Mike Bany, Fox Sports, Principal Technologist, Business Strategy and Planning

Michael Bany is the principal technologist of business strategy and planning at Fox Networks Engineering and Operations, where he oversees architecture and support of the Fox Regional Sports contribution network which includes 20 Fox locations and 80 professional sports venues. He is also involved in architecture and design of the Fox network monitoring systems and other broadcast systems.

Bany has contributed to or been the chair person for various video services forum activity groups including Studio Video over IP, Test and Measurement, SMPTE 2022 over SONET/SDH, Hitless SMPTE 2022, COP3VBR, HBRAV-IP, QoE, and the SMPTE/EBU/VSF Joint Task Force on Networked Media. Prior to working with Fox, Bany was a telecommunications engineer with LDDS Worldcom and did enterprise network consulting for various firms. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering with a minor in computer science from Iowa State University, and is a member of SMPTE and VSF.

Scott Beers, The Switch, CEO

Scott Beers began his 35-year career in television broadcasting in systems integration. In 1984 he founded Beers Associates, a firm that provided both equipment and solutions to the television broadcasting community, where he served as CEO from 1984 to 2001. During those years he also co-founded both The Switch and TX Media, a broadcast transmission service company that provided both consulting and implementation services for transmissions and distribution of television broadcasts and video content.

The Switch, which was founded in 1991 by Beers, was created to provide cost-effective, customer-controlled television and audio signal routing services to the broadcast industry. The Switch currently provides advanced video switching services from 53 locations across The United States, Canada, The United Kingdom, France, Singapore, Switzerland, Australia, and New Zealand. Its customers include domestic and international television networks, common carriers, local broadcast stations, and producers and distributors of sports, entertainment, news, financial, and public service television programming. Beers has served as Chairman and CEO since its inception.

Lionel Bentolila, Aldea Solutions, CEO

Lionel Bentolila is a founder of Aldea Solutions and has been its CEO since 2001. Aldea is a provider of high quality video services and solutions for the television and media industries.

Prior to Aldea, Bentolila held senior management positions in sales, marketing and engineering at ABL Canada, a provider of broadcast video compression and networking equipment. His technology career began at Nortel Networks research and development labs.

Bentolila holds an engineering degree from Ecole Centrale de Paris in France and studied at McGill University in Montreal, Canada where he completed his MBA.

Winston Caldwell, Fox Networks Group, VP, Spectrum and Advanced Engineering

Winston Caldwell is a licensed professional engineer in the state of California with over twenty years of electrical engineering experience, specializing in RF propagation, wireless communications, and antenna design. He is the VP of spectrum engineering in the Fox Networks Advanced Engineering group. In the past, he has served as a systems engineer in the computer systems industry with EMC Corporation and as a senior data systems and telemetry engineer in the aerospace industry with the Boeing Company. Caldwell has been involved with the evaluation and development of new broadcasting opportunities, such as mobile TV and single frequency networks. His broadcast antenna designs are currently in service at several of the Fox owned-and-operated TV stations. Caldwell’s expertise has been utilized in regulatory matters for the determination of compatibility requirements between the established broadcasting services and the likes of TV band, ultra-wideband, power-line transmission, and IMT-advanced devices.

Caldwell is an active participant in the ITU, IEEE, NAB, NABA, ATSC, and SMPTE. He received his Bachelor of Engineering degree in electrical engineering from Vanderbilt University and his Master of Science degree in electrical engineering from the University of Southern California.

Andre Carrington, Level 3 Communications, Senior Solutions Engineer, Strategic Content Division

Andre Carrington is responsible for creating custom, complex media-solution designs for the largest names in broadcasting, sports, and media entertainment. He has been supporting this customer base for over 12 years and has a robust technical background that encompasses traditional video transport, CDN, IP, security, DWDM, and Ethernet. Carrington has been instrumental in tailoring Level 3’s service portfolio for various use cases including the design of new OTT video-acquisition networks, multicast-enabled VPNs supporting live-video backhaul, and private high-capacity long-haul DWDM networks. He holds a BSCS from the New York Institute of Technology and lives in upstate NY with his wife and two boys.

