As Director of Development in CBC’s Studio and Unscripted Content group, Sandra is responsible for finding new factual entertainment and sports formats, and overseeing development and production of both formats and original series, with independent and in-house producers. Sandra joined CBC Factual Entertainment when it was created in 2006. There she helped the department establish a new programming presence in prime time, supervising the Canadian iterations of several international formats: the award-winning Dragons’ Den – Canada’s #1 unscripted entertainment show -- The Week the Women Went, and Test the Nation. She oversaw development of the first English language version of Village on a Diet, as well as other original formats with Canadian, international and CBC in-house production partners, including Make the Politician Work, Canada’s Smartest Person and Redemption Inc. In addition to overseeing Dragons’ Den, she is also part of the team looking after Hockey Night in Canada. Her career as a broadcast executive encompasses three conventional, three analog and two digital specialty channels. She was hired to help launch Discovery Health Channel Canada and oversaw its first original series, The Surgeons and Med Students. She has also supervised countless hours of documentaries and series in reality, lifestyle, food, décor, science, medicine, business and talk. She was part of the launch team for Canada’s business channel, BNN, and produced its first live nightly talk show, The Bottom Line. Prior to that she worked as a producer/director in current affairs, including stints at the long-running investigative Canadian programs, the fifth estate and W-5, as well as other lifestyle and business programs.

Speaking on: Luncheon Roundtables