2024 Devoncroft Executive Summit | Amsterdam
Thursday | September 12, 2024
12PM – 6PM
Tuschinski Theatre | Amsterdam
Speakers Include:
Speakers Include:
David Bouchier
Chief TV and Entertainment Officer
David has been the Chief TV & Entertainment Officer at Virgin Media, now Virgin Media 02, since August 2016. He has overseen the transformation of the pay TV platform to include SVOD, App and AVOD customer propositions as well as recently launched FAST streaming channels.
Earlier in his career David was a Member of The Management Executive of BSkyB in the UK, before moving to News Corporation as Managing Director of Programming for Sky Italia. He subsequently returned to the UK and set up his own pay TV broadcast businesses, prior to joining Virgin Media O2.
Cédric Brignon
Group CFO
As Chief Financial Officer, Cédric Brignon is responsible for developing the financial strategy of the business, as well as supporting the long-term business plan and mergers and acquisitions activity.
Prior to Banijay, he was Vice President Studio Finance for EMEA at Netflix, having started his career in Audit and Consulting. In post for three years, he took care of the streamer’s finance function for all content production and acquisition in the region, and subsequently played a vital role in the global giant’s significant international growth performance. As a regional lead, he also handled the coordination of the Netflix Studio Strategy and financial planning across his territory remit.
With extensive experience in the finance and management sector, he also held roles at Technicolor and Warner Bros Entertainment, where he was Vice President Finance – IT, Real Estate, France & Benelux.
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.
Jamie Dunn
Deputy CEO and Vorstand
Jamie Dunn was named Deputy CEO and Vorstand (member of the executive board) in 2024.
He joined Lawo in 2011, and served as the company’s Chief Commercial from 2019 to 2024.
Previously, Jamie spent a decade at Studer Audio (Harman), working in the US and Switzerland.
He started his career as a sound engineer in London, and then spent six years travelling the world, working with world-famous musicians as a classical recording engineer.
Jamie earned a BMus, Music and Sound Recording (Tonmeister) from Surrey University, UK. He currently resides in Switzerland.
Larissa Görner
Chief Technology Officer
Larissa is Chief Technology Officer at Proximus Media House, a 100% affiliate of Proximus group, Belgium’s leading Telecom company.
She joined the broadcasting industry in 2001 starting her career as R&D engineer at IRT, the R&D institute of the public broadcasters in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. In this role, she was an active contributor at EBU and SMPTE and later took on the role as General Manager for contracted research at IRT.
After several roles in product management and the CTO office at Net Insight, she joined Grass Valley in 2019 as Director for Advanced Live solutions and further as Senior Director of Product Management overseeing Grass Valley’s Cloud platform AMPP, Playout and Asset Management solutions.
She has been active as freelancer for more than 20 years in live-production and technical operations at national and international sport productions and events, like the Olympic Games or the Eurovision Song Contest.
She holds a master’s degree in electrical engineering and an MBA, is the Chair of the European Advisory Board of Rise and received the honour of becoming a SMPTE fellow in 2022.
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.
Tami Hoffman
Director, News Distribution & Commercial Innovation
Resourceful and adaptable, my role is to drive innovation, collaboration and commercial success for ITN’s news operations. A thought leader in AI and News I am at the centre of cross industry converstaions about safety and trust, and have led ITN’s work to understnad the risks, oppotunities and challnges.
The challenges to sustainable journalism are considerable – editorial, technological, ethical, financial – and I’m proud of my role helping ITN develop and grow, ensuring our industry’s concerns are clearly articulated at the highest levels.
Learning from other people’s experience and journey is key – so do connect!
Albert Lai
Global Director – Media & Entertainment
Albert Lai is the global Strategic Consumer Industries director for the Media & Entertainment team for Google Cloud. His focus is on helping media organizations transform their business and deliver new audience experiences.
Prior to joining Google, Albert was the SVP/GM of Hallmark Labs, where he led the development and growth of Hallmark Channel’s SVOD service, consumer digital products, and enterprise AI/ML and data management initiatives. As Brightcove CTO for Media, Albert led the formation and growth of the global media business unit and its technical leadership, expanding the company’s multi-platform solutions and advancing its next generation video platform. He served on the technical advisory board of immersive video distribution platform Vrideo, in addition to holding senior positions at prior appointments with OTT service providers and technology providers to OTT service providers.