Rob Cerbone, Intelsat, VP and GM, Media

Rob Cerbone leads Intelsat’s Media Services business. He is responsible for the development of Intelsat’s linear and non-linear media strategy, product development, and execution of Intelsat’s media initiatives worldwide.

Cerbone has more than 22 years of experience in the telecommunications industry. Prior to joining Intelsat in 2017, he worked for Time Warner Cable (TWC) where he held a number of senior leadership positions over 10 years. He most recently served as TWC’s VP and GM for wireless products. In that position, he led the team responsible for the strategy, planning, development, deployment, and lifecycle management of TWC’s wireless products and services – including Home WiFi and TWCWiFi. He also was responsible for overseeing the company’s relationship with Verizon Wireless. With regard to TWC’s out-of-home wireless offering, TWCWiFi, Cerbone led the team that executed the planning, market development, deployment, product development, and product marketing activities. He also oversaw TWC’s WiFi roaming partnerships with CableWiFi and Boingo.

Prior to that position, Cerbone was TWC’s senior director of mobile product management, where he developed mobile applications for TWC’s 14 million customers. He also held the position of director of product development for Road Runner High Speed Online. Before joining TWC, Cerbone worked with Nextel Communications (later Sprint) in their Innovative Technologies organization. He began his career in management consulting with Arthur Andersen and PricewaterhouseCoopers, working on a broad range of consulting engagements in the telecommunications, media, and entertainment industries.

David Chilson, CBS, Director of Broadcast Distribution Operations and Engineering

David Chilson oversees the CBS Transmission Center and CBS’ Affiliate Engineering. At the network, he has been central to the development, design, and operation of CBS’ global contribution video networks.

Chilson provides both engineering solutions and operations management for facilities that bring feeds in and out of the NY Broadcast Center. In addition, he manages the development and sustaining engineering for the network’s satellite distribution systems and the technical support for CBS’ affiliates.

Prior to CBS, Chilson was with ABC-TV for 14 years in a variety of increasing responsibilities involving engineering, studio tech management, advanced technology, and project management. He holds a BSEE from the University at Buffalo, and an MBA, with specialization in media management, from Fordham.

Ghislain Collette, Haivision, VP of Product Management, Streaming

Ghislain Collette has over 18 years of experience in video networking, working in broadcast, cable distribution, and streaming. Prior to Haivision, Collette served as a project engineer at Videotron, designing and coordinating the deployment of multi-million dollar projects. He also worked at Miranda Technologies / Miranda Media Networks where he served as product manager of transport and multimedia products. Collette holds a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of Sherbrooke (Canada).

Chris Connolly, NBC Sports Group, Senior Director, Transmission Engineering and Operations

Chris Connolly currently oversees all transmission and engineering operations for NBC Sports Group and is based out of its state-of-the-art broadcast center in Stamford, CT. Prior to his current role at NBC Sports Group, Connolly served various roles at DirecTV Sports Networks including director of broadcast engineering, chief engineer for Root Sports Rocky Mountain (formerly FSN Rocky Mountain), and chief architect. Connolly has also previously held key positions at STARZ and the University of Colorado’s BuffVision.

Brandon Costa, SVG, Director of Digital

Brandon Costa covers the sports video production industry, with a focus on live streaming, over-the-top (OTT), social media, and other digital distribution technologies and platforms. He also directs SVG’s internal digital strategies launching the company’s video outfit, ‘SVG On Demand,’ designing and overseeing its mobile application, ‘SVG Mobile,’ and serving as executive producer and host of The SVG Podcast. Costa serves as program director of both the SVG College Sports Summit and the SVG Digital Summit. Prior to his time at SVG, Costa spent five years producing digital content for MLB Advanced Media.

