Teletoon Canada’s former content director Athena Georgaklis has a new role within Canada’s Corus Entertainment as head of development for the company’s producer/distributor Nelvana.

Effective immediately, Georgaklis will report to Nelvana president Scott Dyer and work closely with the newly appointed head of Nelvana Enterprises, Pam Westman.

With nearly 20 years of industry experience, Georgaklis is expected to strengthen Nelvana’s animation pipeline, which has produced a raft of hit children’s series including Little Charmers, Truck Town and Mike the Knight.

She will also look for distribution and licensing growth opportunities within Corus’ merchandising and distribution arm, Nelvana Enterprises, and expand the premium content library for the media conglomerate’s suite of kids channels—YTV, Treehouse, Nickelodeon, Teletoon, Cartoon Network, Disney Channel, Disney Junior and Disney XD.

As content director at Teletoon, Georgaklis oversaw all original productions, development and acquisitions for the network’s English and French brands including Teletoon, Télétoon, Teletoon at Night, Télétoon la Nuit and Cartoon Network Canada.

She was instrumental in the success of programs such as Johnny Test, Knuckleheads, Fugget About It, Atomic Puppet, Rocket Monkeys and the Total Drama Island franchise, to name a few.

Her appointment comes as Corus’ new leadership team looks to rebound from Q3 losses attributed to expenses incurred during the recent acquisition of Shaw Media and a soft advertising market for conventional TV.