Speakers
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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.
Gary Brantley
SVP & Chief Information Officer
Gary Brantley is an innovative technology strategist renowned for cultivating productive collaboration through organizational transformation, delegating resources toward increasing digital inclusion, and implementing an entirely remote workforce infrastructure. He brings more than 20 years of experience in the technology sector and 17 years of leadership to the NFL as the Chief Information Officer. In this role, Gary is responsible for day-to-day technology operations along with the innovation strategy for the league. Previously, Gary served as the CIO for Beazer Homes, which is one of the country’s largest public home builders.
As the former CIO for the City of Atlanta, Gary focused on organizational transformation by altering the department culture to achieve a competitive advantage and address future technology challenges. He developed and implemented a strategy centered on how impact and influence can peacefully collide to empower leaders to build effective teams, healthy workplace cultures, and thriving business ecosystems with organizational transformation. In this regard, he moved from present planning to future business continuity to refocus and re-energize the entire workforce, from talent acquisition and retention to repurposing staff into more vital roles to meet the City’s technology needs. Gary also created an Atlanta CIO Advisory Board to continue pushing the envelope with input from other CIOs, experts within the technology sector.
Gary has also led initiatives surrounding partnerships with companies and organizations such as AT&T, Verizon, Microsoft and the Atlanta Police Foundation to modernize the City of Atlanta’s 27 departments including Atlanta’s Hartsfield Jackson Airport. He also worked to secure funding for community training in STEM-based education for the Centers of Hope in Atlanta.
Before joining AIM, Gary was the CIO of one of the largest school districts in the United States. In that capacity, Gary spearheaded the district’s largest technology overhaul, Digital Dreamers, which included the distribution of over 70,000 end user devices to teachers as well as students.
Gary began his career with IBM before becoming the Regional Operations Director for MCIWorldCom. There, he continued to have an impact on technology and took that expertise to the Ohio State Department as the Director of Technology. He went on to become the CIO for the one of the largest urban school districts in Ohio.
Gary’s admirable professionalism and unyielding dedication have earned him numerous awards and accolades and has led him to write his first book, The Art of Organizational Transformation: 7 steps to Impact & Influence. Gary was featured in the list of Top 30 Technologists, Transformers and Trailblazers by the Center for Digital Education in 2015, ComputerWorld’s Premier Top 100 Technology Leaders for 2017. In addition, he was awarded with the Making IT Happen award from the International Society for Technology in Education. Gary was also a finalist for the 2017-2018 and 2020 Georgia CIO Leadership Association’s CIO of the Year ORBIE Award. He was also recognized as one of Government Tech Magazines 2020 Top Doers and Dreamers.
Laura Dames
Executive Consultant and Advisor
After three decades as a senior executive in corporate media, Laura Dames has founded LEDames, LLC and serves as an independent consultant and advisor with expertise in Business Transformation, Operations, Marketing and General Management. Laura is known as an authentic leader and an innovative senior executive with demonstrated success creating, transforming and operating complex, high functioning organizations across diverse corporate disciplines for global organizations. She has an extremely diverse background and enjoys taking on complex challenges.
Laura is skilled at leading Organizational Transformation, Change Management and Operations across a multitude of business functions. She has had proven success leading large multi-discipline teams overseeing Marketing, Operations, Production, and Content Creation as well as complex collaboration projects at the highest levels of a corporation.
Laura most recently served as the Executive Vice President of Ad Sales Marketing for Warner Bros. Discovery / Warner Media. Dames proactively stepped into the position to lead the restructure and stabilization of this critical division of Warner Media Sales during a very volatile organizational time through the transition and close of the Discovery acquisition of Warner Media. Dames brought thought leadership, rigor, insight, creativity, and media industry expertise to a newly combined structure of the the News, Entertainment, and Portfolio Marketing Brand Innovation teams for WarnerMedia Ad Sales all while overseeing marketing creative services and event marketing as the ad industry emerged from the pandemic. Dames also served as the as lead Executive Producer and Executive in Charge of the highly anticipated and positively reviewed Warner Bros Discovery Upfront Show – the first major public event for the combined company. She then served as a partner to the new sales leadership, IMO and McKenzie team in combining the two organizations.
Prior to that role Dames spent most of the past decade as the Executive Vice President and General Manager of WarnerMedia Studios where she led a facility and studio team with a broad range of creative and technical capabilities, including live broadcast production, post production, design, emerging media, social media monitoring, content generation, and live event production.
