Speakers
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Gray Ainsworth
EVP, Global Technical Operations & Delivery
Mr. Ainsworth leads the technical operations activities for Lionsgate including delivery & fulfillment, localization, asset management & restoration, mastering, restoration, screening operations and both domestic & international theatrical servicing. Prior to Lionsgate, Mr. Ainsworth held various position with Deluxe Entertainment Services including EVP & GM Digital Media, EVP Corporate Development and Strategy and oversaw Sales and Account Management. He oversaw operations for all media services, television post production overseeing Encore Video. He also oversaw strategy and execution for all corporate development initiatives across the media group worldwide. This included acquisitions, partnerships, new products and services as well as involvement in operational activities associated with them.
Prior to joining Deluxe, Mr. Ainsworth spent 16 years at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios where he was most recently Senior Vice President Technical Services. He was responsible for all worldwide technical distribution in all media. This includes video transfer, foreign language dubbing, film restoration, TV and airline editing, DVD compression & authoring, theatrical distribution, airline delivery, satellite delivery, audio, foreign theatrical distribution and advertising/publicity stills archiving & distribution as well as other traditional methods.
Mr. Ainsworth, a graduate of The University of California at Los Angeles, has testified before the Library of Congress in hearings on film preservation. He is a past board member of the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce and a regular guest lecturer for UCLA Extension’s class on post production and distribution. He has been a speaker and panelist at numerous conferences.
Josh Arensberg
Global Head of Business Development, M&E
Raymundo Barros
Chief Technology Officer
As CTO at Globo, Raymundo Barros is responsible for overseeing engineering and technology operations.
He led and spearheaded major initiatives such as the transition to digital TV and the creation and distribution of 4K, 4K HDR and 8K content.
Before assuming his role as CTO, Barros worked as Engineering Manager at an affiliate, Director of Engineering at Globo Sao Paulo, and Director of Engineering for Entertainment, where he led projects for telenovelas, series and variety shows.
Dylan Boucherle
Vice President of Production Technology for News, Sports, and Studios
Rob Bredow
SVP, Chief Creative Officer
Rob Bredow is a strategic and visionary leader with a unique understanding of how media and innovation can join forces to tell great stories and create groundbreaking experiences. As SVP, Chief Creative Officer of Industrial Light & Magic, Bredow is responsible for the company’s overall creative strategy, technology roadmap, PR, and Marketing.
Most recently Bredow was the Visual Effects Supervisor and Co-Producer on Solo: A Star Wars Story. He served as a creative partner to the filmmakers throughout the production, from the earliest story meetings to the final frames of visual effects. He leveraged his background in innovative technology to help tell the story of the film, creating grounded images with a unique shooting style designed for the movie.
In his former role as Lucasfilm Chief Technology Officer, Bredow oversaw all technology development for Lucasfilm and ILM.
Bredow joined Lucasfilm in 2014 as Vice President of New Media and Head of Lucasfilm’s Advanced Development Group. He helped launch ILMxLAB in 2015 and co-wrote and directed Trials on Tatooine, a story-based virtual reality experiment created in collaboration with Lucasfilm’s Story Group, ILMxLAB, and Skywalker Sound.
Previously, Bredow was CTO and Visual Effects Supervisor at Sony Pictures Imageworks. He has contributed as a supervisor on films such as Independence Day, Godzilla, Stuart Little, Cast Away, Surf’s Up, Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs, and others.
Bredow is a member of the VFX Branch of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences and the AMPAS Science and Technology Council.
Gordon Brooks
Executive Chairman and CEO
Gordon Brooks brings more than 30-years of software and services technology leadership to Zixi. He has served as CEO for five different companies, founding, launching or turning around eight companies in total. Two of Gordon’s IPO’s and five private sales created over $13 billion in value.
Gordon not only leads Zixi’s strategic direction, but also oversees day-to-day execution of Zixi’s strategic plan.
