2020 Devoncroft Executive Summit
Speakers and Presenters
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Michel Artières
Co-founder, President, and CEO
Michel Artières Co-founder, President and CEO of ATEME.
After his first experience in Image Processing at the French Ministry of Defence, Michel co-founded ATEME in 1991. Today, he overlooks the general management of the company. Michel gradually built up and adapted ATEME on the international stage. ATEME began as a video compression design house until the launch of Kyrion and TITAN current product lines in 2007 and 2009. This evolution was financed by business angels and venture capital funds and later by the initial public offering at Euronext Paris in 2014.
Since 2016, ATEME has harbored continuous, sustainable and profitable growth by shifting the sales models towards recurring revenues. In 2020, ATEME made its first acquisition by purchasing Anevia. Michel is a graduate of signal processing and telecommunications from Supélec Paris.
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.
Geir Børdalen
Head of Technology Portfolio
Geir Børdalen is head of technology portfolio in the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK), Norway´s national broadcaster. He has background as journalist and media engineer, stills photographer, project and process leader, head of investments, head of technology for news, and head of central technical areas (master control, continuity, link/SNG). He has run large scale change projects for NRK for over 20 years – new OTT service NRK TV (http://tv.nrk.no ), ORIGO metadata change project, and several projects building studios and broadcast facilities.
Gordon Brooks
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. At Zixi, Gordon not only leads Zixi’s strategic direction, but also oversees day-to-day execution of Zixi’s strategic plan.
Gordon Castle
Senior Vice President Technology and Operations
Gordon joined Eurosport in January 2018. He is in charge of developing, defining and implementing the long-term technology strategy of Eurosport, Discovery’s leading sports brand.
Prior to joining Eurosport, Gordon held senior positions at telecommunications company Ericsson, latterly as Head of Strategy Development, Portfolio and Capital & Resource Allocation.
Gordon has over 25 years of experience working in the media industry which has included roles such as Director of Entertainment Media and Communications at PricewaterhouseCoopers; SVP and Head of CNN Technology responsible for the News Group’s technology strategy, implementation and training; as well as serving as an SVP – Senior Technology Fellow, Turner Broadcasting.
An American by birth, Gordon is based in Paris, France where he lives with his wife and three daughters.
Roger Crothers
Head of Technology
Roger Crothers is a technology leader with more than 27 years experience in a variety of fields including software development, support, project delivery and managing change. He has extensive experience in both public and private sector organisations in a variety of industries.
Roger has delivered structural and complex business changes many times, whilst implementing appropriate technology solutions and streamlining operational processes. He has extensive knowledge of organisational change management, employee relations and large scale structural changes including outsourced service provision.
He is a Chartered member of the British Computer Society, Chartered IT Professional and Chartered Engineer. Certified Practitioner in Prince 2, MSP, MoP, MoR and ITIL Expert accredited in Service Management.
Thomas Edwards
Media & Entertainment Technology Transformer
Thomas Edwards is a media & entertainment technology transformer, who recently served as VP, Engineering & Development at Walt Disney Television, heading the Advanced Technology Services group, investigating new technologies, evaluating them for business value, evangelizing, and standardizing them.
Prior, he managed engineering of the PBS video interconnection, and worked on streaming media for the ISP DIGEX & IP-over-satellite company Cidera. He holds an M.S. in EE from the University of Maryland, chairs the QoE & Measurement WG of the Streaming Video Alliance, is a SMPTE Fellow, and received the SMPTE Workflow Systems Medal for advancing live IP.
Kenny Elcock
Director of Engineering & Operations
Kenny Elcock serves as BNC’s director of engineering and operations.
A master of systems integration, Kenny designed a network for BNC that pushes beyond the comfortable limits of today’s technology to create a new way of delivering news content and a new kind of television viewer.
A native of Trinidad and Tobago, Kenny grew up in the Virgin Islands working for his family-owned cable television system. After graduating from Purdue University with a degree in electrical engineering technology, Kenny has spent the past two decades serving as director of engineering and operations for major broadcast affiliates in the Atlanta, Indianapolis, and Hawaii markets.
He holds professional certifications in broadcast engineering, senior television engineering, and motion picture television engineering.
Kenny built BNC’s operating systems using principles from new theories of systems engineering that are based on workflow, rather than equipment choices, so that production needs are top priority. Constructing and integrating a variety of equipment brands, software platforms, and delivery protocols allows Kenny to customize BNC’s programming and services so the network can offer an enriched viewer experience and meet growing audience demand for more interactivity, like real-time on-screen dynamic polling, interactive advertising, and more.
Simon Farnsworth
CTO, Broadcast Technology & Operations
Simon Farnsworth is responsible for all of Discovery’s Broadcast Technology and Operations globally, this includes the delivery of over 500 TV Channels and 30 operational sites. The role manages software development groups, hardware engineers, creative technologists, and an amazing group of operations folks.
