RUDY BUTTIGNOL, KNOWLEDGE NETWORK, BRITISH COLUMBIA, CANADA

Rudy Buttignol is the President and CEO of British Columbia’s public broadcaster – Knowledge Network. He is also the President of the BBC Kids channel. He moderates the annual financing forums in Amsterdam, Leipzig, and Asian Side of the Doc; and serves as a Director on boards of several arts organizations. Buttignol is a graduate of the Faculty of Fine Arts at Toronto’s York University and has completed Executive programs at Stanford and Harvard. From 1993 to 2006, Buttignol was TVO’s Creative Head of Network Programming, Head of Independent Production and Commissioning Editor. His notable commissions include “The Corporation”, “Manufactured Landscapes”, “Diamond Road”, and Emmy/Grammy Award winning “Yo-Yo Ma: Inspired by Bach”. From 1975 to 1993, he worked as an independent writer, director and producer of children’s series and documentaries. International honors include the inaugural Doc Mogul Award from the Hot Docs International Documentary Festival and nine Canadian Academy Awards. On December 30, 2015, Buttignol was appointed as a Member of the Order of Canada, “for his contributions as a champion of Canadian documentary filmmaking and for his transformative leadership at the Knowledge Network.” British Columbia's Knowledge Network is a commercial-free, multi-platform public broadcaster. Through television and the web, Knowledge Network broadcasts a mix of arts and culture programs that explore the world from local, national and global perspectives.