Speakers
Komal Bhukhanwala, CBS Sports, Art Director
Komal Bhukhanwala is an art director with CBS Sports. A two-time Sports Emmy Award winner, she has spent the past 12 years designing show packages and on-air graphics for all CBS Sports properties. As an art director, Bhukhanwala oversees the on-air graphic look for the department’s game and studio broadcasts, which included the redesign of Super Bowl 53.
During her time at CBS, she has expanded the use of AR in The NFL Today studio show and has art-directed the Augmented Game Open and halftime stats, as well as the QB comparison during Super Bowl 53.
Bhukhanwala also won a Promax Silver for her art direction of the Final Four Team Runouts.
Bhukhanwala is passionate about her chosen field. She believes that sports graphics has a key role in enriching the viewer’s experience and the promotion of the underlying event.
Kevin Bovet, Vizrt, VP, Head of Sports
As vice president, head of sports, Kevin Bovet leads the sports unit in the Americas region at Vizrt, a global company that has pioneered visual storytelling technology for over two decades. Notably, Bovet engages with rights holders to foster business development, while advising the evolution of current value propositions to meet future industry trends.
Prior to joining Vizrt, Bovet led sales and business operations for the New York Knicks’ affiliate NBA G League team, the Westchester Knicks. He executed on sales, marketing, event presentation, and game-day fan experience, while partnering with MSG Networks to optimize visibility.
Bovet has also spearheaded business development for North American Sports Group (NASG), launching the company’s agency division by commissioning clients including Nike, the Big East Conference, and the International Basketball Federation (FIBA). FIBA is also where Bovet laid the groundwork for 3×3 Basketball to evolve from concept to turn-key operation. 3×3 has now gained Olympic status and will be debuted at the 2020 Games in Tokyo this Summer.
Bovet, a Swiss native, received his undergraduate degree in economics and law, and his master’s degree in sports management and marketing from the University of Lausanne.
Lee Brinson, SMT, VP, Client Services, Durham Division
Lee Brinson leads SMT’s team of account managers who deliver Emmy-winning software applications to its clientele of broadcasters, event organizers, sports teams, stadiums, and organizing bodies to enhance the productions of the world’s most high-profile sporting events. Brinson works closely with SMT’s engineering department to coordinate the development of broadcast solutions that include football’s yellow first-down line; official scoring systems for the NHL, NBA, PGA, and tennis Grand Slams; and the real-time positional tracking system for NASCAR.
Brinson’s career at SMT was launched at the 1998 Winter X Games in Crested Butte, CO, for which SMT developed the scoring systems for every event of the extreme sports tournament, including snowboarding, snowmobiling, and skiing. Together with a team of engineers and technicians, Brinson tested and set up the scoring systems and was also tasked with digging snow trenches for the timing lines. Afterwards, Brinson’s role on the remote technical operations team expanded to include support for events including NASCAR, IndyCar, Red Bull, NFL, NCAA football, and the Tour de France.
Since 2000, Brinson has led SMT’s NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament initiative, training SMT’s remote operators on how to statistically score a game and recognize storylines while providing every real-time, statistical interface to broadcasters. That same year, Brinson won a Sports Emmy Award for outstanding Technical Team Remote for his work on ESPN SpeedWorld: NASCAR.
In 2010, Brinson was part of the SMT team that won two Silver Telly awards, the highest award offered by the organization, for its video production and supporting virtual graphics used at the inaugural pre-game show in the Dallas Cowboys’ new stadium during the 2009 – 2010 season.
Jason Cohen, CBS Sports and CBS Sports Network, VP, Remote Technical Operations
Jason Cohen serves as the vice president of remote technical operations for CBS Sports and CBS Sports Network. Cohen departed HBO Sports where he served for more than 15 years to work intimately on the remote broadcasts for all of the CBS major sporting platforms such as: the NFL, college football, college basketball, and golf. Cohen’s primary day-to-day focus is on overseeing the remote technical equipment and facilities used for both broadcast and cable linear telecasts. He also researches, implements, and executes new technology and workflows.