Prior to Discovery, Simon served as CEO of Telstra Broadcast Services in Sydney following the acquisition of Globecast where he also served as chief executive. He started his career with Globecast in the UK in 2003 serving in several capacities including Head of Globecast Group’s Broadcast Services division in 2009 where he was responsible for the management of the sport and news businesses globally and also as Director of Globecast Hong Kong, Globecast Asia (Singapore) and Globecast India. He moved into the role of Chief Executive Officer of Globecast Australia in 2012 and was responsible for growing the business in the Australasian region.
He is a graduate of Loughborough University in Sports Science and Chemistry.
Pierre Fortin
Vice President, Media Technology and Operations
Pierre Fortin has served as VP Media Technology and Operations at Rogers Media in 2018. He is responsible for planning, developing, and implementing technology solutions to address business needs and opportunities for the company.
During his twenty-year career at Rogers, Pierre has held a number of senior technical leadership positions, including Director of Planning & Engineering, Director of Customer Solutions, and most recently VP Operations & Innovation.
Sinead Greenaway
Chief Technology & Operations Officer
Sinead Greenaway has extensive industry experience in technology, business strategy and broadcast operations, and is a member of UKTV’s Executive Leadership Team. As Chief Technology and Operations Officer (CTOO), Sinead is responsible for all technical and operational aspects of UKTV, including the roll-out of digital services under the network’s fast-growing TV on demand service, UKTV Play. Since joining UKTV in March 2015, Sinead has been responsible for leading a successful technology refresh, spanning business systems and digital app development, and driving the company’s data strategy programme. The UKTV technology and operations teams have transformed the UKTV supply chain and have ambitious plans for cloud first architecture spanning source to distribution.
Sinead joined from international consultancy and talent business The Lighthouse Company, where as Managing Director she was instrumental in building and developing board level teams across the media and technology spectrum. Prior to that she was the Chief Executive of The Studios at MediaCityUK (now Dock10) where she successfully launched the business, and built and led the teams delivering production and technology services to both the BBC and other independent production companies. She also spent five years as Operations and Technology Director at Virgin Media Television where the team implemented one of the first end-to- end file-based broadcast workflows in the U.K.
Mark Harrison
CEO
Mark Harrison began as an Historian at Cambridge University, before moving into media. He spent 15 years as a freelance film director, and won many awards – including Royal Television Society, British Film Institute, and an International Emmy. He was also BAFTA nominated.
Mark became MD of an independent production company before being appointed BBC Head of Arts in 2001, and then Head of Multiplatform Production. He was subsequently Controller of Production for BBC North and leader of the BBC’s End-to-End Digital Programme, before becoming Director of Transformation for BBC Design & Engineering 2014-2016.
Mark was a founder of the Digital Production Partnership Ltd (DPP) – the media industry’s international business network. He now leads the DPP as its Managing Director. The DPP provides insight, technology change leadership and market opportunity for around 400 member companies drawn from the whole media supply chain – from start-ups to global corporations.
Darren Long
Group Content Processing Director
Throughout Darren’s career, he has been one of the pioneers in changing the way the world watches TV, overseeing the technical, operational and innovation across Sky Sports for over 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.
Following seven years as Director of Sky Production Services, Darren is now leading the Content Processing workstream within Sky’s Group Content Supply Chain Programme.
He is responsible for the creation and performance of our 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 today.
Michel Proulx
Media Consultant /
Aspiring Ski Bum
Michel Proulx is a Media Industry technologist and executive with over 35 years of experience working with leading manufacturers and broadcasters in the television industry.
Since retiring as CTO of Miranda technologies at the end of 2012 Michel has split his time between perfecting the art of being a ski bum and consulting for a number of broadcasters and broadcast industry vendors.
Michel’s current focus is helping broadcasters understand and navigate the rapidly evolving OTT distribution landscape and transitioning to IT and IP based infrastructures.
He is currently involved with a major project at Radio Canada / Canadian Broadcasting Corporation for the re-building of the Maison Radio Canada, the Canadian broadcaster’s flagship French Language Production and Playout facility in Montreal. Positioning the broadcaster to be able to adapt to rapidly changing production and distribution needs, the new facility will feature an all IP infrastructure and a combination of fixed function hardware, software defined hardware and virtualized software sub systems.
Michel holds a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Software from the University of Waterloo. Michel is an active member of the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers.
Thomas Riedel
CEO
Thomas Riedel founded Riedel Communications in 1987 and, over the course of 30 years, led the company to global success. Since its humble beginnings as a garage company in Wuppertal, Riedel Communications has evolved into a leading provider of high-profile signal transport and communications solutions with nearly 700 employees in 25 offices around the world. Today, Riedel’s pioneering intercom and real-time networking solutions ensure reliable communications at the world’s largest international events, including World Championships, Formula 1 races, Eurovision Song Contests – and the Olympic Games.
Three Emmys attest to the Riedel’s success and competence: While two of them were awarded for the production of the Red Bull Air Races 2005 and 2010, the third trophy honors Riedel’s mission critical wireless signal transmission and communication during Felix Baumgartner’s record-breaking jump out of the stratosphere (Red Bull Stratos Jump).
