Evan Kosiner

Evan Kosiner
Evan Kosiner with Isadore Sharp, Founder and Chairman of The Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts in 2013.
Born	Evan Kosiner[1] (1987-12-16) December 16, 1987 Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Nationality	Canadian / American
Occupation	Philanthropist & Entrepreneur
Religion	Jewish
Spouse(s)	None
Awards	Governor General's Sovereign's Medal For Volunteers Governor General's Caring Canadian Award

Evan Kosiner is a Canadian philanthropist, entrepreneur and broadcaster.^[2] His notable achievements include receiving The Governor General of Canada's Caring Canadian Award, The Governor General's Sovereign's Medal For Volunteers, and for obtaining rights to bring HuffPost Live to Canada for television, partnering with AOL (which was acquired by Verizon Communications^[3]).^[4] Kosiner Co-founded and acts as Chairman of Skate To Great, supported primarily by FedEx, is one of the largest skating related charities in Canada under his leadership since inception in 2012.^[5] In 2016 he became a seed investor for HVR Technologies Inc.^[6]

Kosiner also Directed and Co-Executive Produced a feature length theatrical film shown in approximately one thousand theatres worldwide, starring rapper Drake, entitled "Drake's Homecoming: The Lost Footage." The international theatrical release was held on March 19, 2015, but Kosiner stayed quiet amidst much controversy surrounding the film.^{[7] [8] [9]} The film's controversy was documented throughout numerous articles in Rolling Stone Magazine, Billboard Magazine, TMZ, The LA Times, Vice News, Canadian Press and The Toronto Star about two tweets Drake sent out publicly regarding the release. Drake was a partner in the film. The Toronto Star rated the film half a star less than comparable Canadian concert film Never Say Never about Justin Bieber. ^{[10] [11]}

Early life and Education

Evan Kosiner grew up in the affluent area of Forest Hill in Toronto and attended Forest Hill Public School and Forest Hill Collegiate with notable actors Aubrey Drake Graham and Canadian Actress, Shenae Grimes. He subsequently graduated from Ryerson University in Radio and Television Arts.^[12][13] Kosiner spoke in a Toronto Star article alongside Drake and Shenae Grimes about their appreciation towards their music and drama teacher while attending Forest Hill Public School together.^[14]

His initial interest in television came from working with Kids TV International, a production company supplying small video segments for HBO. At the age of 13, he started collaborating with Motorola, helping to produce their corporate videos.^[15]

Career

In September 2012, Kosiner began hosting Entrepreneurship, a live one-hour television show on Rogers Television with notable Canadian guests such as Isadore Sharp, Founder and Chairman of The Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts^[16] and Christine Magee, President and Founder of Sleep Country Canada.^[17] He also appeared on CTV News Channel as a business contributor.^[18]

Kosiner produced a nationally televised half-time show for the 2015 All-Canadian Basketball Game airing across Canada on the sports broadcaster TSN from the iconic Canadian venue Maple Leaf Gardens. The show featured Canadian Juno Award Winner Jully Black and Choclair.^[19] In 2009, Kosiner owned Radio Development Group which began providing over 80% of the content which aired on XM Radio and later the merged SiriusXM Satellite Radio entity on Canada 360. His company provided weather, traffic and border crossing information. He exited the venture in 2013.^[20]

In 2012, he was granted a license to produce Bulb TV, a knowledge and educational television channel.^[21] Bulb TV was the first channel in North America to broadcast in 4K (4000 pixel) and 8K (8000 pixel) signal formats. ^{[22] [23] [24] [25]}

In August 2014, Kosiner launched BuyNOW TV, a Canadian English language direct response specialty shopping channel .^[26] The channel was carried on Rogers Cable, Zazeen and V Media included on basic packages in several provinces across Canada prior to a change in strategy broadcasting through various cable stations.

On December 18, 2014 an application was received by the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission from Kosiner Venture Capital Inc. with AOL's written support to bring HuffPost Live to Canadian televisions through conventional cable.^{[27] [28] [29]} On June 12, 2015 it was announced by the CRTC that the channel was successfully approved and added to the Government of Canada's "list of non-Canadian programming services and stations authorized for distribution".^[30][31]

On October 1, 2015, Kosiner received a favorable CRTC broadcast decision for sixty cable music channels to compete with Canadian cable music provider Stingray Digital.^[32] Stingray Digital previously had a monopoly for this type of licensing in Canada. In May 2015, Stingray went public after seven years in operation for $140 million Canadian and one year later had a market cap of $286 million.^[33][34]

Philanthropy

In March 2013, Kosiner was presented with the Governor General of Canada's Caring Canadian Award for the success of his charitable organization he co-founded with Canadian Olympian Kaitlyn Weaver, Skate to Great.^{[20][35][36][37]} Kosiner was promoted with The Governor General of Canada's Sovereign's Medal for Volunteers in Fall 2016.^[38]

Skate to Great has national sponsors such as FedEx and Kosiner appeared in a video talking about their partnership on FedEx's YouTube channel. He also appeared on Hockey Day in Canada promoting the charity. Skate To Great collected over 6000 pairs of skates in its first two years and has had events with the majority of NHL franchises or alumni associations within Canada. As of April 2016 the organization has collected and distributed over 25,000 pairs of skates.^[39][40][41]

In an article in Toronto Life Magazine, Kosiner was featured for giving $1000 "to Starbucks barista's in Forest Hill to pay for random customers' coffees.”^[42]

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reported Kosiner offered to cover the costs of a hockey game ticket so a family could sit together at the NHL Heritage Classic.^[43]

Kosiner was a spokesperson for the Jewish community on Canadian news channel CP24 and in various publications when the City of Toronto closed down sidewalks along a stretch in the Jewish community on their annual holidays. Within hours of Kosiner's request of the City of Toronto, Mayor John Tory called and emailed Kosiner to apologize and reopened the city sidewalks in time for thousands of members of the Jewish community to walk to synagogue.^[44] Kosiner has also been mentioned in the Canadian Jewish News for his philanthropic work.^[45]

Kosiner shared in a Huffington Post article^[46] how he successfully lobbied Google to modify their search results relating to cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). In this article, he shares that CPR instructions were first listed on the seventh page of Google search results. Google has since ensured that CPR instructions are listed within the first three results worldwide.

Personal life

Throughout mid-2015 into 2016, Kosiner was seen on social media attending the same events and dating Canadian Actress, Rebecca Dalton in various cities including staying at the Four Seasons Los Angeles on multiple occasions.^{[47] [48] [49] [50] [51] [52] [53] [54] [55] [56] [57]} In June 2016 when social media of Dalton and Kosiner ceased, Dalton was seen dating and publicly announced her relationship with Canadian Indy Car Driver, James Hinchcliffe who appeared on the 2016 American version of Dancing With The Stars. ^{[58] [59]}

References