Before joining Zixi, Gordon was President of C3 IoT, a big data, IoT and predictive analytics software platform company which provides the capability to design, development, deploy and operate complex large-scale AI applications. As CEO of Symphony Services, a commercial software product development services company, he grew the business from 100 to over 4,000 people, and sold it for $800 million. As the CEO and Co-Founder of Breakaway Solutions, a Full Service B2B Commerce solution provider, Gordon took the company public with a market cap of over $6 billion. At Cambridge Technology Partners (CTP), as Co-Founder he grew the company to over $850m in revenues and conducted a successful IPO with a market cap over $5b.
Gordon holds a Bachelor’s Degree from the University of New Hampshire. He has attended advanced graduate programs at Seton Hall University and Northwestern University.
Frank Governale
SVP, East Coast Operations
Frank has been SVP East Coast Operations since June 2017 and is responsible for Production, Post Production, Distribution, and Engineering for the CBS Television Network. He also assists with labor relations matters, including contract negotiations with major collective bargaining units.
Prior to his current position, Frank was Vice President, Operations, CBS News, since April 1997. In this role he was responsible for the Division’s technical personnel and facilities worldwide, its computer and data services, and the exploration of the newest technologies to insure the most efficient newsgathering capabilities.
Frank reports to the Chief Technology Officer of Paramount.
Barbara Ford Grant
President
Barbara Ford Grant is President, NEP Prysm Stages, a business of NEP Virtual Studios. She is responsible for growing NEP’s global network of permanent virtual production facilities, stage partnerships and client relationships in Film and TV, and for building solutions with her team to empower artists and storytelling.
Barbara has contributed to media and entertainment for nearly 30 years across both creative and technical aspects of film production. Her experience includes emerging technologies, large-scale production operations, research and development, visual effects, animation and enterprise level management.
Before joining NEP, Barbara was Chief Technology Officer at arts and entertainment company Meow Wolf overseeing the company’s mixed-reality platform and IT divisions. Before Meow Wolf, she served as SVP, Digital Production Services at HBO overseeing studio production and post-production operations and growth, and next-gen technologies. Prior to that, she worked at entertainment companies Digital Domain, Sony Pictures Imageworks, and DreamWorks Animation, where she enabled new digital human animation and rendering, digital story and post production workflows, and simulations technologies. Her credits include groundbreaking Film and TV productions Game of Thrones, Maleficent, Alice in Wonderland and the Shrek franchise.
Barbara has been active throughout her career in recognizing and mentoring current and new talent. She is a member of both the Television Academy and the Motion Picture Academy, currently serving as Chair of the Scientific and Technical Awards Committee, is a member of the Technology Committee of the Visual Effects Society, and recently worked as a strategy consultant to MovieLabs, a non-profit R&D joint venture providing universities, corporations, start-ups and others technical guidance and funding for innovative technologies in the distribution and use of motion pictures.
She studied Art History and Photography at the University of New Mexico and currently lives in Los Angeles with her family.
Scott Greenberg
CEO
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Scott Greenberg is CEO of Blockchain Creative Labs (BCL), FOX Entertainment’s Web3 studio, which provides content creators, IP owners and brands end-to-end Web3 solutions to build, launch, manage and sell Non-Fungible Token (NFT) and fungible token content experiences directly to their fanbase and audiences.
At BCL, Greenberg oversees a $100 million creator fund to cultivate creative content experiences within Web3. It recently launched the audience-centric Web3 experience “Dollyverse,” in partnership with global superstar Dolly Parton, to release certified Dolly NFT collectibles, including limited-edition NFTs of her “Run, Rose, Run” album. “Dollyverse” launched during the 2022 South by Southwest (SXSW) Conference and Festivals, for which BCL served as the first-ever Blockchain Sponsor. As part of its relationship with SXSW, BCL provided concierge services and its technology to the event’s roster of artists and filmmakers to tokenize their work and make them available for purchase at the SXSW x BCL NFT marketplace.
