Biographies

Executive Producer & Director
Colin McKeown

Colin McKeown served for 20 years as a Canadian Naval officer and has lengthy experience in both peacekeeping and joint warfare operations. After leaving the military he became a TV producer, and is responsible for documentary series such as Truth Duty Valour and The New Fly Fisher.  He is executive producer of the new highly anticipated series Courage In Red and the military series Combat Forces. Colin earned Honours degrees in both History and Political Science at Dalhousie University.

Producer
Jessica Webb

Jessica was born and raised in the Ottawa area, attended Carleton University for Political Science and graduated from Algonquin College’s Television Broadcasting program. Following that she became the production manager for the successful fourth season of Truth Duty Valour,seen on the Outdoor Life Network. She is now the producer of the groundbreaking documentary series Courage In Red which gives Canadians unprecedented access into the inner workings of the RCMP.

Director/Writer/Editor
Matt West

Matt has directed and edited over 400 episodes of television seen in over 80 countries, including the Gemini nominated Great Canadian Food Show, Cook Like a Chef and 104 episodes of License to Grill.  After a season of Design U, Matt directed the smash hit Junk Brothers and directed the first season of Dig In for HGTV US. His latest short film, The Funeral... Again has won acclaim from Hollywood’s Dances With Films Festival and the Strasbourg International Film Festival, and won “Best Canadian Short Film” from the Prince Edward Island International Film Festival. Matt is one of Canada’s hottest TV directors – with four episodes of Courage In Red under his creative control and more than six episodes assigned to him as an editor, he will be one of the most influential creative forces of this first season.

Director/Writer
Katie Tallo

Katie is a graduate of Carleton University and Algonquin College in Ottawa, Ontario. She holds a BA in Film and English and a Diploma in Television Broadcasting. Katie owned her own production company for over a decade where she was an award-winning Producer, Writer and Director of more than fifty half-hours of network television. Highlights include writing and directing four national TV series and two movies. Katie has won support from The Canada Council for the Arts, The Ontario Arts Council and Telefilm Canada. Her work has screened at film festivals around the world and received international distribution. Since 2005, Katie has freelanced, directing for numerous independent producers as well as consulting for government and private sector clients on media, marketing and communications.  Katie joined the Truth Duty Valour team in the spring of 2007 and directed six episodes over two successful seasons.  

Director/Writer
Laurie-Anne Smith

Laurie-Anne worked for three seasons as writer and director for Truth Duty Valour as well as for various media outlets, including The Discovery Channel, Rogers Sportsnet and CTV. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Journalism, and has practiced print, radio and broadcasting. In her spare time she works on documentaries about social issues.

Director/Writer
Marie-Josée Houle

Marie-Josée has an Honours BA in Communications as well as a BA in Theatre from the University of Ottawa.  She has worked for several years as a freelancer in the television and media industries, most notably as a director and writer for three episodes of Truth Duty Valour. Outside of the JenCor family she has had the opportunity to work as script supervisor on a French drama for pre-teens, travel to Mexico while working as coordinator on a wedding show, and work for the New Media department at Radio-Canada as well as for other media relations branches of the federal government.  She has a notable theatrical background having studied acting and theatre since the age of 12.