Alun Fryer is the Technical Marketing Lead for Hyperconverged Solutions at Ross Video. He holds a Bachelor of Applied Science in Systems Design Engineering from the University of Waterloo and serves as a marketing liaison to R&D (the voice of the customer), technical liaison between Product Marketing and end users (making the technology make sense). He has previously held several roles in Product Development bringing many well-known products from concept to reality, including the Synergy and Vision production switcher series.
Alun has been actively involved with many trade organizations, including SMPTE, AMWA, JT-NM, and AIMS.
Brendan Cline is the Vice President of Engineering and a Managing Partner at BeckTV. He works closely with the executive team to plan projects and assemble expert teams that guide all facets of broadcast and AV system integration. Brendan joined BeckTV in 2014 and has been in the broadcast and AV integration industry for more than 20 years. Based in Austin, Texas, he is known for his hands-on leadership and ability to guide complex projects from concept through successful delivery.
With over 30 years in the broadcast and media world, Brian has seen the industry evolve from its analog roots to cutting-edge IP workflows. As a Principal Consultant with Diversified’s Advisory Services group, he helps organizations make sense of complex technologies like SMPTE ST 2110—translating technical challenges into smart, workable solutions that drive real results.
Brian’s experience spans live production, broadcast engineering, system design, and project leadership, but what truly fuels him is a passion for the craft and the people behind it. He thrives on collaboration, bringing teams together to solve tough problems, streamline operations, and create systems that support powerful storytelling.
At the end of the day, Brian is all about turning ideas into impact—and enjoying the process with great people along the way.
A lifelong public servant and media innovator, Bruce began his career after serving in the U.S. Army, including a tour in Vietnam. He joined NPR in 1971, later becoming a pioneering software consultant for NPR and other major networks, co-developing the satellite distribution system that powered NPR for 23 years. Returning to NPR in 2003, he retired in 2019. Beyond broadcasting, he served multiple terms on the Chesapeake Beach Town Council and as Mayor, a role he resumed in 2024. He also served as President of the Maryland Municipal League and currently sits on the Maryland Public Broadcasting Commission.
Christian Holbrook began his career in electronics at a young age by taking stuff apart and rebuilding it. In his teens he thought he wanted to be a recording engineer, but couldn’t find anyone to hire him, so at 17 he built his first recording studio, including the recording console and several pieces of outboard equipment. Since then, he has worked at the C-level in a manufacturing firm, a system integration company, and for a brief period, owned a consumer electronic repair shop. Christian served as director of engineering for the Fox Family channel and moved with the sale of the company to the ABC Family channel. Christian developed WireCAD at his kitchen table, originally to meet his own needs, and eventually he brought it to the public in 2001. He is the lead developer of WireCAD, Simple Wires, PatchVerx, DWG Diff, and others. He is an industry veteran with over thirty years of experience.
Daniel J. White is the post-production supervisor for Florentine Films. He also oversees the restoration of Ken’s early collection of films. Dan has restored the films, The Civil War, Brooklyn Bridge, The Shakers, and Baseball. He is passionate about film preservation and hopes to see all of Ken’s early films restored to the quality they deserve. Daniel started with Florentine Films in 2001 and has been an apprentice editor, assistant editor, editor, cinematographer, associate producer, restoration producer, and post-production supervisor. He grew up in a rural New Hampshire town with little access to educational resources, PBS was the one way he could travel the world of science, literature, art, culture, and history. Working with Florentine is one way he feels he can repay PBS for what he was fortunate to be given in his youth. Daniel lives in New Hampshire with his wife Jamie and two little ones. Local station NHPBS.
Edward T. Grogan received his BSEE and MSEE from Drexel University. He is now retired from the DoD after working on advanced technologies for 43 years. In the past he was one of the lead engineers within the DoD who helped define progressive HDTV as the format for DoD and industry. He is currently working, as a contractor, in a specialized field of technology that he first brought into the DoD, and adapted to government needs when he was DoD. In his off time he supports local community and school theatre productions by providing sound and video (now 4K HDR) to the education environment. He is a member of HPA, Visual Effects Society and a life member of SMPTE. In his time off, he and his cats are still building a house. When you build your own house, it's never finished.
