Speakers
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.
Maxime Caron
Sr. Director, Architecture and Strategic Development
Maxime Caron is Senior Director of Architecture & Strategic Development at CBC/Radio-Canada, where he is involved in various upcoming technology projects and provides technology strategy, support, intelligence, advice and guidance.
His experience in broadcasting is broad and covers most of the production technologies. He has been with CBC/Radio-Canada since 1999.
He received a degree in electrical engineering from École de Technologie supérieure of Montréal in 2005 and also holds a technical degree in Telecommunications.
Damian Cronan
Chief Digital and Information Officer
Damian is the Chief Digital and Information Officer at the Australian Broadcasting Corp.
He joins the ABC with broad experience in the media and technology sectors, most recently as the Chief Information & Technology Officer at Nine. There he led the product engineering & IT teams for Nine’s family of brands including 9Now, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, The Australian Financial Review, 2GB and 3AW, alongside traditional corporate and broadcast technology responsibilities.
Prior to this, Damian was CTO at Fairfax, and led the Technology division through the transformation of its Metro Publishing business, including the consumer and editorial experience, driving the exceptional growth of its subscription business ahead of the merger with Nine.
Damian was also the founding CTO for Stan, Nine’s successful subscription streaming service, leading its development and launch into the market in 2015 and fast growth in the competitive subscription video landscape. Damian has also held roles at NineMSN and ACP Magazines.
Damian has over 14 years in media and more than 25 years’ experience in technology. As a career media technologist, Damian has a keen interest in using Product & Technology as a lever for competitive advantage to respond to both the challenges and opportunities facing the industry.
Israel Esteban
Chief Technology Officer
Before being appointed to Chief Technology Officer in August 2020, Israel was the Executive Director of Technology at beIN MEDIA GROUP.
Prior to that, Israel initially worked on the launch of beIN SPORTS France in 2012 as a consulting Project Director.
Previously, he was Chief Technology Officer and Head of Office HQ at S.I. Unitecnic in Barcelona.
He began his career at S.I.Unitecnic in 2000 and, after one year working as DSNG operator for major events like the French Elections, he became part of the Engineering department.
His previous positions include Project Director for Belgacom Media Studio in Belgium, as well as for ESPN Sur in Argentina and Canal Sur, TVE, La Sexta and Gol Television in Spain, among others.
He is a graduate of the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC – Barcelona) where he studied Telecommunications Engineering.
Bevan Gibson
Group Chief Operating Officer
As group COO, Bevan Gibson heads EMG’s operations and technology strategy. In this role, he leads and implements several of the company’s critical future-focused technological concepts.
He has a wealth of experience and strong technical expertise in adapting to changing landscapes and new platforms, as well as team management. Gibson is in charge of executing EMG’s vision of enabling the Group’s transition to IP-based technology; implementing connectivity solutions and supporting EMG’s M&A strategy.
Prior to EMG, Gibson has been working as CTO for the London-based company ITN. Previously, he was responsible for the operational aspects and technology strategy of Sky Creative, part of Sky, following a broad strategic role within Sky’s broadcast Technology Team.
Adde Granberg
Chief Technology Officer
Adde Granberg is the CTO, Technology Director, and Head of Production at Swedish Television (SVT). His remit includes overseeing more than 700 staff involved in the production of live events across Sweden.
His current focus is moving SVT towards an IP and cloud-based future.
Adde is a pioneer of IP-enabled remote production (REMI) of live events. He was responsible for managing the remote TV production of the 2012 London Olympic Games and the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil. Granberg pushed the envelope further in February 2019, when he was the technical architect and executive producer of what is believed to be the largest-ever remote production of a single live event – the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships. More than 80 cameras along the course were linked by two 100GbE circuits to three control rooms in Stockholm where the event was produced and broadcast to more than 1 billion people worldwide.
Previously, he was the Head of Production at SVT from 2010 to 2017, where he successfully improved the technical infrastructure and workflows at the broadcaster.
From 1994 until 2010 he ran his own broadcast consultancy, where he began to specialize in live events – managing the broadcast operations and directing high-profile sporting events such as the UEFA Champions League, Women’s Euro Championship, the World Ice Hockey Championships, and World Athletics Championships.