Cohen’s immediate reaction when joining CBS and visiting Augusta for the first time was simply “this golf course may be bigger than a boxing ring and we may require more cameras.”
Charlie Collin, ESPN Creative Services, Senior Manager, Motion Graphics and Production Enhancements
Charlie Collin is the senior manager of the Production Enhancements team within ESPN Motion Graphics and Production Planning. His responsibilities include product development, implementing new graphics technologies within the live production environment, and providing sustainable solutions that enhance the storytelling experience. In other words, he finds ways to leverage the skills and expertise of the many outstanding designers, animators, and engineers at ESPN who are involved with real-time graphics systems.
From the early days of virtual studio production in New York to being at ESPN for the past 10 years working on AR, virtual, mixed reality, and interactive graphics projects, Collin is passionate about and grateful to be involved in the ever-changing landscape of opportunities that persist for real-time graphics executions. With a BFA from SCAD in computer animation, he combines a design background with technical expertise from the school of hard knocks.
Jeff Curtin, Portland Trail Blazers, Director of Broadcasting
A 25-year veteran of the Trail Blazers, Jeff Curtin was named director of broadcasting in 2013. In his current position, Curtin manages the Trail Blazers Broadcasting department, including the team’s television and radio announcers. He also oversees the technical television and radio broadcast event night crews, manages the team’s statewide Radio Network, and serves as the game night television director for the live television broadcasts.
Curtin began his Trail Blazers career as an intern during the summer of 1991. He was hired as a production assistant full-time for Blazers Broadcasting in 1995, before promotions to the roles of associate producer/ director in 2001 and television producer in 2007. During that time, Curtin also earned the opportunity to operate a camera for the host broadcaster during the Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta, Sydney, and Athens.
Curtin is a broadcast media communications graduate of Oregon State University and lives in SW Portland.
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 RSN Summit, Sports Content Management 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 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.
Terry Daily, Ross Video, Senior Designer and Rocket Surgery Virtual Productions Specialist
Terry Daily joined Ross Video in 2015 as an augmented reality and virtual set design specialist within Rocket Surgery, the creative services arm of Ross Video. Daily leads the technical and creative efforts for the managed service deployment of live augmented reality graphics for NBC Sports’ Sunday Night Football, as well as with Super Bowl LV this season.
A seasoned 3D/2D designer, Daily works with a wide range of clients throughout the year to help fully leverage the capability of their Ross Voyager, XPression, and DashBoard systems for traditional CG usage, in addition to highly advanced AR/VS applications. Over the past several seasons, he has constructed a unique and flexible workflow to create/control dynamic AR graphics for fast-paced and dynamic live-production environments.
Warren Drones, Epic Games, Senior Product Specialist
Warren Drones is an Emmy award-winning artist that has been crafting virtual worlds for nearly a decade. He currently works at Epic Games as a senior product specialist focusing on Unreal Engine features for broadcast. Prior to joining Epic Games, Warren worked at The Weather Channel helping to launch their AR mixed reality content with real-time virtual production and shorts. At TRICK 3D, Warren was the lead technical artist for the first-ever VR wish created for a wish kid for Make-A-Wish Georgia. Drones also helped generate works of interactive content at TRICK 3D for clients such as Delta Air Lines, AT&T, Holiday Inn, and others in the form of marketing material, websites, apps, and games. He currently splits his time living in both Atlanta and Cary, North Carolina near Epic Games’ Headquarters.
Gideon Ferber, Ross Video, Director, Product Management and Business Development, Virtual Solutions
Gideon Ferber is the director of marketing product management and business development for virtual solutions at Ross Video. His responsibilities include marketing product brand management, product life cycle, developing new markets, and driving sales efforts. Ferber’s previous role with Ross was senior business development manager for EMEA, where he significantly increased XPression sales in the EMEA region.
Zac Fields, Fox Sports, SVP, Graphics Technology and Integration
Zac Fields oversees Fox Sports’ real-time graphic development and integration, software development, and new technology. This team provides design, implementation, and support for all of the Fox Sports Media Group. Along with the daily workflows across all FSMG networks, this group provides high-end graphic design with new ways to display information for large events such as the Super Bowl, Daytona 500, MLB World Series, the U.S. Open, and the FIFA World Cup.