Felicia is a practitioner in Deloitte’s Media & Entertainment practice with experience working on technology enabled end-to-end transformations across a wide range of media clients. Her focus is on technology strategy and business transformation and helps clients through all phases of transformation from high level design through build to develop strategic roadmap, design new operational processes, capture requirements, and manage development & build cycles.
With more than five decades of experience, George Beneman serves as Chief Technology Officer at Maryland Public Television. He leads a team of over 50 professionals responsible for MPT’s studios, network operations, and broadcast infrastructure—including its recent $14 million transmitter upgrade and the rollout of NEXTGEN TV. A Gold Circle inductee of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, George is also an award-winning director with credits on numerous national productions. He began his career in theater and continues to consult in theatrical design. George studied at NYU’s School of the Arts and the University of Maryland and is an active volunteer with the Coast Guard Auxiliary.
Heather Harris is a Peabody award winning media professional with 20 years of experience in live television broadcasting. Originally from the west coast, Heather studied Media Arts and television production at the University of Arizona. Her career has spanned stints with local broadcast affiliates both commercial and public, CNN, and presently PBS. She lives now in Northern Virginia with her husband and daughter.
James Snyder is an Emmy winning digital media engineering, data & media archiving, preservation, production and project management specialist.
His 45+ years' experience includes 14 years as the Senior Systems Administrator for the Library of Congress' National Audio-Visual Conservation Center (NAVCC) on the Packard Campus for Audio Visual Conservation in Culpeper, Virginia and 2 1/2 years as the Senior Design Engineer for the NAVCC project for the primary contractor Communications Engineering Inc. (CEI). His responsibilities included all audio, video and film preservation and digitization technologies, including long-term planning & implementation, long-term data preservation planning & implementation, technology services to the United States Congress and organizations on Capitol Hill, as well as standards participation and technology liaison with media content producers worldwide.
Previous to the NAVCC facility projects included commercial, non-commercial and government organizations including MCI, Verizon, Intelsat, PBS, ABC, the Advanced Television Test Center, Fox News, Reuters and Discovery. He has consulted on projects for Sarnoff Corporation, Turner Engineering (TEI), CBS, NBC, ABC, Fox, the News Corporation, FedNet and multiple Executive Branch agencies of the U.S. Federal government. He has worked on key projects leading to the ATSC digital television standard, the HD Radio digital radio standard, the AXF Archive eXchange Format (SMPTE 2034) standard, and the first consumer commercial HDTV satellite service Unity Motion. He teaches on analog & digital audio, video, television transmission & engineering basics for the industry and preservation professionals through many public and private organizations.
Mr. Snyder volunteers for the Society of Motion Picture & Television Engineers (SMPTE) where he also works on standards and editing the SMPTE Journal. He is currently working on several major media preservation & migration projects, and is working on technical histories of VistaVision and the Biograph-Mutoscope film formats. He lives and works in the Civil War battlefield country of central Virginia between Washington, DC & Richmond, VA.
Jim Beahn has spent the last 35 years working in broadcast engineering and information technology for several of the local television stations in Washington, D.C. Most recently, he led WTTG/WDCA’s relocation into an all-new ST 2110-based facility.
John Footen is a leader in Deloitte’s Media & Entertainment practice with over 30 years of experience in the industry. In his role at Deloitte, John works with a wide variety of broadcasters, studios, telecom companies and the firms that serve them. His client work focuses on technology strategy, media systems architecture and design, roadmaps, innovation and artificial intelligence. John is an acknowledged industry expert in Systems Design, Software Architecture, Cloud, and AI, all of which have a major impact on today’s broadcast television and professional media systems.
Prior to working with Deloitte, John was an executive with several consulting firms and professional media technology vendors. He has been responsible for managing large and complex media solutions projects for many types of media enterprises. He has extensive international media experience; having lived and worked in North America, Asia, and EMEA.
John has served on multiple SMPTE technology committees. He has led teams which have received two technology Emmy awards as well as multiple patents. He was a recipient of the prestigious SMPTE Medal for Workflow Systems and was named a Fellow of SMPTE. John holds degrees in computer science and film & television from New York University. He is also the co-author of the book, “The Service-Oriented Media Enterprise: SOA, BPM, and Web Services in Professional Media Systems,” as well as numerous articles in industry journals and magazines.