Adde has worked in the television industry since 1991. He started out his career at Swedish youth channel ZTV as a sound engineer, which gave him the perfect grounding in TV production and the opportunity to gain hands-on experience about broadcast production and post-production operations.
Sinead Greenaway
Director, Broadcast & End User Technology
Sinead is Director for Broadcast and End User Technology (B&EUT) at the BBC.
She is responsible for the teams who lead the specification, design and provision of the technology that BBC colleagues use every day to inform and entertain audiences.
The B&EUT team spans a number delivery disciplines including Content Production, Business Systems, Playout and Publication and Infrastructure, Network and End User Compute.
The B&EUT Architecture, Project and Portfolio and Software Engineering teams support delivery teams spanning the whole of the BBC Technology Group and lead the charge on developing a modern media supply chain for the BBC.
Previously, Sinead served as Chief Technology and Operations Officer (CTOO) at UKTV, where she was a member of the Executive Leadership Team, and was 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. At UKTV Sinead was responsible for leading a successful technology refresh, spanning business systems and digital app development, and driving the company’s data strategy programme.
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 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.
Francois LeGrand
Sr. Director Capital Projects, Engineering, & Governance
François Legrand has been with CBC/Radio-Canada since 2004. He joined the Corporation as a designer of broadcast systems and became an electronic engineer in 2005. In this role, he has been involved in a wide range of projects and has had a variety of different responsibilities, such as the design of digital, television and radio systems, the preparation of plans and specifications as well as the financial management and supervision of large-scale projects.
He is currently the Senior Director of Capital Projects, Engineering and Governance.
Previously, Francois was Senior Director of Media Engineering where he managed the team of experts responsible for implementing projects related to CBC/Radio-Canada core and transmission infrastructure, including the “Nouvelle Maison de Radio-Canada” a state of the art, all ST2110 large scale broadcast facility that will go on-air in 2020.
François is frequently invited to present the initiatives and the technological vision of CBC/Radio-Canada at local, national and international conferences.
Kevin McCue
Director of Group Production Platforms
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Anil Jain
Global Managing Director – Strategic Consumer Industries
Anil Jain is the Global Managing Director for the Strategic Consumer Industries at Google Cloud, with responsibilities spanning Media, Gaming, Retail and Consumer Packaged Goods industries. A veteran of the technology industry, Jain is focused on helping organizations digitally transform the way they run their businesses through the application of AI, data and cloud-based innovation to deliver new consumer experiences.
Before joining Google, Jain was the Executive Vice President and General Manager of Brightcove’s global media business, where he oversaw the end-to-end business, spanning product strategy, solutions development, marketing, partnerships and sales. He has worked with startups and enterprises in over 75 countries. Prior to Brightcove, Anil was the Senior Vice President of Corporate and Business Development for Unicorn Media, an innovative dynamic advertising and streaming technology startup. In this role, he negotiated key customer deals, established winning technology partnerships, raised capital and eventually architected the sale of the company to Brightcove in 2014.
Anil holds an M.S. Technology & Policy and an M.S. Materials Science & Engineering from M.I.T., and a B.S. Ceramic Engineering from Alfred University.
Peter Nöthen
Chief Executive Officer
Peter Nöthen is a founder, CEO and long-standing investor in the digital technology, media and entertainment markets. With more than 30 years of business and leadership experience, he has an impressive track record of building global brands.
Peter has made the Qvest Group a global champion for the realization of innovative technology solutions along the entire digital media supply chain. In less than five years, he developed Qvest from a local brand into an international group of companies through organic growth and strategic acquisitions. Most recently he managed, among other things, the strategic acquisition of OnPrem Solutions Partners, a highly respected media and entertainment consulting firm in the United States.
As an investor with a keen sense for groundbreaking technologies, he has successfully helped numerous start-ups to move into a leading market position. He is passionate about digital transformation and its impact on technological changes that open up new business models and opportunities.
Hugo Ortiz
Innovation Officer
Hugo Ortiz is Innovation Officer at RTBF focusing primarily on live productions.
