SMPTE Elects Officers, Governors for 2018-2019 Term

The Society has elected SMPTE’s new officers and governors for the 2018-2019 term. Peter Wharton, vice president of technology at BroadStream Solutions, will become the Society’s Membership Vice President, currently serving as Secretary/Treasurer.

“This year’s elections bring to SMPTE a powerful blend of experience, leadership, and innovation in driving our industry forward,” says SMPTE President Matthew Goldman, who is also senior vice president of technology, TV and media solutions at Ericsson. “New and returning officers and governors represent the businesses and institutions dedicated to enabling the next generation of content creation, distribution, and consumption. They will play an instrumental role in maintaining the growing momentum of the Society’s standards, education, and membership initiatives.”

In addition to Wharton becoming the Society’s Membership Vice President, two new officers were also elected for the next term. Bruce Devlin, founder and CEO of Mr. MXF Ltd. and current SMPTE Governor for the UK Region, will become the Standards Vice President. Hans Hoffmann, senior manager of media production technology for the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), who has served previously on the SMPTE Board as Standards Vice President and is currently an Education Director, will now become SMPTE’s new Finance Vice President.

Nine governors were elected to serve in posts throughout the world, and two of these were elected as incumbents. The re-elected governors include Paul Briscoe, principal consultant at Televisionary Consulting, who will again serve as the Canada Region Governor; and Siegfried Fössel, head of the moving picture technologies department at Fraunhofer IIS, who will continue as the EMEA, Central, and South America Region Governor. Rick Ackermans, principal engineer at MVA Broadcast Consulting, will return from a hiatus to serve as Southern Region Governor. Sara J. Kudrle of Imagine Communications, a current SMPTE Education Director, will serve in the role of New York Region Governor, having served previously as a Governor of the Western Region.

Ward Hansford of Grass Valley will serve as Asia-Pacific Region Governor. Renard T. Jenkins, vice president of media, production, and distribution operations at PBS, will serve as Eastern Region Governor. Paul Chapman, senior vice president of technology at FotoKem, will serve as Hollywood Region Governor, and Ben Waggoner, principal video specialist at Amazon.com, will serve as Western Region Governor. Mark Harrison, managing director of the Digital Production Partnership (DPP), will take on the role of UK Region Governor.

Officers and governors elected for the 2018-2019 term will serve on the SMPTE Board of Governors along with other board officers and regional governors. Directors of specific areas — standards, education, and membership — serve in an advisory role to the board, and they will be appointed in January 2018 to one-year terms. At that time, the SMPTE Board of Governors will also appoint a new secretary/treasurer.

Officers who were not up for re-election and who will continue to serve on the SMPTE Board of Governors include Matthew Goldman of Ericsson as President, Robert P. Seidel of CBS as Past President, Patrick Griffis of Dolby Laboratories as Executive Vice President, and Richard Welsh of Sundog Media Toolkit as Education Vice President.

Governors who will continue to serve on the SMPTE Board of Governors through their 2017-2018 terms include François Abbe of Qvest Media (EMEA, Central, and South America region); Brian Claypool of Christie Digital Systems (Central Region); Christopher Fetner of Netflix (Hollywood Region); George Hoover, retired from NEP Group (Eastern Region); Michael Koetter of Turner Broadcasting (Southern Region); Gary Mandle of Sony Electronics (Western Region); Andrew G. Setos of BlackStar Engineering (Hollywood Region); Douglas I. Sheer of DIS Consulting Corp. (New York Region); and Masayuki Sugawara of NEC Corporation (Asia/Pacific Region).