2008 SMPTE Tech Conference Program & Local Arrangements Committees
2008 Program Committee
Tom Scott
Vice President Technology OnStream Media
Program Chair
Tom Scott has been involved with sound for motion pictures since 1978, employed at Zoetrope Studios, Dolby Laboratories, Saul Zaentz Film Center, and Skywalker Sound. He has been the recipient of two Oscars, Academy Awards for Best Achievement in Sound, for the films "The Right Stuff" and "Amadeus". He is the Vice President of Technology for EDnet, the Entertainment Digital Network division of Onstream Media Corporation in San Francisco, which he founded in 1992 with several other ex-Lucasfilm colleagues. Mr. Scott is a fellow of the Society of Motion Picture Television Engineers (SMPTE) and he is currently serving as Editorial Director for the Society.
David Bancroft
Manager, Advanced Technology Thomson
Dave Bancroft is Manager, Advanced Technology, for the three Strategic Business Units of Thomson: Systems (Grass Valley), Services (Technicolor), and Technology (Corporate Research), and is based in Reading, United Kingdom.
His current projects within the Thomson Group include: digital cinematography; scanning, interfacing and workflow for digital intermediate film production; colour management in displays for quality assessment; HDTV broadcasting; he works with the Thomson product, service and research groups associated with these applications and represents their interests in their standardisation issues.
His prior background includes the BBC, RCA, Ampex and BTS/Philips, with sales, marketing and engineering assignments in the UK, Greece, Middle East, Africa, New Jersey, California and Germany.
He is a Fellow and a governor of SMPTE, a Fellow of the Royal Television Society, a Fellow and director of the BKSTS, a Member of the IET, and a member of the Administrative Committee of the IEEE Broadcast Technology Society. In his SMPTE standardization activities he chairs the SMPTE Study Group on Display Technologies, the Ad Hoc Group on DPX File Format Revision, and he is currently serving as Editorial Director for the Society..
Al Kovalick has worked in the field of hybrid AV/IT systems for the past 15 years. Previously, he was a digital systems designer and technical strategist for Hewlett-Packard. Following HP, from 1999 to 2004, he was the CTO of the Broadcast Products Division at Pinnacle Systems. Currently, he is with Avid Technology and serves as a Strategist and Fellow.
Al wrote the first book in its field on “tapeless” media workflows – Video Systems in an IT Environment (www.theAVITbook.com). The book addresses the convergence of video, Information Technologies and file-based workflows. This 600 page, 225 figure book, covers the salient aspects of hybrid AV+IT systems.
Al is an active speaker, educator, author and participant with industry bodies including SMPTE. He holds 18 US and foreign patents. Al has a BSEE degree from San Jose State University and MSEE degree from the University of California at Berkeley. He is a life member of Tau Beta Pi.
Peter Ludé
Senior Vice President of Engineering for the Broadcast and Business Solutions Sony Electronics
Peter Ludé has been involved in broadcast engineering and production for over 30 years. He is currently Senior Vice President of Engineering for the Broadcast and Business Solutions division of Sony Electronics, based in Silicon Valley. In this role, Ludé is responsible for engineering and business development for Sony’s media and business electronics groups. Recent projects have included Digital Cinema projection systems, stereoscopic (3D) imaging research, networked media systems for television newsrooms and advanced security camera applications.
Previously, he served as Chief Technology Officer at iBlast, the pioneering datacasting network, and before that was a systems integration executive for cutting-edge broadcast projects, including DBS, digital cable and DTV. Pete was the founder of Ludé Broadcast Engineering in San Francisco, which was eventually acquired by Sony, growing into the nation’s largest system integrator serving the professional audio/video broadcast industry. He is an active member of IEEE and SBE, and SMPTE Fellow. He is a frequent speaker and panelist on topics of digital communications systems and content distribution, and currently serves as Vice President of Editorial for the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE). He is a graduate of the College of San Mateo, and lives in San Francisco with his wife, Lani, and two young kids.
John Luff
Television Technology Consultant HD Consulting
John Luff is an independent media technology consultant specializing in a wide range of television technology, facility planning and system design issues. Over the last four decades his clients have included public and commercial broadcasters across North America and Europe and Africa. He is a Fellow of the SMPTE, and the current Conference Vice President.
He was the founder of system integration firm Synergistic Technologies Incorporated (STI), where he served until 2006. He was responsible for design and project management for ABC’s HDTV facilities in NY, as well as several HD and SD mobile units. He has managed the crews and facilities for the EBU which covered major news events in over 40 venues around the world.
In addition to presentations to SMPTE and SBE conferences, since 1998 he has written a regular column and feature articles for Broadcast Engineering Magazine.
Nancy Wilkerson
Senior Staff Walt Disney Imagineering Research and Development Inc.
Ms. Nancy Wilkerson has worked in the entertainment industry since 1979, holding both creative and technical positions in television, radio, satellite communications, post production, project and engineering management. She has worked for Walt Disney Imagineering Research and Development since 2002, where she focuses on 3D immersive entertainment, digital cinema, next generation packaged media, media networking, content protection and participates in several international standards development organizations. In her current role in R&D, Ms. Wilkerson works closely with all the media divisions within The Walt Disney Company to advance Disney's leadership role in entertainment technology.
Ms. Wilkerson has served as SMPTE Hollywood Section Manager for many years and was Program Chair for the Fall 2004 SMPTE Technical Conference & Exhibition in Pasadena California. She is also a member of the American Society of Cinematographers Technology Committee and a member of the Society of Television Engineers.
2008 Local Arrangements Committee
Patricia Keighley
Chair
Vice President/GM David Keighley Production 70MM Inc.
Patricia Keighley is co-founder, VP & General Manager of DKP 70MM Inc., an IMAX Company.Based in Santa Monica, CA, DKP has been involved in the film and digital post production of more than 235 large format films over the past three decades.Patricia holds a BA in Psychology (McMasterUniversity) and a M. Ed. (University of Toronto).
Patricia is a Board member and Secretary of the Giant Screen Cinema Association, Chair of Films-in-Production/Films-in-Development sessions as well as past Chair of the Conference Committee, Technical Session, Coordinator of Digital Education sessions and multi year Producer of the annual Gala Awards Evening and Kodak Vision Award Programs.
Patricia is a current SMPTE Governor for the Hollywood Region following two terms as Chair of SMPTE’s Hollywood section, previously serving as a Manager and Secretary-Treasurer.She is a member of SMPTE’s Nominating Committee, Chair of this year’s Eastman Kodak Gold Medal Committee and member of the Samuel E. Warner Gold Medal Committee.Patricia held the position of General Arrangements Chair of SMPTE’s 2004 Technical Conference and General Arrangements Vice Chair of the 2006 Technical Conference.Patricia is also a member of the American Society of Cinematographers Technology Committee and the Inter Society Digital Cinema Forum.