Under her leadership, WarnerMedia Studios was transformed into an innovative, central hub for media assets across the company, responsible for collaborating with more than 150 partners across 40-plus business units throughout all company divisions – including HBO Max, TBS, TNT, truTV, Bleacher Report, Cartoon Network, CNN, Turner Classic Movies (TCM), and Turner Sports.
While leading that Studios organization Laura also led the operations and transformations of several organizations within the company including the CNN Airport Network, Turner Sports Data and Insights and the Social Co/Op, the company’s social media COE.
Dames ascended to several leadership roles in the first two decades of her career within the Turner Entertainment Networks division (TNT, TBS, TCM, TruTv), excelling in business and marketing operations. She also previously worked on the ad sales team, where she created and implemented the Marketplace Image department and contributed to portfolio-wide sales strategy.
Rhonda Holt
Chief Technology Officer
Prior to joining PBS in 2016, Rhonda pursued an entrepreneurial career at the health technology start-up TrustedCare Inc., where she currently serves as a Board Member. Before that, she had a long tenure at Turner Broadcasting System, culminating in the role of Senior Vice President, Digital Media Technologies, where she oversaw the delivery of Turner’s web-based products, including website development, deployment and operations for Turner’s new media and mobile businesses in News, Sports and Entertainment. Previously, Rhonda held leadership positions at various organizations, including Sun Microsystems, Inc., Dell Computer, Inc. and IBM Corp.
She received a BS in Computer Science from the University of Florida and is graduate of the Betsy Magness Leadership Institute at the Center for Creative Leadership, as well as a graduate of the NAMIC Executive Leadership Development Program at the UCLA Anderson School of Management. Rhonda also serves as a Director and Executive Committee member for the University of Florida Foundation Board.
Ralf Jacob
EVP, Global Broadcast Engineering
Ralf Jacob is the Executive Vice President of Global Broadcast Engineering at TelevisaUnivision, reporting directly to Wade Davis, Chief Executive Officer of TelevisaUnivision, Alfonso de Angoitia, Executive Chairman of the Board of TelevisaUnivision and Co-CEO of TelevisaUnivision Mexico, and Bernardo Gómez, Co-CEO of TelevisaUnivision Mexico.
He is the key technology leader responsible for implementing the company’s global engineering transformation, by enabling cloud integration and other leading-edge technologies for the distribution of TelevisaUnivision’s content on all platforms.
Ralf also oversees the company’s strategic partnership with Google around all content supply-chain technology, focused on streamlining media infrastructure to ensure efficiencies, stability, and scalability globally.
Renard Jenkins
SVP, Production Integration & Creative Technology Services
Renard Jenkins is an experienced contention creation and creative technology executive in the Film, Television and Radio industry. He is currently Warner Bros. Discovery’s Senior Vice President, Production Integration & Creative Technology Services where he oversees teams that support 23,500 plus cast/crew members, 8,500 plus content hours and hundreds of global feature film, animation, and syndicated television productions annually. He and his teams provide creative production technology solutions and strategy for film, animation, and television productions worldwide. They also provide application, IP, production pipeline support and workflows as well as work stream design and implementation. A portion of his team are also responsible for the exploration and successful implementation of emerging and creative technologies such as virtual production, multiplatform storytelling, virtual character and meta human development, neuro-technology and better images and sound for cinema and home entertainment.
Prior to joining WarnerMedia, Jenkins served as Vice President, Operations, Engineering & Distribution at PBS, where he was responsible for the strategic direction, technology development, engineering, and operational management of PBS’s entire media-supply chain. He and his teams were responsible for the successful simultaneous launch of the Live Linear and Cloud-based PBS Kids Channel plus Live Streaming App which also contained games and VOD. It remains as one of the most popular kid’s applications and destinations today. He also created PBS’s Advanced Format Center. He has also worked for TV One, Discovery, ESPN and Turner Broadcasting where he received multiple awards for his work in Film & Television Production, Post Production and R&D, including two national Emmys. Jenkins was also awarded the Innovator of the Year award in 2017 for his cutting-edge work and accomplishments in UHD, HDR, NGA and supply chain technology through the PBS Advanced Format Center and other industry activities.