Last year, BCL launched the digital marketplace “The MaskVerse” for FOX’s hit singing competition program, THE MASKED SINGER, and is currently preparing to launch a dedicated digital marketplace for KRAPOPOLIS, marking the first animated series to be curated entirely on the blockchain. Additionally, BCL and WWE recently unveiled “WWE Moonsault,” an NFT marketplace for licensed digital WWE tokens and collectibles. BCL also is partnering with the new United States Football League (USFL) on an innovative NFT marketplace that will mint and sell official digital tokens for the League, its teams, players and coaches.
Greenberg also is Co-Founder and CEO of Bento Box Entertainment, FOX Entertainment’s Emmy Award-winning animation studio, where he oversees the creative development, animation production, and business operations of the company.
Series produced by Bento Box include FOX’s hit series, BOB’S BURGERS, THE GREAT NORTH and HOUSEBROKEN, as well as upcoming comedies KRAPOPOLIS, from Emmy-winning creator Dan Harmon (“Rick and Morty,” “Community”), and GRIMSBURG, starring and executive-produced by Emmy winner Jon Hamm (“Mad Men,” “Top Gun: Maverick”). Bento Box also produces Netflix’s “Paradise PD” and “Saturday Morning All Star Hits”; Apple TV+’s “Central Park” and “Wolfboy and the Everything Factory”; and Hulu’s “Koala Man.”
Additionally, Bento Box jointly operates the Melbourne, Australia-based animation studio Princess Bento Studio, which it formed in 2021 with television and film production company Princess Pictures. The studio produces content for platforms in the United States, Australia, Australian co-production treaty countries and across the globe.
Prior to Bento Box, Greenberg was President and COO of Film Roman and Executive Vice President of Production at Starz Media. Under his supervision, Film Roman produced THE SIMPSONS, “The Simpsons Movie” and “King of the Hill” for FOX, “Super Hero Squad,” “The Avengers” and “X-Men Evolution” for Marvel Entertainment and numerous other projects.
Greenberg is a member of the Producers Guild of America, The Television Academy, and Young Presidents’ Organization (YPOLA). He is also on the board of directors of the Los Angeles Police Foundation, an independent, not-for-profit organization that provides critical resources and vital support to the Los Angeles Police Department. Greenberg began his career as a lawyer and was a member of the New York and New Jersey bar associations.
Michael Hallén
CEO
Michael has been the CEO of the Vizrt Group since 2016.
He has 25 years of experience in the global software business. Michael most recently comes from Qmatic Group, a Swedish software and hardware company in the Customer Experience Management space where he was the CEO. Prior experiences include the CEO position at Boss Media (Gaming Entertainment Software) and the CEO position at IFS (ERP software). Furthermore Michael has held several non-executive directorships in various tech companies and currently he holds a board position at Paxport.
Mark Harrison
CEO
Mark Harrison is the CEO of the DPP. Mark spent many years as a Director, Producer and Executive Producer. He has won numerous awards including from the RTS and BFI, as well as gaining an International Emmy and BAFTA nomination. He has held senior roles within the independent sector and the BBC, including as Managing Director of Soul Purpose Productions, and BBC Head of Arts. He became Controller of Production for BBC North in 2010, and later Director of Transformation in the BBC’s Design and Engineering group. Mark has been Managing Director of the DPP since it became a not-for-profit company in 2015, and left the BBC early in 2017 to devote more time to leading the DPP.
Srinivasan KA
Co-founder & CEO Americas
Srini is a technology entrepreneur with 23+ years of experience in establishing and successfully scaling businesses. Srini co-founded Amagi in 2008 and established it as a global leader in SaaS for broadcast and streaming TV on the cloud.
Before Amagi, Srini co-founded the wireless audio company, ImpulseSoft, which went on to become a market leader and was later acquired by the American semiconductor company, SiRF. Earlier, he started his career at Texas Instruments as a software engineer. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from the Government College of Technology (GCT), Coimbatore, India.
Srini regularly speaks at global industry events, evangelizing the use of cloud for channel creation and monetization. In his free time, Srini loves to travel and read, and play arbitrator for his kids in their friendly sibling conquests.