John Mailhot has worked in the field of digital High-Definition Television systems since 1990, first as technical lead for the Grand Alliance encoder and later as engineering manager and general manager of Lucent Digital Video, Aastra Digital Video, and the compression division of Harris Broadcast. Today, John is CTO and director of Infrastructure Product Architecture at Imagine Communications, focused on transition of core television infrastructure into IP- and software-based technologies. He is also the editor of the SMPTE 2110 standards. He has two degrees from MIT, serves on the boards of AMWA and VSF, and is a SMPTE Fellow.
Jonathan is a Media Technology Evangelist at TVU Networks, specializing in cloud-native media workflows and driving the transformation of the Media & Entertainment industry to embrace a data-first mindset. With over 30 years of experience in media engineering and operations, Jonathan has been at the forefront of integrating cutting-edge technologies with traditional broadcast systems. He has a proven track record of architecting large-scale platforms, optimizing media supply chains, and delivering high-speed data solutions. Passionate about modernizing the way media is created, managed, and distributed, Jonathan is focused on empowering organizations to bridge the gap between legacy infrastructure and the future of cloud-based, data-driven media ecosystems. He is a sought-after speaker and consultant, dedicated to helping the industry reimagine its approach to content delivery in a rapidly evolving digital landscape. He is excited to be your upcoming SMPTE DC Chair!
Karl Kuhn founded Sherwood Insights L.L.C. to provide technology training, leadership coaching and mentoring for corporate clients and individuals looking to reach new levels of success. During his 45+ year video career, Karl held various leadership positions at major providers of video technology which included Principal Solutions Architect and R&D Inventor. Karl was raised to SMPTE Fellow in 2015. He holds three U.S. patents and one Japanese patent covering In-service Testing of Digital Broadcast Video. Karl is a contributing author to the 11th edition of the National Association of Broadcasters Engineering Handbook responsible for Chapter 2.9 covering “Digital Video Standards and Practices.” He is a past SMPTE Eastern Region Governor and past SMPTE North American Sections Director. Karl is also a Certified Project Management Professional (PMP) through the Project Management Institute from George Washington University.
A recent graduate of Montgomery College, where he served as the secretary of the SMPTE chapter on campus. He is currently in his first semester as a transfer at Towson University, continuing his studies in Media and Geography and pursuing a bachelor's in both. He has a deep passion for the media industry in all its forms— from journalism to film and entertainment.
Liam Power is an engineer with ONE Media Technologies, the research-focused subsidiary of Sinclair Broadcast Group. He focuses on developing the new capabilities and use cases provided with the ATSC 3.0 standard, particularly around transmission chains.
Lukas has over 20 years of experience in digital media engineering and systems designs including entertainment, broadcast, studio, and corporate networks. Lukas joined NTC in 2016 which was acquired by Deloitte in 2022. He has served as a lead architect on large transformational projects, designing, constructing, and commissioning ST 2110 media networks at scale. He has experience with IP broadcast facilities and related infrastructure. He has guided broadcast clients through transitions from physical hardware infrastructure to pure IP workflows and virtualized compute infrastructure. Lukas has implemented innovative approaches to design of the modern broadcast facility, merging documentation of logical and physical layers to improve system flexibility, traceability, efficiency, and resiliency.
He brings deep experience with broadcast systems including production, master control, encoding, and satellite and IP distribution systems with a focus on the network infrastructure architecture that now carries media in some form all the way from camera to viewer.
Maciej has more than 30 years of experience in various aspects of the media industry. Currently, he is the Senior Director, Media Technology and Service Strategies at the Corporation for Public Broadcasting overseeing and executing planning processes, strategic initiatives, and projects that support CPB’s plans concerning public media’s media technology infrastructure and operations. Since 2020 Maciej is the Chair of the SMPTE DC section concluding his tenure in June 2025.
Matt Galek is a Specialist in Deloitte's Media Solutions practice and aligned to TMT with over 25 years in the broadcast industry supporting technology transformation programs in the radio, movie, and television industries. He has a background in media production, newsrooms, media management, and media distribution ecosystems. His client work focuses on technology strategy, media architecture design, and implementation.