Jenkins is a SMPTE Fellow and currently serves as President of SMPTE. He sits on the boards of MovieLabs, the Hollywood Professionals Association, the UltraHD Forum, the Content & Entertainment Council as well as the Microsoft and Oracle Advisory Boards. He is also a recipient of a Peabody, 2 Headliners and a 2020 Broadcasting and Cable Technology Leadership award to name a few others.
He is a champion and advocate for inclusion, diversity, equity and accessibility in the technology and media industries. He is a Strategic Advisor to the Board of Directors of the Washington, DC Chapter of the National Association for Multi-Ethnicity In Communications (NAMIC), chairs the Warner Bros. Discovery Technology and Operations Equity and Inclusion Council, the SMPTE Global Inclusion Working Group and he also Co-Chairs, HPA ALL which advocates for and promotes diversity, better equity and increased inclusion and accessibility in the media and entertainment industry.
When he is not working, he enjoys spending time with his wife and best friend of over 30 years, his daughters, and his grandchildren. He loves travel photography / filmmaking and only has one more continent left to explore. He is also a certified sound engineer and is passionate about the visual arts. When time permits, he loves to provide pro bono location sound, live mixing, studio recording, post-production and finishing services for aspiring filmmakers, animators, and musicians. His family moto is “In all things integrity and integrity in all things.”
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.
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.
Scott Lawrence
SVP, Global Solutions
Scott Lawrence is Senior Vice President for our VerizonBusiness Global Solutions organization within Verizon Business Group.He is accountable for delivering strategic and innovative business solutions to Enterprise and Government clients around the globe.He supports a revenue base of $15B+ and leads a team of over1,100Sales and Technology professionals globally. Scott’s team consists of Specialized Sellers, Complex Deal Executives, Global Technology Partners, Pre-Sales Solution Architects and Engineers.His current focus is on delivering business value to clients through Verizon’s best-in-class solutions such as 5G, Edge Computing, Software-Defined Services, Cyber Security and Digital Collaboration.
Previously, Scott was Group Vice President & General Manager, Global Enterprise, where he had P&L responsibility for VerizonBusiness Group’s International segment across Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA). Focused on delivering an exceptional customer experience for our Global Enterprise Clients across a full spectrum of the Verizon portfolio. Prior to his International assignment, Scott was Vice President, Verizon Business Group Advanced Solutions Sales & Engineering where he was responsible for an organization of Sales Specialists and Solution Architects across three solution practice towers: Cyber Security, Workplace Collaboration (Unified Communications & Collaboration) and Customer Experience (CX) supporting Global Enterprise, Federal and Public Sector.
In addition, Scott has held various senior leadership roles across Verizon’s Sales, Operations, Strategy and System Integrators channel. Prior to rejoining Verizon in 2004, Scott held Sales Leadership and Business Development roles at Allied Riser Communications and OpenReach.
Scott holds a Bachelor’s Degree inBusiness Administration from the University of Wisconsin and currently lives in Chicago, IL with his wife and three children where he is active in his community and coaching youth sports.
Roman Mackiewicz
Chief Information Officer
Bloomberg Media Group
Roman Mackiewicz is the Chief Information Officer at Bloomberg Media Group, where he is responsible for responsible for technology and operations.
Roman has been at Bloomberg LP since 2003, and has served in a variety of leadership roles including Director Broadcast Engineering and Software Development, Head of Media Technology, and VP Broadcast Operations.
Brinton Miller
EVP, Media Technology & Operations
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David Sobel
VP, Media Management
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David Travis
Group Director of Content, Broadcast & Platforms
Dave Travis is Director of Content, Broadcast & Platforms for Sky. In his role, he leads the product and technology teams across production, news, playout, content supply chain, and distribution for all of the Sky businesses including Sky Sports, Sky News, Now TV, Sky Content, Sky Media, and Sky Creative. Within Dave’s team, he is responsible for Strategy, Design, Implementation, and Support across the on-prem and cloud estates.
Dave is a highly experienced broadcast executive with over 20 years’ experience working at board level for numerous companies with excellent technical and commercial skills. His passion is building platforms that deliver consistent and efficient working practices within technology organizations.
Dave previously was Chief Product & Technology Officer for Red Bee Media which was a broadcast managed services provider serving over 80 customers including companies like the BBC, ITV, Channel 5, BT Sport, TF1, Canal +, and Telia Media Group.
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.
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