Successful Canada Basketball CEO Says Farewell
By any measure, Canada Basketball and Canadian national ball teams are on the rise. But the organization will have to chart further progress without Wayne Parrish, the CEO of the enterprise, who announced Tuesday that he will be stepping down from his position.
Parrish, who took over the organization in 2007, will be joining Postmedia Network, which owns the National Post as chief transformation officer. He will remain on the board of Canada Basketball, but will formally leave the staff and his head position. Duties are expected to be split and filled soon.
From the perspective of the board, Parrish said he will “continue to kind of oversee things,” but just “won’t be that involved in the day to day.”
Parrish is a veteran journalist who has held executive positions within the Quebecor media group as well as worked for the Toronto Star. He held his position as basketball’s national governing body for three years.
Paul Godfrey, Postmedia’s chief transformation officer announced Tuesday announced Parrish’s appointment.
Godfrey recently led a successful campaign in buying the Canwest papers. Among others, they included the National Post created by Conrad Black and various dailies from Vancouver and Montreal. Also included is website Canada.com.
Winnipeg-based Canwest Global Communications bought the Canwest papers from Hollinger International, then under Black’s control. They were placed under bankruptcy protection.
In a statement, Godfrey pointed towards his congenial relationship with Parrish, and why he is the best man for the job. "I have had the pleasure of working with Wayne in the past and know he has the right focus and strengths to champion the business transformation ahead.
The idea on the side of Postmedia is to generate more internet and digital based revenue, which is where the business is headed in the future. It is well known that Newspaper and magazine sales have been trending down since the popularization of online news.
Postmedia is looking to expand, and as such expediential financial growth and a clear message will be important if the company hopes to steady themselves on the stock market before year’s end.
By most indications, Parrish is the man for the job. By negotiating deals with the sports company Scrooges and ultimately Maple Leaf Sporting Entertainment Ltd.—whom own the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Toronto Raptors, among other teams—he drastically reduced Canada Basketball’s debt.
Parrish has also worked for the Toronto Sun and the Sun Media Group, both of which were acquired by Quebecor Inc. while Godfrey was the company’s chief executive.
Parrish resume includes being general manager and editor of the Toronto Sun, as well as president and CEO of Quebecor’s Canoe Online web portal.
He finalized an arrangement with Basketball Canada in late 2007.
In an official announcement, Parrish said Tuesday that “it’s an exciting time to come back to media.”
Sports media has seen sweeping changes due to increased attention to online media content. The changes have also affected sports themselves, which are more and more reliant on online viewership. Old-style media bases such as newspapers find that they can no longer compete with faster online media outlets, meaning that they have to focus more on rare and dense features, which take increasing amounts of time to produce.
In his announcement, Parrish seemed hopeful: "This is a new company, with a renewed focus. I look forward to joining this great team, building on the strengths we have across the country and working through the transformation."
Godfrey and Postmedia chief financial officer Doug Lamb are set to inform analysts through a conference call Thursday, after the company released an official quarterly report.
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