Jason Dachman, SVG, Chief Editor

Jason Dachman oversees all aspects of SVG’s North American editorial operations, including the thrice-weekly SVG Insider newsletter and SVG’s annual print publications. A member of the SVG team since 2009, Dachman also serves as program director for SVG’s Sports Content Management & Storage (SCMS) Forum, Sports Graphics Forum, and TranSPORT event. Prior to joining SVG, he spent three years covering local sports for The Patriot Ledger in Quincy, MA, and spent two years on the production staff of SiriusXM Satellite Radio’s The Ron & Fez Show. Dachman began his career in the Sports Information Department at Northeastern University in Boston, where he also earned a B.A. in media communications and cinema studies. A native of Denver, CO, Dachman currently resides in Brooklyn, NY.

Michael Davies, Fox Sports, SVP, Technical and Field Operations

Ken Dillard, TVU Networks, VP of Sales, North America

Ken Dillard is VP of sales, North America for TVU Networks. Dillard is a veteran of the broadcast industry with 30 years of experience in engineering and sales in radio and television. He has a deep understanding of news content acquisition and distribution workflows with 15 years of expertise.

Prior to joining TVU Networks, Dillard held sales roles at a number of broadcast organizations including as EVP of global sales at Statmon Technologies, district sales manager at Harris Broadcast (now Imagine Communications), senior broadcast account manager at AVID, and regional account manager at Dejero. Dillard is a graduate of the University of Louisville and a veteran of the United States Coast Guard.

Keith Goldberg, Fox Networks Group, VP, Global Operations and Transmission Services; 2017 TranSPORT Committee Chair

Keith Goldberg is responsible for managing all contribution and distribution transmission for Fox Networks Group (FNG).

The Engineering and Operations Division supports the entire Fox Network and cable groups including Fox Entertainment, Fox Sports, Fox International Channels, and the Regional Sports Networks which produce and distribute thousands of events annually across these properties for both traditional linear and OTT distribution.

Goldberg’s focus is on supporting operational efficiencies alongside incorporating the latest technological advancements beyond traditional platforms.

Wes Goldstein, Big Ten Network/FOX Sports, Director of Engineering

Wes Goldstein oversees all broadcast technical and broadcast systems groups for BTN’s live events and studio productions inside the Chicago facility and across the Big Ten’s 14 universities.

Since joining BTN in 2014, Goldstein and his team have successfully planned and executed many initiatives centered around at-home productions including the building of five production vans, addition of two control rooms, migration to an H.264 encoding platform allowing the network to produce larger events like football and track and field as an at-home production, and the Chicago engineering of some of the largest at-home events ever produced. Goldstein also worked with the 2016 and 2017 U.S. Open – Featured Groups Digital Feeds for Fox Sports with 30 camera feeds, 480 audio feeds, and 48 communication channels. BTN will produce approximately 400 at-home events in the 2017-18 school year.

Before BTN, Goldstein served as the director of engineering for the FOX Sports Regional Networks where was tasked with designing and implementing facility moves and upgrades in their Pittsburgh, Houston, Dallas, Minneapolis, Cincinnati, Atlanta, St. Louis, and Ft. Lauderdale studios. He has spent the past 17 plus years in various engineering management roles for FOX Sports in The Woodlands, TX, Houston, TX and Pittsburgh, PA facilities.

Larissa Görner, Net Insight, Strategic Product Manager

Larissa Görner joined the broadcasting industry in 2001. She started her career as an R&D engineer at IRT, the R&D institute of the public broadcasters in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, where she later took on the role of general manager for marketing and sales. In 2014, she joined Net Insight AB in different roles from sales to remote production.

Since 2016, she has worked as strategic product manager with a major focus on remote production, IP-based and cloud solutions. She holds a master degree in electrical engineering and a MBA. Along with engineering, she has worked in live-production and operations for more than 16 years at national and international sport productions and events.

Imry Halevi, Harvard University, Director of Multimedia and Production, Department of Athletics

Imry Halevi manages Harvard Athletics’ multimedia team, and leads all department-wide multimedia and production initiatives. Halevi has completely reorganized video board productions and live game streaming for the Crimson, bringing these efforts in house, and expanding their scope and reach. With the addition of newly streamed sports, the completion of a new central control room, and the building of a NCAA-leading fully automated streaming infrastructure for tennis and squash meets, Halevi was able to double the online viewership, and triple the subscription revenue for Harvard broadcasts within his first year.

