Board of Directors
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Walter Levitt
Principal
Banff Board
Walter Levitt is one of North America’s most accomplished media & entertainment marketing executives. Most recently, Walter spent six years as Chief Marketing Officer at Comedy Central in NYC. He led numerous successful new initiatives including a strategic repositioning of the brand, the introduction of many multiplatform hits including “Key & Peele”, “Inside Amy Schumer” and "The Daily Show with Trevor Noah", and the launch of the Comedy Central App. He also oversaw the marketing of Comedy’s Central’s highest-rated specials of all time, “The Roast of Charlie Sheen” and "The Roast of Justin Bieber”. His team negotiated key partnerships with Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, and others. Under Walter’s leadership, Comedy Central was widely acknowledged for its innovative multiplatform approach to branding and marketing.
Walter is a frequent keynote speaker at industry conferences, has won numerous awards for marketing excellence, and has been profiled in prominent business and marketing publications - including the books "CMOs at Work" and "The TV Brand Builders". He was featured in Variety's first ever Marketing Impact Report, named one of Marketing Magazine’s “Top Thought Leaders”, elected as an Honourary Life Member of the Canadian Marketing Association, and was listed at #12 on ExecRank’s inaugural ranking of the top private company CMOs in America. Walter currently serves on the international Board of Directors of PromaxBDA, the Board of the Banff World Media Festival, the Board of JFL42, and is a past Board Chair of the Canadian Marketing Association. He is also well known for his active involvement in social media, most notably his popular Twitter feed @MediaMktgGuy.
Prior to Comedy Central, Walter was Chief Marketing Officer at Canwest Broadcasting in Canada where he oversaw a portfolio of over twenty brands including broadcast network Global Television, Food Network, History Television, National Geographic, and Showcase. Prior to Canwest, he was Senior Vice President, Marketing & Creative Services at Alliance Atlantis and also worked in key marketing roles at the CTV Television Network and at CJEZ-FM in Toronto. A Montreal native, Walter began his career as an on-air producer at radio station CKGM.
Walter lives in Toronto with his pediatrician wife and three teenage kids.