Joe Finlayson, Epic Games, Technical Account Manager, Unreal Engine Film and Television Team
Joe Finlayson has worked in broadcast television for over a decade, having worked on many events for various TV channels in different countries, using multiple different graphics renderers or engines. Starting in television, Finlayson quickly moved into sports, working on events such as the Tour de France, the US Open Tennis, and others. Later, he worked on tournaments for the BBC including: Wimbledon, the British Open Golf, and the Ryder Cup. Finlayson also coordinated in the build out of the graphics packages for BT Sport/ESPN UK launches. He was then hired by Olympic Broadcast Services (OBS) and moved to Madrid, Spain, where he built graphics for the 2016 Olympics in Rio De Janeiro before working for games-time Olympic and Paralympic events .
Finlayson’s next step was moving to Canada, where he was hired by Ross Video in the Virtual Solutions department covering augmented reality, virtual set, and LED volume productions. He worked in a team that built a custom version of the Unreal Engine, with an external control interface, which is used by many broadcasters around the globe and in other verticals.
Finlayson eventually joined Epic Games, where he currently works as a technical account manager. He works in the media and entertainment verticals, where he ensures a smooth transfer of UE4 and supporting knowledge for named accounts, supporting clients with their projects, working on top level productions in North America, and beyond.
Kristian Hernandez, SVG, Associate Editor and Social Media Manager
Kristian Hernandez handles day-to-day construction of the SVG Insider newsletter, oversees all social media content distribution, and covers various sports technology topics for Sports Video Group. In addition, he is the program director for the annual SVG Venue Summit and the Teams Summit.
Before joining SVG, Hernandez served as co-founder of CHC-TV, the first student-run television studio at Chestnut Hill College in Philadelphia, PA. While at CHC, Hernandez produced a daily sports show named “On the Hill with Hernandez” — covering all men’s and women’s athletics for the college. Also, Hernandez spearheaded the college’s newspaper, “The Griffin”, as its sports editor. Hernandez graduated with a B.A. in communications. Born in Brooklyn, NY, he currently lives in Queens, NY.
Ken Kerschbaumer, SVG, Co-Executive Director, Editorial
Ken Kerschbaumer is co-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.
Eduardo Ledesma, TUDN Mexico, Director, Technical Operations, Sports
Eduardo Ledesma serves as director of technical operations for TUDN at Televisa Mexico.
Ledesma is responsible for the studio’s operation in Mexico and oversees the areas of broadcast engineering, ingest, editing, graphics, and technology development and integration. Ledesma is also the liaison between the Mexico and Miami production teams and responsible for live events and shows produced in Mexico.
Ledesma earned a bachelor’s degree in electronics and communications engineering from the Universidad Nacional Autonoma of México. He is also a certified Project Management Professional (PMP) and has been working on sporting events, such as World Cups and Olympic Games, since 1990.
JP LoMonaco, CBS Sports, VP, On-Air Graphics and Design
As VP of on-air graphics and design, JP LoMonaco oversees all of the design, production, and execution of graphics for the largest sporting events on CBS Sports Broadcast and CBS Sports Network – including the NFL, College Football, the Masters, the PGA Championship, and the March Madness Tournament.
With over 25 years of motion graphics leadership and graphics production under his belt, the Parsons School of Design graduate has accumulated a skill set that puts him at ease either animating or designing at a workstation or delivering concepts, pitching, and planning his team’s next big project in a board room. An Emmy Award winning art director, LoMonaco has lead creative teams for the likes of UPN, Fox, and CBS over the past two decades. He has also directed and mentored many great designers in that time.
As an ever-curious student of the industry, LoMonaco brings passion and excitement to every project, big or small. He always tries to stay on the forefront of what is possible while pushing himself and his team forward.