Riedel’s unrivalled expertise as a manufacturer is complemented by decades of practical experience in rental operations of the greatest magnitude. Thomas’s innovative energy has paved the way for entirely new production formats, and has actively shaped end-user experiences.
Lucy Rutishauser
EVP & Chief Financial Officer
Lucy Rutishauser is Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer for Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc., a diversified media company located in Hunt Valley, MD. She is a finance expert with over 30 years of experience with companies at differing stages in their life cycle, including growth through mergers & acquisitions, downsizing, and diversification.
She is involved in transformation across multiple disciplines such as sales, technology, digital, business development, risk management, and finance and sits on multiple steering committees. Ms. Rutishauser has helped lead companies through complex financial and capital markets transactions, various economic cycles and the more recent pandemic. She frequently participates on industry panels, was recognized as Cynopsis’ ‘2020 Top Women in Media,’ Radio & TV Business Report’s 2019 ‘Best Finance Leaders,’ Media Financial Management’s 2018 ‘People to Watch,’ and Variety Magazine’s 2019 and 2017 ‘Dealmaker Elite’ list.
Ms. Rutishauser graduated magna cum laude from Towson University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics and Finance and received her M.B.A., with honors from the University of Baltimore. Ms. Rutishauser is a member of the National Institute of Investor Relations and the Association of Finance Professionals.
Corey Smith
Director Live Operations, Global Broadcast Activision Blizzard eSports
Corey has been transforming digital television and broadcast systems since 2011 while working at Microsoft on the Xbox Live team. Since then he has held a director position at Sinclair broadcasting managing the digital side of the news publishing operations across the Unites States. 2 years ago he left Sinclair to join and build the broadcast technology group at Blizzard Entertainment.
In his current role he leads a team building the next generation of cloud encoding and distribution systems for Activision Blizzard Esports with Primary focus on the broadcasting of Overwatch and Call of Duty Leagues globally.
Tex Teixeira
Chief Content Officer
Tex joined Sky as Head of Sports Production in July 2012 and was appointed Director of Broadcast and Media in January 2016, then Director of Sport and Broadcasting in February 2019, and he took on the entertainment portfolio in August 2019.
Born in Portugal, educated in South Africa, living in (and loving) New Zealand, Tex considers himself to be a global citizen. Passionate about sport, he started his broadcast career driving small OB trucks back in the late 80s. Tex spent 20 years at SuperSport in South Africa before moving to New Zealand with his family and joining Sky.
Shane Warden
Chief Technology Officer
Shane has over 28 years’ experience in technical innovation and operational management covering all aspects of Sports Media. Combining Rights knowledge with all types of Data, Production and Broadcast technology, he has had experience in all areas including Outside Broadcast, Studios, Post Production, Transmission and Distribution, as well as Media Asset Management (MAM / DAM), Sports Data (including Biometrics), Digital OTT and Rights.
As CTO, his role is to keep ATP Media at the leading edge of media technology and excellence, pushing the boundaries of production, distribution and content management to enhance quality, service and value for global Broadcast Partners, Tournaments and tennis super-fans on ATP Media’s Tennis TV platform.
Gunnar Wiedenfels
Chief Financial Officer
As Chief Financial Officer, Gunnar Wiedenfels leads Discovery’s global financial functions and strategies, including all accounting, treasury, budgeting, tax and investor relations activities. Additionally, he serves on the executive team, contributing to the company’s overall strategic direction and operations.
Since joining Discovery in 2017, Wiedenfels has helped transform and modernize the company into the global leader in real-life entertainment. He played a key leadership role in the company’s 2018 acquisition of Scripps Networks Interactive, and the creation of the new Discovery from the successful integration of the two companies under a best-in-class, blended leadership team. Under Wiedenfels’ leadership, the company created a new operating model that delivered nearly a billion dollars in savings and achieved key operating and financial targets ahead of plan. Wiedenfels continues to architect and drive the company’s continuous transformation initiative as it accelerates its pivot to direct-to-consumer.
Wiedenfels joined Discovery following seven years in executive management roles at ProSiebenSat.1 Media SE in Munich, Germany. In his most recent role as CFO, he was responsible for the broadcaster outperforming analyst expectations and strong shareholder value creation, including a 39% return in 2015. Under Wiedenfels, ProSiebenSat.1 was included in Germany’s DAX index of 30 largest listed companies by market capitalization in the country. Prior to his CFO role, he served as ProSieben’s Deputy CFO from 2014 to 2015 and Chief Group Controller from 2013 to 2015.
Before joining ProSiebenSat.1, he worked as a management consultant and engagement manager at McKinsey & Company. Wiedenfels also serves as Chairman of the Audit Committee on the SAP SE Supervisory Board. He studied Business Informatics in Mannheim, and received his Ph.D. from the RWTH Aachen University, both in Germany. He is based at Discovery’s New York headquarters.
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 ViacomCBS, 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, ViacomCBS.
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
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 BA in Philosophy and a BSc in Business Administration from Villanova University, where he developed a lifelong love of (watching) 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.
If you are unfamiliar with the Devoncroft Executive Summits, we’ve compiled some highlights from the past several events, which are shown below.