Prior to Deloitte, Matt worked with broadcasting in the performing arts, several media technology vendors, and a professional services organization.
Matt is a member of both the Audio Engineering Society and SMPTE. Matt leads Deloitte's relationship with The Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity (C2PA), a standards development organization combating misinformation.
Matt Wildes is a Senior Solutions Architect at AWS with 17 years of experience in the Media & Entertainment industry. Matt’s expertise spans operational and technical roles across content production, post-production, distribution, and storage & archive management.
Merrill Weis has spent the last 33 years operating his consultancy focused on electronic media technology and technology management, particularly related to digital and high-definition television. His scope of work ranges from antenna design and FCC applications to project management to technology strategy and product development to serving as an expert witness in commercial and patent litigation.
Michelle (Michi) Bradley is the founder of REC Networks and national regulatory advocate specializing in small broadcast stations and works towards the objectives of keeping terrestrial broadcasting relevant, promoting “more choices and more voices”, improving the rural quality of life, improving emergency alerting and promoting digital equity in the broadcast space. Bradley is best known for her 25+ year support of the Low Power FM broadcast service. She is also the designer of the industry websites FCCdata.org and FCC.today. Michelle is located in Riverton, Maryland on the Delmarva Peninsula, is currently in the process of building a low power FM radio station (WVWA-LP) and provides professional FCC filing services for all FM services, as well as giving free advice.
Mike Downs, CAE, CMP, DES, CED, became executive director of the SBE on Jan. 3, 2025. Downs has 27 years of experience in non-profit management at an International level. Since 2012 he was the director of conventions and meetings of Kiwanis International, a global service organization. Previous to that, he worked for 10 years as chief staff executive of Key Club International. During his time with Key Club, the organization posted year-over year-growth in membership. His professional experience includes an extensive background in strategic plan development and deployment. His association experience includes being a past president of the Indiana Society of Association Executives and a past vice-president of the Indiana Chapter of Meetings Professional International.
Molli Chang is a May ’24 graduate of Towson University’s Electronic Media & Film program, with a minor in Entrepreneurship. She dove into the entrepreneurial world during her last two years, founding MAI PT and winning two competitions as well as being President of Venture Club. Molli currently serves as a Business Analyst at Towson's StarTUp entrepreneurial hub and was recently named one of Technical.ly's ReaLIST Top 20 Connectors of Baltimore. A graduate of Montgomery College’s Television Production program, she pioneered the nation’s first SMPTE Student Chapter in 2018. Molli was also recently elected for a second term as a Washington DC Chapter Manager for SMPTE.
Robert has been a member of the TAG team since 2023, with more than 25 years of experience in the broadcast and IT markets. Covering systems engineering, IT network design, and RF transmission systems; Robert has recently focused on designing and implementing adaptable software centric workflow tools that can scale from on-premises solutions to worldwide, cloud-based infrastructures – for emerging technologies, live production, and traditional broadcast customers. Robert is an active participant and frequent presenter in many industry associations, including the SBE, SMPTE, and Hollywood Professional Association (HPA).
Sally-Ann D’Amato is the Executive Director of the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE), bringing over two decades of leadership and operational expertise to the organization. She began her career at SMPTE in 2001 as an administrative assistant and steadily advanced through key roles, including executive assistant, director of operations, and director of events and governance liaison. In October 2024, she was appointed interim executive director, and by December 2024, she was officially named to the role by the SMPTE Board of Governors.
Throughout her tenure, D’Amato has played a pivotal role in shaping SMPTE’s operational framework, contributing to the development of its current bylaws and operations manuals. She has successfully managed and produced the Society’s annual technical conference, now the Media Technology Summit, since 2005, including leading its transition to a virtual format during the COVID-19 pandemic. She also led the planning and execution of SMPTE’s centennial gala in 2016, including co-writing the script and lyrics, and performing in the show.
As Executive Director, D’Amato is focused on driving efficiency, innovation, and collaboration within SMPTE. Her leadership aims to strengthen engagement across its global membership, expand opportunities for industry professionals, and enhance the organization’s infrastructure to support its evolving mission.
D’Amato is also a trained actor and singer and a member of the Actor’s Equity Association (AEA) and the Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA). She graduated summa cum laude from Northeastern University with a Bachelor of Arts in Theatre Performance.
