Michael Zink

Michael Zink 

Education Vice-President for a two-year term: January 1, 2023 - December 31, 2024

VP Emerging & Creative Technologies Warner Bros. Discovery

Throughout my career, I had the privilege of being at the forefront of new technology and how it impacts the Media & Entertainment industry. I started out working for various post-production companies in Germany during the introduction of DVD into the consumer market. This led me to join Technicolor – first in London, UK and later in Los Angeles, CA. My time at Technicolor allowed me to participate in the introduction of multiple different new technologies into the M&E industry – HDTV (including HD DVD & Blu-ray Discs), technologies for 3D Cinema & 3D Blu-ray, Immersive Audio developments, all the way to the early days of 4K & HDR. After 10 years at Technicolor, I joined Warner Bros. to continue my journey and help the Studio launch Ultra HD into the consumer market, leading the effort to establish ‘Filmmaker Mode’ to maintain creative intent on consumer displays via the UHD Alliance (where I currently also serve as President & Chairman), and assist in developing Next-Gen Cinema Standards within DCI. My most recent work at Warner Bros. is focused on leveraging emerging technologies to further storytelling across different platforms, such as Immersive Media applications. I have always been passionate about sharing our learnings and experiences to help our entire industry advance forward, including presentations at industry conferences along with chairing program committees for SMPTE and related conferences, and have also published several technical papers in the Motion Imaging Journal, among other publications. During my current term as Education Vice President, we started exploring various initiatives to expand SMPTE’s education offerings, and I intent to continue these efforts to develop educational offerings for educating our members in meaningful ways about the latest developments in the M&E industry, including how emerging technologies will impact their business and provide opportunities for their careers.