Over the last few years, Halevi established partnerships between Harvard Athletics and ESPN, NESN (New England Sports Network), ASN (American Sports Network), and ONE World Sports, to broadcast the Crimson’s in-house productions of football, ice hockey, basketball, lacrosse, baseball and wrestling events – the first such relationship in the Ivy League. Staffing the productions almost exclusively with students from local area colleges, Halevi and the multimedia team have been able to provide real-world hands-on experience for dozens of students looking to develop their production and broadcasting skills. In addition, Halevi has worked with his counterparts from the Ivy League office and the other seven league schools, to launch and develop the league’s integrated platform for live and on-demand content – the Ivy League Digital Network. As an on-going project, Halevi is spearheading Harvard Athletics’ initiative to maintain and digitize its archives of historic video films, dating back to the 1920s.

Before joining Harvard in 2012, Halevi served as associate director of video production at Northeastern University. He also worked as a video production and graphic design assistant at Boston University’s Agganis Arena, prior to Northeastern.

Halevi is a member of the College Sports Summit Advisory Board, and was chair of the Sports Video Group’s 2016 College Sports Summit.

Michael Harabin, Pac-12 Networks, VP, Production Operations and Technology

Michael Harabin is the VP of production operations and technology for Pac-12 Networks. In his current capacity, Harabin oversees all remote and studio production activities including the development of operational and technological strategies and solutions to support the production of Pac-12’s 850 live sporting events and 220 studio shows. Harabin also leads the planning, support, and administration of remote and studio productions. He provides consultative support to other departments in Pac-12 Enterprises in the development of their products.

Harabin previously served in executive level capacities for The Tennis Channel, Rai – Radiotelevisione Italiana S.p.A., the NBC Television Network, and DirecTV International. He has a B.A. from Seton Hall University and an M.B.A. from Pepperdine University’s George L. Graziadio School of Business and Management.

Charles Hasek, Layer3 TV, SVP, Video and Infrastructure Technology

As SVP of the Video Technology group at Layer3 TV, Charles Hasek is responsible for leading the innovation group for the development of the video systems, network, systems and infrastructure for the next generation IP video platform. The team is focused on advancing and developing the latest IP video, network and data center technologies, such as content delivery networks (CDN), video encoding and compression, content/network security, dynamic ad insertion (DAI), IP network technologies, virtualized compute platforms, and other cutting edge technologies to deliver an unparalleled video experience.

Prior to Layer3 TV, Hasek spent 10 years as a principal architect, video systems in the Time Warner Cable Architecture, Development and Engineering Group. During his tenure at TWC, Hasek conceived, architected, developed and deployed the largest live streaming television ABR and CDN platform of its time. Additionally, he contributed to three Emmy winning technologies and products.

Before Time Warner Cable, Chuck worked for the Mystro TV Group and was involved with developing and engineering the Mystro Network DVR (NDVR) product – which later evolved into Emmy winning TWC Start Over and Look Back products. Preceding Mystro TV, he worked for Adelphia Communications as a corporate engineer responsible for developing, engineering, evaluating and testing of advanced video systems. Earlier in his career he was a field network engineer for ReFlex Communications. Hasek has over thirty U.S. patents in the cable and media technology space with many more patents in various stages of filing.

A.J. Hilchey, MLB Network, Director, Broadcast Systems

A.J. Hilchey has been moving video and audio from one point to another since 2003. As director of broadcast systems at MLB Network, Hilchey runs the department responsible for the engineering behind master control, network origination/uplink, and disaster recovery, as well as inbound and outbound signals to and from the network’s studio facility. He also designs and executes the transmission plans for all MLBN, MLB International, and NHL Network “Jewel” event live coverage. Previously, Hilchey was director of engineering at HTN/The Switch and director of technical development at Globecast North America.

