartoons against each other in competition through frantic, trivia-based rounds; and Splatalot, a hilarious medieval-themed physical game show geared to the 8-12 year-old audience, currently airing on YTV in Canada and BBC in the U.K., and will premiere on ABC in Australia this fall. marble’s newest project is What’s in a Name?, a transmedia factual entertainment series and website that takes audiences through the naming of Canada’s most notable people, places and things, premiering this September on History Television (Canada).
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Media Contact
René d’Entremont
Manager of Communications
(416) 646-2711 ext. 232
rene@marblemedia.com