Greg Stremlaw has been announced as the new head of CBC Sports. Stremlaw, who was last CEO of Curling Canada, is tasked with implementing the broadcaster’s new sports strategy, which is focused on amateur sports and building content-sharing partnerships.

Stremlaw comes to CBC with experience in sports governance, management, production and programming as well as in negotiating sponsorships and building broadcast partners, Neil McEneaney, chief business officer, CBC English, said in a press release issued by the broadcaster. That expertise, he said, is central to the implementation of the CBC’s new sports strategy.

In his previous position, Stremlaw was credited with financially turning around Curling Canada. Under his leadership, the sport was broadcast on TSN and RDS and boasted a sold-out national sponsorship portfolio.

Stremlaw is a sports enthusiast whose board positions include Canadian Winter Sport Caucus chair and chair of the Canadian Sport Tourism Alliance board of directors. He has also served in a number of roles with the Canadian Olympic Committee.

CBC rolled out its new strategy in the wake of the sale of NHL rights to Rogers. Titled “A Space for Us All,” the strategy aims to build a collaborative content-sharing partnership approach to Olympic Games rights as well as a “support sports” acquisition strategy between Games. The change in strategy has been attributed to the prohibitive costs of acquiring sports rights. 

The broadcaster’s last sports division head, Jeffrey Orridge left the company in April this year to take on the role of commissioner at the Canadian Football League. 

Stremlaw takes over his new role on Sept. 15.