David Melfi, NBC Sports Group, Director, Graphics Integration
As director of graphics integration for NBC Sports and Olympics, David Melfi serves as the bridge between the Design, Production and Engineering teams to integrate and support the insert graphics for all NBC Sports, Olympics, and Golf Channel properties. Since joining NBC Sports in 2013, Melfi has overseen the integration of insert graphics from conception to deployment for all of NBC Sports properties including a complete network rebrand, three Olympic Games, two Super Bowls, and the 2018 World Cup on Telemundo.
Melfi combines creative thinking, problem solving skills, and his extensive live remote experience to create dynamic insert systems that maintain a high-level of design and production value, provide for budget and workflow efficiencies, and also ensures the system is highly practical for use on remote, in studio, and in control room automation. Melfi has a proven track record of creating the workflows and systems that allow production to tell the stories that make live sports so special.
Melanie Murphy, Freelance, Broadcast Producer and Digital Data Consultant
Melanie Murphy served as senior producer on Google Cloud’s 2018 “Know What Your Data Knows” campaign. In collaboration with CBS, Eleven & the NCAA, her team created the first-ever predictive tv spots, on site at the Alamodome during March Madness. This work constructed a new gold standard for rendering and trafficking ads using sports data in real-time. The spots won a gold Cannes Lion Award for “Creative Data” and a silver for “Digital Craft”.
Born and raised on the southwest side of Chicago, Murphy began working with sports data in the early 2000s as a graphics operator for the Bulls, Bears, Blackhawks, and White Sox. Today, she guides both digital and broadcast clients to connect their data with visual content that wows both stakeholders and fans alike.
Dan Pack, Silver Spoon Animation, Founding Partner and Managing Director
Dan Pack has been working in NY production and post for the past 20 years. As a founding partner and managing director of Brooklyn-based Silver Spoon, Pack oversees all production, client relationships, and R&D, notably in the ever-expanding field of AR and virtual production. Pack and his team have contributed their motion capture and animation services to numerous commercials, video games, television shows, and features, with recent innovations in real-time character animation, broadcast AR, and XR/LED production.
Prior to Silver Spoon, Pack held the position of director of business development for Click 3X, and served as an executive producer for ASB, a global 3D previz shop.
Lisa Rader, ESPN, Designer
Lisa Rader is a designer II on the Motion Graphics team within the newly formed ESPN Creative Studio. She started at ESPN as a show designer in 2015 and is now a full-time offline designer. Rader is responsible for designs and animations for a variety of productions. She most recently worked on the College Football redesign project, primarily tackling the insert package alongside a group of talented animators, designers, and Vizrt artists. She has also worked on several other package redesigns such as NFL on ESPN, Outside The Lines, E:60, and Get Up!.
Rader has received three Emmy awards for her work on the NFL Draft and NFL on ESPN. Before ESPN, she worked as a graphic designer for the University of Georgia at the Football Recruitment Office, where she also received a B.A. in graphic design.
Maria Rapetskaya, Undefined Creative, Founder and Creative Director
Maria Rapetskaya is the founder of Undefined Creative, a Brooklyn-based creative production company, specializing in motion graphics. She has built the company’s reputation with clients like A+E Networks, NHL, NBC Universal, and the United Nations on good old-fashioned customer service and consistent execution on brand, on time, and on budget. Despite Rapetskaya’s creative director title, she stubbornly remains a hands-on creative in both design and production, doing what she truly loves on a daily basis.
Rapetskaya is dedicated to professional volunteering and mentoring, especially helping young women develop careers that holistically reflect their goals. She teaches, writes, and speaks as often as she can, appearing in Adobe’s 99U, HOW Design, Business Rockstars, Fast Company, and many others.
A near-native New Yorker, Rapetskaya lives in Brooklyn, but escapes often –with 60+ countries under her belt and counting.
Lindsay Reiff, ESPN, Project Manager
Lindsay Reiff is a strategic professional with 15 years of experience in broadcast television specializing in live event and studio productions. In her current role, Reiff specializes in project management and creative producing for some of ESPN’s largest properties. She excels at leading robust teams through high volume projects that focus on the visual communication of a brand and all of its touchpoints.
