The National Film Board of Canada (NFB) has appointed Cindy Witten to the post of director general of NFB English Program.

Witten was previously vice president of content at the Canadian specialty channel History Television. Before that she was vice president of original production at History as well as BBC Canada and National Geographic Channel Canada, all of which were recently acquired by CanWest in its takeover of the broadcast assets of Alliance Atlantis Communications.

Witten was also a producer at CBC Newsworld and a director/journalist at The National. She began her television career in current affairs director and news producer at CBC Toronto from 1987 to 1991.

She has also served on the Industry Board for the World Congress of History Producers, the Hot Docs International Advisory Council and the Advisory Board for the Yorkton Short Film and Video Festival.

In making the announcement NFB chairman Tom Perlmutter said in a statement: 'What impressed me about Cindy's career has been her willingness to recognize talent and take creative risks. We're at a point of great creative renewal for the institution, crowned this week with our fifth Oscar nomination in five years, both in traditional and digital media. Cindy brings the right skill set of energy, drive and risk-taking to keep the NFB at the cutting edge of innovative media making.'