Larry Kaplan
Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer
As an industry leader and serial entrepreneur, Kaplan has an extensive track record of building and running successful businesses in the media and entertainment industry. Prior to founding SDVI in 2013, Kaplan served in the Office of the CEO at Harmonic Inc. following its $307M acquisition of Omneon in 2010, where he was the founding Chief Executive Officer. As Executive Chairman and then Vice Chairman of the Board at Omneon, he successfully guided the company from concept to market leader, and ultimately to successful acquisition by Harmonic Inc.
Prior to Omneon, Kaplan served as the Senior Vice President of the Sony Broadcast division at Sony Electronics Inc. Before Sony, Kaplan was the Vice President and General Manager of the computer graphics & television group at Tektronix Inc. in addition to the Chairman of the Grass Valley Group, a subsidiary of Tektronix.
Kaplan holds an M.B.A. from Rutgers University and a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Wisconsin, is a fellow of the Society of Television & Motion Picture Engineers (SMPTE) in addition to being an honorary member of the IABM.
Mike Kralec
SVP, Chief Technology Officer
Mike Kralec joined Sinclair Broadcast Group in 2000 and was named SVP and Chief Technology Officer in March 2022.
Previously, he was VP, Technical Operations and Deputy CTO. Prior to that, he served as Director, Data Systems Development, Systems Development Manager, and Software Developer.
Mr. Kralec received his Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from Towson University and his Master of Business Administration from Loyola University Maryland. He is a veteran of the United States Navy.
Darren Long
Media Technology Consultant
Throughout Darren’s career, he has been one of the pioneers in changing the way the world watches TV.
He spent more than thirty years at Sky, most recently serving as Group Operations Transformation design CT&I.
Previously, Darren led the Content Processing workstream within Sky’s Group Content Supply Chain Program, where he was responsible for the creation and performance of the next generation content processing factory across the Sky group to optimize shared and local content delivery utilizing the very latest cloud-based processing and delivery innovation happening in the media industry.
From 2012 to 2021, he led Sky Production Services, a department made up of more than 760 full time employees and a further 200 – 300 non-permanent staff split across 4 primary groups that deliver key production services to Sky’s content creation teams — Production Studios, Post Production, Content Services and Client Services.
Earlier in his career, he oversaw technology, operations, and innovation across Sky Sports for more than 16 years – from developing the first ultra-motion high speed camera systems to the induction of the first UK interactive TV services through to the introduction of the first live HD & 3D Premier League and Champion League production world delivery.
Darren serves as a Board Trustee of the British Forces Broadcasting Service, where he plays a key role in the governance and development of the strategic direction, in its mission to provide radio and television programs for Her Majesty’s Armed Forces and their dependents worldwide.
Kevin Lopes
Vice President, Sports Business Development & Innovation
Kevin Lopes is the Vice President, Sports Business Development & Innovation at ESPN, where he leads the ESPN Edge Innovation Center, and identifies and evaluates potential third-party opportunities in advanced technology initiatives like NFT’s and digital immersive development.
Lopes has been with ESPN for 14 years, spending his first 10 years on the programming team where he had been responsible for scheduling and operational oversight of WatchESPN & ESPN3, including 15k+ live digital events, digital collegiate acquisitions and esports programming acquisitions and strategy.
In 2015, Lopes won a Sports Emmy for his contributions to the ESPN 2015 College Football MegaCast.
Prior to ESPN, Lopes worked at the Big East Conference in Providence Rhode Island. He holds a Bachelor’s in Communications from the University of Rhode Island where he serves on the Executive Boards of the Alumni Association and Harrington School of Communications Advisory council.
Michelle Munson
Co-founder and CEO
Michelle Munson is the co-founder and CEO of Eluvio, the content blockchain for the creator economy, based in Berkeley, CA. Eluvio (https://live.eluv.io) is an eco-friendly blockchain platform that enables content creators and their communities to store, stream, ticket, mint NFTs, and trade digital content. It provides a simple-to-use, high-performance, and cost-effective platform to monetize concerts, films, digital albums, e-books, digital collectables, metaverse experiences, and more. Companies and creators whose content blockchain initiatives have been powered by Eluvio include FOX Entertainment’s Blockchain Creative Labs, MGM Studios, SONY Pictures, Black Eyed Peas, Dolly Parton, Rita Ora, and many others.
