Speakers
Scott Adametz, Riot Games, Director of Infrastructure and Broadcast Engineering
Scott Adametz serves as the director of infrastructure & broadcast engineering at Riot Games and is responsible for driving the innovative tech that powers the award-winning League of Legends & VALORANT esports broadcasts. Adametz is responsible for finding unique solutions that enable cost-effective, high-quality production of content and live events, as well as developing ways to integrate cutting-edge technology to elevate the fan experience. He, and a talented team of engineers, was instrumental in bringing Project Stryker from high-level concept to official launch in 2022.
Adametz started his career as a systems engineer at Fox launching the Big Ten Network and later held senior technology positions at the National Football League and PAC-12 Networks prior to joining Riot.
James Wyld, Riot Games, Principal Infrastructure Engineer
James Wyld has been with Riot Games since 2014 and is a principal infrastructure engineer within the Esports Technology Group. As tech lead for Project Stryker, he is an instrumental part of the planning and implementation process for most systems. During construction of Riot’s Remote Broadcast Centre in Dublin, Wyld led the roll-out of the core tech stack, including 2110 IP network, JPEG-XS transmission strategy, and the integration of AWS cloud workflows.
Jason Baker, Do Not Peek Entertainment, Co-Founder and Managing Director
Jason Baker has been involved in esports since 2001. He innovated some of the first CS broadcasts in 2006. Baker also helped launch ELeague for Turner Sports and Overwatch League for Blizzard Entertainment. He is now the co-founder and managing director of Do Not Peek Entertainment.
Chris Burgos, NewTek, A Vizrt Group Brand, Sales Engineer
Chris Burgos started his journey streaming live events for colleges, sports events, and corporate work but quickly rose the ranks to doing major esports events around the U.S. Always focused on cool projects, Burgos goes the extra mile to search out those smaller scale creators who are making a difference in their slice of the world, in an effort to elevate their story. With an eye for the future, he hopes to be a voice for change and educate people on why the future of streaming isn’t so scary.
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 networking events serving the SVG College and SVG Digital communities. 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 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.
Nigel Davies, disguise, Director, Sports Broadcasting
Nigel Davies is the new director of sports broadcasting at disguise. Following his time as director of sports and venues at ChyronHego, he is focusing on disguise’s Emmy-winning XR workflow and Unreal Engine graphics control while working with leading broadcasters and sports venues.
Prior to his time in the broadcast industry, Davies was a student-athlete at UCLA and started his career in sports business with Relevent Sports Group, helping launch the International Champions Cup in 2013 and grow the property to the preeminent professional football preseason tournament before attending the FIFA Master in 2017.
Davies now resides in Los Angeles, CA.
David DeBuhr, Sony Electronics – Professional, Networked Solutions Division, Account Manager
David DeBuhr is an experienced account manager at Sony Electronics’ Professional Solutions within their Networked Solutions division. DeBuhr brings over 30 years of experience implementing industry leading media technologies. His current focus is on IP video broadcast solutions for contribution, remote production, and live events to Sony’s esports, production, telco, and government partners.
Matt Donovan, Riot Games, Broadcast Engineering and Technology Manager
Matt Donovan brings his 20 years of sports and network television broadcast experience to his role as the broadcast engineering and technology manager for Riot Games North America. Donovan leads a team of talented engineers that are responsible for the technical development and execution of Riot’s broadcast and production ecosystems. A significant component of Riot’s global esports network is the North American broadcast facility in Los Angeles where Donovan oversees the implementation of the latest on-prem, REMI, and cloud-based production workflows. Donovan’s passion for building scalable teams and technology continues to increase efficiency, quality, and reliability across Riot’s esports broadcasts.
Phil Englert, Ross Video, Business Development Manager – Global Esports
Phil Englert grew up in Denver Colorado and now resides in California after graduating from Dodge College of Film and Media Arts at Chapman University. He has worked in the broadcast industry for 8 years focusing the last 5 years on esports. Previously, Englert worked for Next Generation Esports (NGE), and then Esports Engine as the head of in-game production. He has focused on the in-game storytelling of esports and the use of the spectator tools within the games. Englert’s goal has always been to deliver the most game authentic, format relevant, and emotionally impactful story to the audience and community. Some of his credits include game directing the Fortnite World Cup, TwitchCon 2018-2019, PUBG PGI 2018, and Teamfight Tactics World Championship 2018-2020. Englert is excited to expand his expertise globally at Ross and continue to innovate the technological workflows used within the esports ecosystem.
Brian Gramo, Super League Gaming, VP of Video Production and Head of Super Studios
Brian Gramo is a dynamic and accomplished production professional with an extensive portfolio of success producing, editing, directing, and creating motion graphics for TV and digital broadcasts and social media initiatives. Currently, he serves as VP of video production and head of Super Studios, the innovative cloud-based, fully-virtual video production division of Super League Gaming (Nasdaq: SLGG). Super Studios specializes in integrating multiple technology solutions to ensure any given project can be produced and monitored successfully on a partial- or fully-remote basis. The proprietary infrastructure supports multiple, concurrent virtual control rooms that are fully operational at any given time, with limitless scalability and able to be deployed across small- and large-scale projects including live broadcasts, live events, live-to-tape entertainment, and branded content productions.
