Naveen Prasad Joins Bell Fund Board of Directors

A vacancy on the Bell Fund’s Board of Directors has been filled with the appointment of Naveen Prasad, Executive Vice President and General Manager of Elevation Pictures Corp. who brings his television and digital knowledge to the Board as well as extensive distribution and marketing experience.  Previously he served as Senior Vice President, Television & Digital at Entertainment One Films and at Alliance Films and is a founding board member of multiplex television channel Hollywood Suite and is also on the board of CAFDE, the Canadian Association of Film Distributors and Exporters.

Mr. Prasad joins the 9-member Bell Fund Board of Directors under Chair Paul Hoffert who welcomed him to the Board:  “Naveen’s extensive experiences and valuable perspectives in distribution, marketing and digital content complement and add synergy to our board. We look forward to his contributions”.

The Bell Fund Board members also include:  Martin Ceré, Director General, Digital, RDS Sports Network;  Barry Chapman, Vice-President, Regulatory Affairs, BCE; Suzanne Guèvremont, Executive Director, Centre NAD; Jacques Labelle, President and CEO Saint-Jacques Vallée Y&R Brands, Louise Lantagne, Executive Director Television, SRC; Lori Rosenberg, Managing Director, Network Content, Bell Residential Services; Catherine Warren, President, FanTrust Entertainment Strategies.

The Bell Fund (formerly Bell Broadcast and New Media Fund) has invested nearly $150M in 1500 television and associated digital media projects since 1997.  It provides grants to Canadian independent producers who develop and produce television content complemented and enhanced by excellent digital content for multiple platforms.  The Bell Fund receives annual contributions of approximately $15M from Bell TV as part of its broadcast distribution undertaking (BDU) contributions to the industry.  Bell Fund also receives interest generated by a $10M endowment resulting from BCE-CTV benefits, as well as contributions from Aliant.  The Bell Fund is incorporated as a not-for-profit organization, governed by an independent Board of Directors representing various sectors of the television and digital media industry.