Team

Former Senior Vice President of Content for Shaw Media, Christine Shipton is a seasoned television executive with experience in both production and broadcast organizations. Throughout her career, Christine has been responsible for developing, overseeing and managing some great Canadian programming, including Rookie Blue, Continuum, Bomb Girls, Ice Pilots NWT, Big Brother Canada and Chopped Canada. In addition to her work with the Shaw Rocket Fund, Shipton serves on the boards of directors for the National Screen Institute, Hot Docs, and the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television.

Christine Shipton

Chair

Dedicated OLMC representative
A Gemini and Leo award winning Producer and Production Manager, Gigi’s background includes Producing and Production Managing roles on top US and Canadian series such as “Five Days at Memorial”, A Million Little Things”, “Strange Empire,” “Cold Squad” and “Godiva’s”.  In addition to producing drama series, Gigi was the Vice President of Industrial Relations and Special Projects for the CMPA-BC Branch for seven years and spent another seven years as the Director of the Television Unit for the Western office of Telefilm Canada. A graduate of the CFC Producer Program and a member of the Directors Guild of Canada, Gigi’s particular interests lie in industry labour negotiations and helping to create new strategies around content discoverability for Canadian television series.

Gigi Boyd

Vice-Chair

Since 2004, Agnes Augustin has proudly overseen the Shaw Rocket Fund and its commitment to championing Canadian children’s programming, helping showcase our great Canadian kids programming on the world stage by driving the Fund’s investment practices and spearheading various initiatives to support the industry, such as the much-celebrated Shaw Rocket Prize. Prior to joining the Shaw Rocket Fund, Agnes held various positions in production and distribution including Vice President of Business Affairs, Head of Production for CMT, and was an independent producer.

Agnes Augustin

President & CEO, Secretary/Treasurer

Chethan Lakshman is the former Vice-President, External Affairs at Shaw Communications. Prior to joining Shaw, Chethan provided independent communications and reputation management strategy and counsel to corporations, charitable enterprises, and individuals. From 1999–2011, Chethan was a leader of the award-winning Corporate Communications team at RBC. Chethan started his career as a journalist with The Globe and Mail, Financial Post, and CBC. Chethan sits on the board of directors for The Walrus Foundation, The Company Theatre, the Canadian Journalism Foundation, Hull Services and Shaw Rocket Fund, and is former Chair of the Toronto Business Development Centre.

Chethan Lakshman

Director

In her 13 years as CEO of Invest in Kids, Nancy led the transformation of this small, Toronto-focused granting foundation into a national charitable organization providing parenting support to new parents across Canada. Prior to this, Nancy spent 20 years in the branding, marketing and communications fields in both consulting and business leadership roles, including as Managing Director of the Toronto office of Young & Rubicam Advertising. Since 1997, Nancy has been part of Humanity, Inc., a business and branding strategy consulting firm based in the U.S. Nancy’s interests and reputation for insightful strategic solutions are reflected in the many volunteer leadership positions she has held in the children and youth, women’s issues, and education arenas.

Nancy Birnbaum

Director