Skip Pizzi is Owner and Principal at Skip Pizzi Media Consultant LLC, a media technology consulting firm based in the Philadelphia area. Previously he has held technology staff positions at NPR, Microsoft, and the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB), with over a decade of service at each organization. He has authored, co-authored, or edited several books—most recently, A Broadcast Engineering Tutorial for Non-Engineers (published by Focal Press)—and has been an editor and featured columnist for numerous broadcast, audio and digital media industry trade publications.
Skip has served as Vice Chair of the Advanced Television Systems Committee’s (ATSC) Technology Group 3 (TG3, which developed the ATSC 3.0 standard) since its inception, and chairs the ATSC Brazil Implementation Team (IT-4), which is working with Brazilian broadcasters and technologists to design that country’s next-generation television standard. He is also Chair of ATSC Specialist Group on Program Requirements and System Management (S31), and Vice Chair of ATSC’s Automotive Implementation Team (IT-8).
Skip currently represents Fraunhofer USA at ATSC, and LG Electronics/Zenith at both ATSC and the Consumer Technology Association (CTA). He has also served as Project Manager for WNET/WLIW’s NextGen TV transition in New York City, and is Senior Advisor to the Public Media Venture Group (PMVG). Skip was the 2017 recipient of ATSC’s Bernard J. Lechner Outstanding Contributor Award, the organization’s highest technical honor. He has received the Audio Engineering Society’s Board of Governors Award, and the Public Radio Regional Organizations’ PRRO Award.
Ted is the president of the Society of Broadcast Engineers and the president of Piedmont RF Consultants, LLC in Charlotte, NC. He is an SBE Fellow and Life Member. An SBE member since May 1981 (44 years), he has held the offices of vice president, secretary, treasurer and director. He has been in broadcasting since 1979. His last station was WSOC-TV in Charlotte, NC as the director of engineering and operations. Ted has worked in Raleigh, NC, with WRAL-TV and in the Hampton Roads, VA, area at WTVZ, WAVY, WTKR and WGNT. He was selected as the Cox Television Engineer of the Year in 2015. He has been nominated twice for Emmys in the Mid-Atlantic region. Ted has installed 12 high-power television transmitters on his own while he was with the New York Times Broadcasting and Cox Broadcasting. He is an Amateur Radio Operator – Extra Class, W9SOC.
Tom has covered the broadcast technology market for the past 30 years, including three years handling member communications for the National Association of Broadcasters followed by a year as editor of Video Technology News and DTV Business executive newsletters for Phillips Publishing. In 1999 he launched digitalbroadcasting.com for internet B2B portal Verticalnet. He is also a charter member of the CTA's Academy of Digital TV Pioneers. Since 2001, he has been editor-in-chief of TV Tech (www.tvtech.com), the leading source of news and information on broadcast and related media technology and is a frequent contributor and moderator to the TV Tech Leadership events.
Vince Forcier serves as the Vice President of Technology at WETA, where he leads the strategic planning and implementation of broadcast and production technologies. With a strong background in media systems integration and a commitment to innovation, Vince has been instrumental in modernizing WETA’s technical infrastructure to meet the evolving demands of public broadcasting.
Yong-Gon Chon (YG) brings more than 25 years of experience building and leading global security teams currently investing & advising cyber security companies and investors. Mr. Chon sits on the board and VividCloud and is a fellow at the Culinary Institute of America. Mr. Chon is co-founder and Managing Partner at GroCyber and CEO of Privaseer.
His prior roles include: CEO of Focal Point Data Risk and served on the boards of
RiskRecon (acquired by Mastercard), the of the Cybersecurity Maturity Model
Certification Accreditation Body (CMMC-AB) & Cloudentity. Mr. Chon also led the cyber division of Kratos Defense and Security Solutions. Mr. Chon has held senior leadership positions across numerous cyber security organizations including: Cybertrust, iDefense, MCI, SRA executing professional services for Fortune 1000 and public sector clients. Mr. Chon has served as an adjunct professor at The George Washington University and holds a B.S. in Emergency Medical Services Management from The George Washington University. Mr. Chon is a published author and frequent speaker at industry events, TV and radio.
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