Previous to joining Super League, Gramo served in a multitude of roles, including showrunner, technical director, director of photography, unit production manager, first assistant director, editor, and post-production supervisor, including extensive expertise producing major events for celebrities and large-scale brands. In 2007, Gramo, best known for his expertise in live streaming production, founded theStream.tv, a network of live streaming shows. He also held the position as producer and director of syndication for SpinMedia Group, producing live multi-camera video content for their wide range of entertainment and music properties.
James Grieve, Freelance Observer and Observer Director
James Grieve is a freelance observer and observer director who has spent the better part of the last five years working on the story telling for Battle Royal Esports. Formerly a competitive player on Wargamings World of Tanks, Grieve spent several years as a caster and analyst covering World of Tanks Esports. When Wargaming ceased competitive operations late in 2017, he had already begun playing competitive PUBG in early online tournaments. When given the opportunity to work as an observer for the North American PGI Qualifiers, Grieve took it and began his career covering Battle Royals.
In his time as an observer director, Grieve has worked with a wide variety of esports production studios and game publishers including ESL, NGE, OGN, EA, and Krafton to provide the in-game coverage for PUBG, Fortnite, Apex Legends, and other battle royale titles. Some of his credits include Twitch Broadcaster Royale, The National PUBG League, World Series of Esports: Fortnite, Apex Legends Global Series, and the PUBG Continental Series North America.
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.
Andrew Lane, ESL FACEIT Group / EFG, Senior Director of Broadcast & Production
Andrew Lane is the director of broadcast and production at FACEIT, a community-focused esports platform and tournament organizer. His key responsibilities include the delivery of the company’s live broadcasts and events; the design strategies for broadcast development and innovation; the global production strategic sourcing; creating new key broadcast partnerships; and management of the company’s international media logistics and operations.
Before starting at FACEIT, Lane worked freelance in the esports industry as a technical director and assisted with the delivery of key productions for clients such as 343 Industries, Jagex, Super Evil Megacorp, and Konami, as well as working with a number of industry-leading tournament organizers. Before this he spent a short time at Atos UK & I working at the BBC.
Since joining FACEIT, Lane has led the delivery of major events such as Rainbow 6 Mexico Major 2021, Rainbow 6 North American League 2020-2021, Flashpoint, The FACEIT London Major 2018, and PUBG Global Summit. Alongside this, he has also produced a number of white label and FACEIT projects, and made key internal developments to the production workflow, logistics pipeline, and personnel operations.
Joseph Lynch, EA, Group Head of Content and Programming
Joseph Lynch is the group head of content and programming for Electronic Arts. Over the past 20 years, his career brought him from NBC to China, WWE, OWN, Time, GoPro, and finally, EA. Lynch is currently responsible for all competitive gaming broadcasts and long-form content. Over the past four years, he has expanded EA’s live and feature content offerings, while expanding in-house production capabilities including the EA Broadcast Center. Prior to joining EA, Lynch brought Access Hollywood to China, managed digital production for WWE, built the live division of Time, and was the executive producer of lifestyle and music at GoPro.
Mitch Rosenthal, MTK Production, Founder
After 20 years of working for companies such as Warner Brothers, Riot Games and Twitch, Mitch Rosenthal has started a new venture to provide 360 degree production services. He works with clients from ideation through distribution. Rosenthal also works with his core team and brings in the partners that they have relationships with both from a linear and digital perspective to deliver high level content. Rosenthal serves as the founder of the company and oversees all production elements for all projects.
Tyler Stack, Riot Games, Observer Product Lead
Tyler Stack joined Riot as a contract observer in 2015, and in 2016 he was offered a full time position as the North America observer lead. While in that role, he has built, trained, and supervised their observer teams for LCS, Worlds, MSI, All-Stars, TFT, Wild Rift and VALORANT First Strike. Stack has also been involved in the development of their spectator clients, tools and features.
Ryan Thompson, Esports Engine, Co-Founder and Chief Production Officer
Ryan Thompson is the co-founder and chief production officer of Esports Engine, a Vindex company. In his role, Thompson oversees the design, production, and execution of the industry’s most iconic events and leagues across Esports Engine’s portfolio of partners, including AAA game publishers, brands, and other key stakeholders, such as Microsoft, Nintendo, Twitch, Activision, and more.
A 15-year veteran of the industry, Thompson is responsible for bringing hundreds of live esports tournaments and broadcasts to life across a multitude of game titles. Prior to founding Esports Engine, Thompson served as director of technical production at Activision Blizzard, where he led esports production for the publisher’s most valuable properties and landmark events, including the Call of Duty World League. As a founding employee at Major League Gaming, Thompson made an early impact in the world of esports production, bringing competitive gaming content to life through proprietary platforms before the likes of Youtube or Twitch existed, as well as on major networks, such as ESPN and HBO.