Reiff is a graduate of the Savannah College of Art and Design (2006) and currently resides in Connecticut.
Tim O’Shaughnessy, ESPN, Creative Director, College Sports
Timothy O’Shaughnessy is the creative director of college sports at ESPN and has crafted the creative behind many ESPN properties. He is primarily responsible for guiding teams of creatives through large-scale animation and insert design projects. His primary interests rest in finding ways to reinvent the traditional permutations of sports television.
In his 14 years at ESPN, O’Shaughnessy has garnered numerous Emmy nominations and several Promax BDA awards. Noteworthy projects include college football on ESPN/ABC, college basketball on ESPN, NBA on ESPN/ABC, World Cup 2010 and 2014, Euro 2012 and 2016, Outside the Lines, Olbermann, and Mike & Mike 2016. He is also rebranding/repackaging the SEC network and starting up the aesthetic of the ACC network.
Before coming to ESPN, O’Shaughnessy worked at Ghostmilk Studios in Toronto, where he designed show title sequences. He received a B.S. in psychology from Binghamton University and an M.F.A. in design from The Rochester Institute of Technology.
Alexis Salinas, Univision Deportes, Senior Director, Technical Creative Services
Alexis Salinas serves as senior director of technical creative services for Univision, the leading media company serving Hispanic America.
Salinas is responsible for developing, producing, and deploying real-time graphics and graphic content for TUDN, Univision’s leading sports media brand. His additional responsibilities include overseeing all graphics functional groups and processes with the ultimate aim of bolstering the TUDN brand on-air and enhancing the production’s ability to tell compelling stories and engage with viewers. Salinas is also charged with creating the bridge between the production, production operations, and engineering teams for the sports graphics pipeline operation, as well as project manager for technology projects.
During his tenure at Univision, Salinas has served as manager of graphics management technology, technical manager, VizRT programmer, and senior 3D animator. Prior to joining Univision in 1996, he worked as a CGI director at EDEFX Group, where he was accountable for the operations, graphics systems, and network management and administration for the computer graphics department. He also worked as a 3D animator at Canal Uno Producciones in his native Venezuela.
Salinas earned a bachelor’s degree in computer engineering from Universidad Simón Bolívar in Venezuela. He has also been a certified project management professional since 2012.
Emily Stone, Girraphic, Real-Time Production Manager
As a real-time production manager for Girraphic, Emily Stone is responsible for developing, producing, and executing all things real-time. Her background in broadcast started with the Big West Production team in college where she learned the ins and outs of live broadcast. After graduating from UC Santa Barbara, Stone joined the NFL Network as a Viz artist where she helped launch shows like Fantasy and Friends and Good Morning Football. After a season with the NFL, Stone moved into esports, combining her passion of video games with sport broadcast. She worked as a Viz artist for Riot Games, creating graphics for global events and supporting road shows around the world. After three years of Viz, Stone moved into a live producer role for North American League of Legends. After two Emmy awards and hundreds of live shows, she joined Girraphic to continue following her passion for all things broadcast. Joining Girraphic has given Stone the opportunity to continue to innovate and push the boundaries of live broadcast alongside the global team.
Michael “Spike” Szykowny, ESPN Creative Services, Senior Director, Motion Graphics and Production Planning
Michael Szykowny (better known as “Spike”) has been at ESPN for 23 years and is an eight-time Emmy Award-winning senior director of motion graphics and production planning. He leads a group of over 160 designers, animators, and Vizrt artists that create and play out graphics for the family of ESPN networks.
Remo Ziegler, Vizrt, SVP, Product Management
Dr. Remo Ziegler is senior vice president of product management at Vizrt. He is responsible for the company-wide sports segment and product strategy. Ziegler came to Vizrt from LiberoVision AG, a Zurich, Switzerland-based start-up company which was acquired by Vizrt in 2010. While at LiberoVision, Ziegler’s main focus was on R&D as head of research. He also held the position of interim European director of sales.
Ziegler has contributed numerous innovations to the broadcasting industry, and he’s constantly leveraging his knowledge gained from different computer graphics and computer vision research labs from around the world.