Michelle is an Emmy-award winning technologist who previously co-founded Aspera in 2004 and led the company as CEO until May 2017, including through acquisition by IBM in 2014. She co-invented the Aspera FASP™ transport technology used in the digital media supply chain for high-speed, low-cost secure digital content transport, replacing satellite and traditional tape-based delivery technologies.
Michelle is a recipient of the David Sarnoff Medal from the Society of Motion Picture & Television Engineers (SMPTE); the Charles Swartz Award from the Hollywood Professional Association (HPA); IABM’s Woman Entrepreneur of the Year; and named one of the top 25 “People to Watch” by TV Technology. She currently serves as an SMPTE Fellow and on the board of Avid Corporation. Michelle is an inventor on fourteen U.S. patents and is a frequent speaker in the areas of content networking, machine learning, blockchain and cloud infrastructure.
Michelle was inducted into the College of Engineering Hall of Fame at Kansas State University in 2022. She was also the 2019 Kansas State University Commencement Speaker for the College of Arts and Sciences and the 2006 Alumnus of the Year for the College of Engineering. She holds dual B.Sc. degrees in Electrical Engineering and Physics from Kansas State University, where she was a Goldwater Scholar for achievement in Science and Mathematics. She was also a Fulbright Scholar at Cambridge University where she received a postgraduate diploma in Computer Science.
Lucy O’Brien
Group Chief Technology Officer
Lucy O’Brien is the Group CTO at EMG (formerly Euro Media Group), one of the world’s largest broadcast technology service providers.
She leads EMG’s technical strategy, develops its technological roadmap, manages its country CTOs across Europe and the U.S. and is responsible for recruiting the technical team at the group.
Lucy began her career as a broadcast engineer with the BBC 20 years ago. Since then, she has worked in all areas of the broadcast space. Lucy joins EMG from GBNews, where she built the channel from scratch in an empty basement into a fully functional newsroom, two control rooms, two equipment rooms, a broadcast chain, alongside hiring staff, in under three months. Prior to her time with GBNews, Lucy was Head of Field Operations at ITN and has also held engineering positions at Sky, Discovery and Arqiva, among others.
Steve Read
Head Of Studio & Executive Producer
Steve Read has been in the film, TV and the Visual Effects industry since 1997. He has an intimate and deep understanding of both the creative and technical workflows required to produce projects for a modern film and TV market.
In 2020 Read headed the opening of the Vancouver-based headquarters for Versatile Media Ltd. with the core focus of adopting and driving a fully integrated virtual production pipeline. Steve is also heading the development of IP and co-produced projects under the Versatile Media banner along with developing the service objectives with the Versatile Performance, Visualization and LED stages.
In 2008 he co-founded One Animation, which became one of Singapore’s leading animation studios developing fully CGI TV series for the kids market. Before that, Steve worked on various live-action and fully animated feature films including Happy Feet with Animal Logic in Australia where he led the rigging team. Earlier in his career, Steve spent several years with Softimage, the Monreal-based software company that developed 2D and 3D animation software.
Christopher Ripley
President & Chief Executive Officer
Christopher S. Ripley has served as President & Chief Executive Officer of Sinclair Broadcast Group since January 2017. From April 2014 to January 2017, he served as Chief Financial Officer.
Prior to Sinclair, Mr. Ripley was a managing director at UBS Investment Bank’s Global Media Group and served as head of the Los Angeles office where he managed, advised and structured various financings and merger and acquisition transactions in the broadcast and entertainment sectors.
Prior to UBS, Mr. Ripley was a principal in Prime Ventures and an analyst at Donaldson Lufkin & Jenrette.
Mr. Ripley graduated from the University of Western Ontario, Richard Ivey School of Business, with a Bachelor of Arts in Honors Business Administration. Mr. Ripley serves as a Director of Curio Wellness.