Albert earned his bachelor of science in computer science from Stanford University. He resides in Greater Houston.
François Legrand
Senior Director, Core Systems, Media Technology & Infrastructure Services
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.
From 2011 to 2016, he has held several management positions such as Operations Manager, Regions of Quebec, where he coordinated the technological development of Quebec’s regional stations and Senior Project Manager within the Transformation Unit of CBC/Radio-Canada’s French Services where he played a major role in the transition of all national news shows to automated production.
Since 2015, François has been Senior Director of Media Engineering where he manages 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.
Fabrice Maquignon
Chief Executive Officer
Fabrice Maquignon is CEO of Mediagenix.
He joined the the company in February 2020 after serving as as CEO of Transwide & Teleroute for 13 years, bringing expertise in SaaS, supply chain digitization, and international business expansion.
Michelle Noon
Founder and Managing Partner
Michelle founded Clearhaven Partners in 2019 and sets firm strategy and direction. Michelle is the Chairman of Clearhaven’s Investment Committee and is responsible for deal origination, execution and portfolio management. Prior to founding Clearhaven Partners, Michelle developed a love for investing in software and technology businesses, having started in finance and investing nearly 20 years ago.
Michelle was a member of the investment teams of Thoma Bravo and Riverside Partners. At Riverside, Michelle was a General Partner and member of the investment committee. Michelle previously worked in investment banking at Morgan Stanley.
Michelle holds an MBA, with distinction, from Harvard Business School and a BBA, magna cum laude, from the University of Notre Dame.
Marcos Obadia
SVP Global Engineering & Media Technology
Marcos Obadia has had an impressive career spanning over four decades in the media and technology industry, with significant accomplishments in leadership roles at major companies.
He currently serves SVP of Global Engineering and Media Technology at TelevisaUnivision. where he has been instrumental in unifying the supply chain technologies, platforms, and processes following the merger of Televisa and Univision. His expertise in global engineering and media technology has been crucial in navigating the complex landscape of modern media distribution and content management.
Prior to the merger of Televisa and Univision, he was SVP Engineering at Univision Communications Inc. from June 2016 to November 2022.
He also served as EVP of Media Services at Discovery Communications, and EVP of Strategic Planning at Spanish Broadcasting System.
In 2023, Marcos received the PRODU Lifetime Achievement award, acknowledging his significant contributions to the media and technology industry. In 1989 he received an Emmy Award for Technology Achievement for his technology leadership role in producing the world’s first all-component digital special effect music video for Gloria Estefan’s “Live for Loving You.”
Marcos has a strong technical background and a vision for creating technology-based solutions for the Media and Entertainment sector. He holds a BSEE degree in Electronic Engineering from Universidad Simón Bolívar. His career began as an engineer at VTA from 1981 to 1983, showcasing his progression from technical roles to executive leadership.
Michel Proulx
Media Technology Consultant /
Aspiring Ski Bum
Michel Proulx is a Media Industry technologist and executive with over 40 years of experience working with leading manufacturers and broadcasters in the television broadcasting and production 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 Western Canadian ski bum and consulting for broadcasters and broadcast industry vendors.
Michel’s focus over the past ten years has been helping the industry transition to IP and software-based technologies.
Mario Reis
Director of Telecommunications
Mario is an experienced Director of Telecommunications with a demonstrated history of working in the telecommunications industry, and is skilled in 3G, LTE, Mobile Communications, Mobile Devices, and Wireless Technologies.
Since 2010, has developed services for the Broadcasting Industry with an emphasis on Transport Networks for Video, Distribution of Video over Satellite, Cloud Services and OTT Delivery platforms.
Mario received an undergraduate degree from the Universidade de Coimbra in Portugal. He also holds an MBA from the ALBA Graduate Business School in Beirut, and a Master of Arts in Olympic Studies from German Sport University Cologne.
