Board / Informing policy and direction at BC Film + Media

Michael Francis

Chairperson

Michael Francis, a Chartered Accountant, is the president of Seed Management Inc., an early stage venture capital company. He is the Chair of BC Film + Media as well as Chair of the Vancouver International Film Festival and former Chair of the Board of Governors of Simon Fraser University. Mr. Francis is also a past Chair of Science World, the British Columbia Trade Development Corporation and BC Ferries. He is a past director of WIC Western International Communications which was, at the time, Canada’s largest private broadcaster.

Colin Browne

Vice Chair, Secretary/Treasurer

Colin Browne is a filmmaker, writer and film archivist/historian. He was co-founder of the Praxis Screenwriter's Workshop and serves on the boards of the Vancouver International Film Festival and the AV Preservation Trust. His most recent film, a documentary portrait of a beloved jazz musician entitled "Linton Garner: I Never Said Goodbye," was screened on CBC Opening Night. His most recent book, "Ground Water," was nominated for a Governor-General's Award and the Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize. He is currently Associate Director of the School for the Contemporary Arts at Simon Fraser University where he teaches film production and film studies.

Nini Baird

For more than four decades Nini Baird has been known for her work as an arts administrator and advocate. Her management experience spans the arts, post-secondary education, and educational broadcasting as well as corporate and private philanthropy. She has worked on the municipal, provincial, federal and international level. As founding chair of the TELUS Vancouver Community Board (2005-present) she has broadened her experience to corporate community investment in nonprofit organizations providing services to children and youth in the areas of health and wellbeing, education, sport and the arts. A former Director of Programming for Knowledge Network, she is a member of the Knowledge Network Corporation Board (Vice Chair 2006-2010, Chair 2010-present) and continues on the board of British Columbia Film (1994-present). She was a founding member of the BC Arts Council in 1996 (Vice Chair 1998-2001, Chair 2001-2003) and has just completed a six-year term on the board of the Leon and Thea Koerner Foundation.

Gordon Esau

Gordon Esau is a senior partner in Fraser Milner Casgrain LLP's Vancouver office with a practice focused on corporate finance and merger and acquisition activity. Gordon represents several of the major Hollywood studios, U.S. television networks and U.S. based independent production companies in the media, communications and entertainment law area. LEXPERT recognizes Gordon as one of the leading lawyers in the Entertainment Industry in Canada.

Brigitte Prochaska

Brigitte Prochaska is currently president of Cornerstone Entertainment Group. She has worked extensively as a film and television publicist in both Canada and The United States, instructed at the Vancouver Film School, headed the Communications Department for the Vancouver International Film Festival, and served as Promotion Manager for CKVU-TV. Ms. Prochaska has sat on the board of directors for the B.C. Motion Picture Foundation and the advisory board of the Vancouver Film Festival Trade Forum. In 1994 she was elected to the national board of directors for the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television, and then in 1996 was elected Vice Chair-West for the Academy.

Gerry Rutherford

Gerry Rutherford is the Vice President - Production Services at Pacific Backlot Services, the backlot services arm of Vancouver Film Studios. Previous to that, Gerry was the Director of Marketing and Business Affairs at Scarab Digital Studios. He has also had extensive experience in the motion picture labour Unions representing actors in both ACTRA and the Union of BC Performers, and the camera guild, IATSE Local 669. In addition, Gerry has served on the advisory board of the film program at Capilano College, the advisory board for the Vancouver International Film Festival Trade Forum, the BC Film Commission and the Victoria Film Commission. He was a principal in the founding of the Motion Picture Production Industry of BC (MPPIA) and has represented the BC industry elsewhere in Canada, the United States and Europe.