He strives to reinvent the way broadcasters produce content, whether it’s cloud-based or by using new software-based control rooms.
Most recently, he won a Technology and Innovation Award 2020 from The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) for their Control Room 42 (CR42) project. This winning RTBF project consists of a new program production control room that replaces physical hardware with a fully programmable interface, allowing for greater flexibility and streamlined operations.
Aditi Pandey
Office of CTO | Head of Vendor Management and Partnerships
Aditi is working as head of vendor management and partnerships in technology for Norwegian broadcasting technology.
She has more than 20 years of experience in technology consulting.
During her career, she has led diverse projects and processes, including enterprise transitions, and transformation programs starting from procurement projects.
At NRK, Aditi is currently leading a team of sourcing project managers and vendor managers supporting critical projects leading towards establishment of IP based platform and shift of production media technology to more IT based technology.
Aditi is supporting standardization of hybrid & digital workspaces in media organization.
She leads a diverse team and is part of the diversity & inclusion group creating awareness on diverse ideas & experiences leads to solutions that sticks. Aditi has worked in diverse industries and has lived in 6 countries.
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
Founder and CEO
Thomas Riedel is a Wuppertal-based entrepreneur and innovator, and the founder, 100% shareholder and CEO of the Riedel Group.
His innovative spirit and passion made him a pioneer and storyteller in the entertainment technology industry, where he has been shaping and redefining sports and entertainment formats with courage and creativity for almost four decades.
In addition to his CEO duties, Thomas Riedel personally participates in numerous projects around the world as an investor, advisor and driver of digital transformation – constantly proving that brands only become truly authentic and tangible with a good dash of personality.
Bart Spriester
SVP and GM, Streaming Broadcast & Advertising
Bart Spriester is the Senior Vice President and General Manager of Streaming, Broadcast, & Advertising for Comcast Technology Solutions. In this role, Bart oversees sales, service, and product management for the business, delivering solutions to hundreds of media and technology companies worldwide.
An industry veteran, Bart served as Senior Vice President, Video Products and Solutions for Harmonic, Inc. prior to joining the Comcast Technology Solutions leadership team in 2018. Previously, Bart was the Executive Vice President and General Manager, North America, and CTO for Encompass Digital Media where he improved its market competitiveness and customer support through centralized and standardized business systems. He came to Encompass from Cisco Systems where he was the Vice President and General Manager for the Digital Media Networks business unit. He also served as managing director of Cisco’s EMEA Video Division and was named to the company’s European Operating Committee.
Bart earned his MBA at the Georgia Institute of Technology, and a B.S. in electrical and electronics engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana – Champaign. Bart is a Six Sigma yellow belt and a graduate of the Executive Management Program from Harvard Business School.
Baskar Subramanian
Co-founder and CEO
Baskar is a serial entrepreneur with many patents to his name.
As CEO, Baskar drives Amagi’s vision, growth strategy and execution, enabling transformation of the global media and entertainment industry through technology innovation. Baskar has been instrumental in developing several of Amagi’s path-defining technologies on cloud broadcast and frame-accurate ad splicing for both TV and OTT. Under Baskar’s leadership, Amagi has demonstrated strong growth, becoming an industry leader in SaaS-based solutions for broadcast.
Prior to Amagi, Baskar co-founded ImpulseSoft, a wireless technology company, which was later acquired by NASDAQ-listed SiRF. He started his career as a software engineer at Texas Instruments before embarking on his entrepreneurial journey. To foster a culture of entrepreneurship in the society, Baskar regularly shares his insights and expertise with start-ups and small businesses. He is a well-known speaker at technology and industry events, evangelising the use of cloud for broadcast industry transformation. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Technology from the Government College of Technology (GCT), Coimbatore, India.
Baskar is a cycling enthusiast and a nature-lover. He enjoys seeking out and exploring cycling trails in and around Bangalore City, as well as traveling.
Gabriele Ubertini
Director of Group Origination & Distribution Platform
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Serge Van Herck
Chief Executive Officer
Serge Van Herck holds an electrical engineering degree from the University of Ghent and an MBA degree from the Vlerick Leuven Gent Management School in Belgium.