Ken Kerschbaumer, SVG, Executive Director, Editorial

Ken Kerschbaumer is executive director of editorial services for the Sports Video Group and SVG Europe. He was a co-founder of SVG along with Paul Gallo and Marty Porter in 2005 and has been writing about how sports networks and leagues use video and audio technology to deliver a quality TV experience since 1991. Kerschbaumer began his career in 1991 at Television Broadcast magazine before joining Cahners where he was founding editor of Digital Broadcasting magazine. In 2000, he joined Broadcasting & Cable magazine as senior editor of technology where he covered all aspects of broadcasting, cable, and Internet content creation and distribution.

Karen Hogan Ketchum, SVG, Senior Editor

Dave Lanton, Azzurro, Director of Technology

As director of technology, Dave Lanton is responsible for the architecture and continuous improvement of Azzurro’s customer-facing technology solutions. Lanton previously served as a technical manager for the NBC Today Show. Prior to the Today Show, he worked as a technical manager for several other major broadcast news entities including CBS Newspath and MSNBC. Lanton has extensive experience in live multi-camera remote production and studio production.

Mark Lowden, Azzurro, EVP of Sales

Mark Lowden leads all sales and marketing efforts for Azzurro HD. His career has mixed sales and technical operations management responsibilities for more than 25 years. Prior to joining Azzurro HD as part of its start-up team, Lowden served as VP for broadcast services at Media 3, which provides live shots for sports and financial industry clients, as well as VP of East Coast broadcast services for Ascent Media Network Services, where he was responsible for the development of new customers and meeting the expanding needs of current customers. Lowden also worked as VP of sales for Atlantic Satellite/Waterfront Communications, after putting in more than eight years in technical, network management, and operations management positions for the firms. Lowden’s background gives him an in-depth understanding of broadcast technology and services, with a strong sales and customer service focus.

Susanna Mandel-Mantello, MX1, VP Global OU, Sports and Events

Susanna Mandel-Mantello is VP Global OU, Sports and Events at MX1. In this capacity, she leads the commercial team in offering global services from the complete management of sports channels over occasional use satellite capacity, fiber, and IP; to live event production services and cloud-based media asset management solutions for sports content.

Prior to joining MX1, Mandel-Mantello was in the sports industry for over 20 years. Most recently she was with Sm2 Sports – which she founded in 2004 – focusing in satellite transmission solutions around the world for top sports properties. In November 2012, Sm2 Sports was acquired by RR Media and Mandel-Mantello joined the company to head the Sports and Events division.

Previously, Mandel-Mantello spent eight years (1996 – 2004) at the National Hockey League as director of international broadcasting.

Before entering the sports industry, Mandel-Mantello worked in investment banking for Merrill Lynch. She earned a B.A. degree in political science from NYU and an M.B.A. from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University.

Sassan Pejhan, AT&T Entertainment Group, Assistant VP

Sassan Pejhan has been actively involved in digital video processing and IP networks for the past 25 years. His experience includes academic and industrial research, commercial product design and development, developing and evaluating intellectual property, and advising senior management on technology strategies and product roadmaps.

Pejhan currently leads the Advanced Video Development Team at AT&T’s Entertainment Group. His team is responsible for the evaluation and development of new audio/video technologies and their integration into the DirecTV service offerings. He joined DirecTV in 2010, which was merged with AT&T in 2015.

Pejhan previously headed advanced video development at VBrick Systems, a developer of networked audiovisual appliances. Prior to that, he was the lead technologist at Sorceron, a developer of multimedia authoring and distribution software, and he spent four years at Sarnoff Corporation (formerly RCA Labs), where he developed MPEG-4 related multimedia authoring tools and video streaming applications. Pejhan also worked at Eastman Kodak, where he conducted R&D work on efficient image transmission over the Internet, and Citicorp, where he completed the 2-year Management Associate Development Program.

Pejhan holds doctorate and master degrees in electrical engineering from Columbia University and a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the Imperial College of Science and Technology (London University).

Rick Phelps, Deluxe, SVP, Broadcast Sales

Rick Phelps joined Deluxe in 2017 to enable broadcasters to more simply capture opportunities in the evolving and complex television and OTT global market. Whether it’s Deluxe’s affiliate syndication and delivery services, localization, live events, or full end-to-end IP-based platform, Phelps helps customers from content acquisition through delivery to platforms and end consumers.