Patrick Sproule
Head, Content Technology Solutions
Following careers in commercial television production and University education & management, Patrick undertook a position at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) managing local technology support functions of its Canberra studios. Here he utilized a strong combined knowledge of production operations and facilities to lead a team of technologists providing personalized, content focused support to television, radio and online content makers across multiple ABC locations. He engaged in many national initiatives including training program design and delivery, and the ABC’s Technology Transformation Team. He progressed to managing support on an international basis before transitioning to lead the Content Technology Solutions architecture team. This team research, design, architect and deliver the ABC’s core content production and delivery technologies. They are charged with ideating transformational projects that drive efficiencies, and better enable the ABC for its digital hybrid consumption future.
Phil Wiser
EVP & Chief Technology Officer
Phil Wiser is an industry-leading technology and digital media entrepreneur and executive. He serves as Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer of Paramount, leading the global technology strategy, shared services, operations and transformation of the combined company. He reports to Naveen Chopra, Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer, Paramount.
Prior to the merger of Viacom and CBS in December 2019, Wiser was the Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer of CBS Corporation, where he oversaw the technology strategy and development across the company’s entire business portfolio. Before joining CBS, Wiser served as Chief Technology Officer at Hearst. In this role, he managed Hearst’s technology migration to the cloud, and established a data-driven, cloud-first media environment for its digital businesses. Wiser was also the Chief Technology Officer at Sony Corporation of America and Sony Music, responsible for creating the digital businesses at Sony Music, including the forging of the groundbreaking deal to launch iTunes.
Earlier in his career, Wiser was a key pioneer in the creation of the online digital music industry and the over-the-top TV market as founder of Liquid Audio and Sezmi. Both companies were the first to create commercial Internet-based media offerings in music and television. With numerous patents issued for these efforts, he broke new ground across the areas of IP based content delivery, machine recommendation systems, video delivery over the Internet and cybersecurity.
Josh Stinehour
Principal Analyst
Josh Stinehour is a principal analyst with Devoncroft Partners, a provider of market research and strategic consulting services to a wide range of digital media clients and institutional investors. He is a frequent presenter at conferences and trade shows in the media technology sector.
Prior to joining Devoncroft, Mr. Stinehour was a managing director at Silverwood Partners in the firm’s Technology, Media and Telecommunications group. While at Silverwood, Mr. Stinehour executed a range of transactions including mergers and acquisitions, valuations, and private placements.
Before joining Silverwood, Mr. Stinehour worked in various positions at EMC Corporation including as a software programmer and later as an analyst on integration teams for EMC’s acquisitions of Documentum, Legato, and VMWare.
Josh loves NBA basketball (especially LeBron James) and college football.
He holds an MBA from the F.W. Olin Graduate School of Business at Babson College, an MS in computer science from Rochester Institute of Technology, and a BS in computer science from Union College. Mr. Stinehour is a CFA charterholder.
Joe Zaller
Founder & President
Joe is the founder of Devoncroft Partners, a leading provider of market intelligence in the media technology sector.
Devoncroft provides market research and strategic consulting services to a wide range of clients in the media technology sector. The company publishes a variety of syndicated market research reports, including the annual Big Broadcast Survey, the largest and most comprehensive study of the professional audio and video market.
In addition to syndicated research reports, Devoncroft is frequently retained for custom projects by some of the world’s leading brands including broadcasters and media companies. technology suppliers, large consulting firms, educational establishments, private equity firms, investment banks, and other financial institutions.
Devoncroft also produces a series of executive summits that bring together thought-leading speakers from across the media technology ecosystem. Since the initial conference in 2012, Devoncroft Executive Summits have grown to be one of the must-attend events in the media technology calendar.
Joe has a BSc in Business Administration and BA in Philosophy from Villanova University, where he developed a lifelong love of college basketball, and an M.B.A. from the University of California, Irvine. He also completed various executive courses at Stanford University and the Richard Ivey Business School at the University of Western Ontario.
Joe, his long-suffering wife, and their three daughters live in San Diego, CA.
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