David Ross
Chief Executive Officer
David has been surrounded by engineering, business, and video technology his entire life.
He began programming in 1975 at the age of nine. While in high school, David won three major engineering competitions at the national level with projects involving real time programming and computer graphics.
David graduated university with a degree in Computer Engineering with a heavy business emphasis. He also gained co-op experience at Ross, the CBC and Electrohome working on projectors and video effects units.
David joined Ross Video full time in 1991 with successively more responsibilities including product management and running the R&D department until eventually becoming president in 2004 and then CEO in 2006. David is also Chairman of the board and now the majority shareholder of Ross Video with over 80% control and ownership, while also making Ross an ESOP company with considerable employee ownership. Ross has no private equity ownership.
Ross Video’s sales have grown at a consistent cumulative rate of about 15% per year since he joined in 1991. In fact, the company has not yet seen a single down year in sales, even in recessions.
David has received many awards and honorary diplomas including an honorary doctorate from the University of Ottawa for achievements in Engineering and Business in 2017 and is a Fellow of both the Canadian Academy of Engineering and the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE).
A big believer in learning from others and sharing, David has been a member of CEO organizations for decades and has been a member of TEC (known as Vistage in the US) since 2011. He has even been known to listen to management books while competing in Marathon races.
Sudheer Sirivara
EVP, Direct to Consumer Platforms
As the Executive Vice President of D2C Platform at Warner Bros. Discovery, Sudheer leads the product and engineering teams that deliver the direct-to-consumer services for MAX, Discovery+, Eurosport, and TNT Sports.
Sudheer leads the teams across WBD in the following areas:
- Global Media Supply chain platform: Converging, streamlining & infusing AI into a globally distributed set of regional supply chains.
- Live Streaming Platform: Industry leading quality & resiliency spanning US, EMEA, LATAM & APAC
- Glass to Glass Streaming platform: Spanning transcode, content protection, CDN, players, offline playback etc
- AdTech Platform: Home grown SSAI, Ad decisioning & audience data platforms powering the growth of WBD across the globe
- Applied ML platform: Leading the industry in applying AI & GenAI into content localization, automated scheduling, contextual advertising, content aware personalization & more
With over two decades of experience in the media industry, Sudheer has a proven track record of incubating and launching multiple streaming products with millions of users worldwide. His teams have pioneered the development of streaming as we know today & were the first to build & launch cloud based streaming platforms for the industry.
His core competencies include organizational leadership of globally distributed teams & driving clarity & of vision & coherence of purpose to operate as “One Team”. He has incubated & built Streaming platforms, AI Platforms, Data platforms including SaaS products across his career. He has built and launched multiple successful products and services, such as Microsoft Stream, Microsoft Video Indexer, Azure Media Services and Azure CDN, that have powered global events such as the Super Bowls and the Olympics.
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.
Borika Vucinic
VP Media Network & Technology Services
Borika Vucinic oversees engineering support and operations for Bell Media broadcast sites in Montréal and Toronto, and project engineering and network support for television and radio stations across Canada. In addition, her team leads new product development, cost optimization initiatives, and service availability for all Bell Media radio and television platforms. With more than 20 years of experience with the Network team, Vucinic has earned a reputation as an innovator and team builder.
Formerly Director, TV and Radio Engineering, she was instrumental in leading Bell’s mobile HSPA+ network launch in 2009, building a top-performing Bell TV Network team, and delivering infrastructure advances to support the Fibe TV app and Satellite TV video on demand. Vucinic was recognized as a pioneer and a voice for women in communications and technology with the 2015 Women in Communication and Technology (WCT), Technology Innovator Award. In 2021, she was awarded the Woman of the Year award by Rise, which she shares with Inga Ruehl, for being extraordinary and inspirational women who have made significant contributions in their field.
Vucinic holds an MBA from Herriot Watt University and a B.Sc. in Electrical Engineering from Belgrade University. A resident of Toronto, Vucinic continues as a leader and mentor to her staff, and a dedicated wife and mother.
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.
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 earned a BSc in Business Administration and a BA in Philosophy from Villanova University, 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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