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Quitting Canwest, Skulsky claims ‘ultimate confidence in leadership team’

Dennis Skulsky’s resignation as president and CEO of Canwest’s print and online publishing arm hit the news Friday morning. Here is the letter he circulated to Canwest staffers the same day:

Today I formally announced that I will be leaving my current position as President and CEO of Canwest Publishing effective April 30th.

This was a very personal decision and one that I made with my closest advisors -- my family. Some of you may know we had a serious health scare in our family in the past year. We also had the greatest joy that you could possibly imagine -- the birth of our first grandchild. My dear wife, our daughters and son-in-law, our precious new granddaughter and my elderly parents, all of whom live out West, are what I treasure most in my life and this decision was driven primarily so that I could spend more time with them. It will also allow me to pursue other opportunities closer to home.

Media and publishing have been my career and passion for all of my adult life. But my proudest moments come from my family, my faith and being able to give back to my community.

I am tremendously proud of the people across this company and I have ultimate confidence in the leadership team. The decision I have made is not a signal of any change of strategic direction for the publishing group. I will be fully engaged in our operations and the financial restructuring process until the end of April. After that, I will continue to provide advice to the special committee and senior management team until the end of August.

Throughout the restructuring process, our operations have continued to move forward delivering news and information to engaged readers across our platforms, selling innovative marketing opportunities to advertisers and working hard to transform our operations and find ways to embrace the changes that we have faced in the economy and the industry. That work must continue, and I know this team is dedicated to working through the restructuring process and strengthening the business.

In the coming weeks, we’ll have more information about the transition but it shouldn’t affect the work you do every day and the objectives, targets and initiatives that we have set for the publishing group’s operations and restructuring.

It has been an absolute privilege to lead this organization. I have always felt it a great honour to serve the communities that we do. You are part of a team of bright, creative, dedicated and resilient people who engage readers and audiences and deliver results to advertisers and marketers. It’s something that I believe we do better than anyone.

I continue to be inspired by the work done every day across this organization and although I will be leaving officially, I will continue to be your biggest fan and cheering from the sidelines.

Dennis

Skulsky is reported to be about to take over running the B.C. Lions CFL football team based in Vancouver. During the four years that he was a top executive at Canwest, the value of the stock plummeted from $15 per share to six cents before trading was halted and Canada’s biggest print, online and broadcast media company filed for bankruptcy protection.

Skulsky’s superior during those years, Leonard Asper, resigned as president and CEO of Canwest last week after banks owning the company’s billions in debt took over control and prepared to sell off assets. Asper is part of a team bidding to regain control of Canwest’s newspaper holdings.

David Beers is editor of The Tyee.

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