Canadian broadcasting executive Kirstine Stewart has joined Twitter as managing director for Twitter Canada.
The announcement was just tweeted by Adam Bain, Twitter’s president of global revenue. He also noted that Stewart is the first team member for Twitter Canada, and that the company is looking to do more hiring in Toronto.
Stewart is leaving her position as executive vice president for English services at CBC-Radio Canada. According to her CBC bio, she joined the company in 2006 and “her role has been to revolutionize the CBC as the modern public broadcaster,” for example by developing a strategic plan for broadband and mobile content.
Following the announcement, I had a quick conversation with Stewart, who told me that she has been a “longtime champion of great content.” Twitter, she said, is doing “incredibly exciting” things on that front. Plus, through things like the recently announced partnership with ad giant StarCom MediaVest, the company is “really setting itself up as quite the partner.”
It sounds like the opening of a new office has less to do with making a big push with consumers (Stewart said Canadian Twitter usage is already significant) and more with ad sales and partnerships. Steart told me that the work of establishing that office — not just hiring a team but actually finding an office location — will be taking place over the course of the summer.