Serge has more than 25 years of experience in the broadcast and satellite industry and over 10 years of experience as CEO, having worked for various market leading companies such as Newtec, Accenture and Belgacom (now Proximus).
Before joining Newtec in 2003 he served for two years as Senior Manager in the Communications and High Tech practice of Accenture in Brussels. In 2003, he became Newtec’s Director Business Development for Asia and General Manager of Skyware, a former subsidiary of Newtec in Germany. He was appointed CEO and Chairman of the Board of Newtec on March 1st 2006 and left the company in 2017. He transformed and successfully grew the company from a regional niche player selling broadcast modulators to a widely recognized industry leader setting standards and selling complex satellite network solutions across the globe. In 2008, he joined the WTA (World Teleport Association) and ESOA (European Satellite Operator Association) as a board member. He also served as a board member at VOKA (Flanders’ Chamber of Commerce and Industry) and Agoria (Belgium’s largest employers’ organization and trade association).
John Wastcoat
SVP Alliances
John Wastcoat has more than 20 year’s experience in senior management with industry-leading media and communications technology companies. Before joining Zixi John successfully ran the Aspera Business Development group, acquired by IBM in 2014, responsible for scaling the business across numerous channels around the world, and previously held the positions of VP of Global Business Development at Dexrex and VP Sales at Cantata Technology, which was acquired by Dialogic. At Zixi John is responsible for the OEM, technology alliance and reseller ecosystem as well as overall corporate messaging.
Brad Wall
Chief Technology Officer
An industry pioneer with a proven track record spanning more than 25 years, Brad Wall has held roles at world-leading organizations including ABC and Disney. Awarded several patents for his innovative cloud media initiatives, Brad has implemented large-scale broadcast, OTT, and digital media projects that drive transformation.
Matt Westrup
SVP Technology & Operations
A+E Networks EMEA’s maestro of tech is Matt Westrup. He is Senior Vice President of Technology and Operations, leading the company’s digital innovation and transformation.
Culture is king, he says. “It has always been a priority here which has allowed us to have the right conversations in the right way. It’s our values that give us the core strength to make decisions.”
And Matt has made some crucial ones since he joined the Senior Leadership and EMEA teams in 2019. Not least his stewardship of the network’s channels into the cloud. He has led cloud transformations of the content supply chain and production, partnering with Amagi, AWS, Blue Lucy and SDVI among others to deliver next-generation content operation and post-production that’s fully remote – a flexibility that proved invaluable during the Covid-19 lockdowns. Matt said, “Our goal is to create effective, scalable and future-facing operations in the cloud.”
A big believer that Technology is “90% about people”, he combines technological insight and executive know-how with an understanding of people, process and purpose, turning curiosity into enduring change.
Matt also oversees business and media operations for A+E Networks EMEA’s portfolio of 32 channels and 55 VOD platforms across Europe, the Middle East and Africa, as well as technology support for the company’s 200+ staff.
He has always used tech to amplify talent. Earlier in his career, as Head of Operations at Travel Channel International in 2010, he was instrumental in the early adoption of progressive file-based HD workflows, remote playout and in-house post-production. Matt then became Director of Operations at lifestyle programmers Scripps Network overseeing the creation of their international operations hub before joining A+E in 2016 as VP Operations. He now manages everything ops-based from post-production and localisation to engineering and distribution, as well as delivering innovation and change across the business through technology-led projects.
Starting off as a researcher in the 1990s and then a lighting camera operator, Matt is now a key voice in the UK TVscape and a regular contributor to panel discussions. He sits on the advisory committees of industry associations DPP and IABM; is a member of the editorial board of academia-in-business publishers Henry Stewart; and is A+E Networks EMEA’s representative to the Albert Consortium, an industry organisation creating positive, environmental change in film and TV. Likewise, Matt has created positive change wherever he’s been.
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 (and has an encyclopedic knowledge of) college football and NBA basketball (although he thinks college basketball is an inferior product). His hobbies include monetary policy, civic planning, and adventure travel.
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.
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 Devoncroft Media Technology Survey, the largest and most comprehensive study of the professional audio and video market, and comprehensive market sizing and forecasting reports of the media technology sector.
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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