Prior to Deluxe, Phelps was head of sales for Amagi where he built the global sales and pre-sales team, working with top clients including AMC Networks, IMG, Viceland, Turner, and Scripps International. Prior to Amagi, Phelps held senior commercial roles at RR Media (MX1) and Chellomedia (Liberty Global), and also managed operational departments including Media Services, Account Management, Post Production, and VoD. At Chellomedia, he was instrumental in automating file-based workflows and was sought after to publish/present as a subject matter expert. As head of VoD, he oversaw the massive content ramp up for Liberty Global’s (UPC) VoD platform launch in Europe. Prior to Chellomedia, Phelps served as a consultant for Flash Logistics in Amsterdam, where he managed Pan-European logistics associated with the roll out of one of the world’s largest Tier 1 networks for UUNET (now Verizon). He also set up the commercial initiatives and EMEA operations for Flash, prior to its 2006 acquisition by VHL Logistics.

Mike Savello, LiveU, VP, Sales

Mike Savello is VP of sales at LiveU. As a digital media veteran with over 25 years of experience in video and graphics technologies, broadcasting, production, and post-production markets, Savello has vast expertise on how technology is applied to different markets and applications. Prior to LiveU, Savello was senior business development director at Google where he was responsible for promoting core video technology through open-source initiatives. Savello has also held VP positions at On2 Technologies (acquired by Google), Optibase, and Media 100.

Jonathan Solomon, Aspera (an IBM Company), Senior Sales and Systems Engineer

In 2014, Jonathan Solomon joined Aspera, an IBM Company, bringing more than 20 years of system design, administration, and project management experience in media and entertainment. His vast experience in broadcast and IP allows him to routinely bridge the two worlds. Career highlights include architecting the WWE OTT Network, dark fiber network design, and project design and management for several multi-million dollar broadcast facilities.

Over his twenty years of broadcast engineering experience, Solomon has held a variety of roles with industry leaders. Prior to his role at Aspera, he was a senior engineering project manager at WWE, director of engineering for Mid-Atlantic Sports Network, and spent more than a decade as an engineer-in-charge, supporting remote television broadcasts. His travels as an EIC have covered 45 of the 50 United States.

Paul Spinelli, Sinclair Broadcasting Group, Director of Engineering

Paul Spinelli has been the director of engineering for Sinclair Broadcast Group (SBG) since 2014. Prior to this he served as the engineering manager of Sinclair Television Group’s corporate facilities. He has held various operations and engineering positions with SBG for the past 12 years. Before his time at Sinclair he spent time working at WBOC, PSAV, and QVC.

Spinelli is active in many broadcast-related technical organizations such as the ATSC, Society of Broadcast Engineers (SBE), and the Avid Customer Association (ACA). He has been an SBE certified member and an Avid certified support representative for the past 10 years.

Spinelli has expanded SBG’s linear and file based acquisition and distribution strategies and technologies. He attended Salisbury University on Maryland’s Eastern Shore where he earned a B.A. in communications, B.A. in theatre, and played football. He remains active in the Salisbury University Maroon & Gold Club to support fund raising efforts for student athletes.

Adam Whitlock, ESPN, Associate Director, Remote Traffic Operations

Adam Whitlock oversees the daily operation of ESPN’s Remote Traffic department, which is responsible for the acquisition of all live event contribution transmissions for ESPN linear and digital networks, both domestic and international. Since joining ESPN in 2001, Whitlock has provided transmission planning and on-site support to a variety of remote event productions including the Super Bowl, World Cup, World Series, X Games, and NBA Finals, as well as Monday Night Football.

The three-time Emmy recipient also oversees all remote telecom services, managing a voice-over-IP system used to support more than 1,000 remote events annually. In 2014, Whitlock supported the SEC Network launch by designing and implementing a completely fiber-optic video and data network across more than 100 athletic venues within the conference to facilitate unlimited campus productions and ESPN Remote Operations events.

Whitlock is currently focused on the creation of another college conference-wide network while overseeing more than 40,000 satellite, fiber optic, and IP based transmissions annually.