Roy Burns, IMT, VP, Media Solutions

Roy Burns has over 20 years of experience advising clients in the media and entertainment sector. After graduating from Musicians Institute in 2002, he stayed on as a professor of Recording Theory, and Pro Tools 101 until 2008 when he joined Crown Media Family Networks as director of media operations.

At Crown, Burns owned the development and implementation of media asset management leveraging both on-premise and cloud based architectures. During his tenure, Crown Media’s original content creation grew by more than 400% and saw the launch of two additional 24-hour networks, as well as their OTT and SVOD initiatives.

Today, Burns is on the forefront of emerging media workflows and technologies. He is an active member of both SMPTE and HPA. At IMT, Burns is a member of the Advanced Consulting Team with a primary focus on MAM and workflow orchestration. He partners with clients to map their current and future media workflows and define best practices, as well as recommend and implement scalable, forward looking solutions.

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.

Karel De Bondt, NetOn.Live, Business Development Manager

Karel De Bondt has worked in radio and TV technology environments for most of his career. As an engineer, business analyst and project manager, he navigates the domain where content, technology, and people meet.

A founding member of VRT Sandbox and project manager of the award-winning LiveIP project (2015), together with the EBU, VRT and 12 technology providers, he gained a lot of hands-on experience with video over IP and other bleeding-edge media tech innovations.

Dan Devlin, Devlin Design Group, Owner/Chief Creative Strategist

Dan Devlin is the motivational chieftain of Team DDG’s creative geniuses. He is a team building, ‘think-meister’ who lives the founding principles he used to establish his company more than 30 years ago – creativity, knowledge, and innovation. These principles form the keystone of his company’s success in captivating television viewers around the world through award-winning beautiful and technologically advanced scenic storytelling environments.

Devlin leads Team DDG in the process of identifying your expectations for a successful project. He brings a competitive edge to all he does. Devlin firmly believes, if you can imagine it – you can create it!

His passion for creating amazing scenery for Devlin Design Group clients has led his team to the winners circle. Seven PROMAX Gold Awards, eight Set of the Year trophies, and more than two dozen Emmy Awards adorn his trophy case.

Devlin earned both a Bachelor of Arts in architecture and a Master of Architecture from Arizona State University.

Brad Fisher, Diversified, Senior Account Executive, Media & Entertainment, Sports & Live Events

Brad Fisher’s experience in the broadcast industry spans more than 20 years, many of which he has served as a senior account executive for global technology solutions provider, Diversified. In this role, he promotes Diversified’s capabilities in high-level consultative design-build integration of broadcast, information systems, and audio visual technology solutions by working closely with clients to provide a bridge to manufacturers and Diversified’s internal engineering, project management, and systems integration teams.

Fisher’s specific expertise is in media and entertainment environments including digital media production workflows, and studio and field production. In a previous life, he coached collegiate soccer for seven years with teams winning NSCAA National Championships, lending nicely to his current primary focus in Diversified’s Sports & Live Events specialty, which provides cutting-edge solutions for professional and collegiate sport facility technology implementations.

As part of this team, Fisher helps live event venues and sports arenas across the United States find and deploy the sound systems, video production control rooms, post-production and production media workflows, IPTV, digital signage, MATV, core facility IT network, and broadcast cabling solutions that enhance the fan experience and generate revenue for key stakeholders.

Nick Garvin, Mobile TV Group, COO

Nick Garvin is the chief operating officer for Mobile TV Group (MTVG). This includes all strategic partnerships, management of all day-to-day operations for its mobile unit fleet covering over 4,000 live events annually, and its audio/video manufacturing facility called Colorado Studios. MTVG has led live 4K HDR productions in the U.S. covering the PGA Tour, NBA, NHL, UFC, college football, entertainment, and corporate events for many of the top Fortune 500 companies.

Garvin is also the founder of Stackup, an education technology company that uses artificial intelligence to deliver metrics on students reading and learning on the web to K-12 school districts around the United States. Stackup is among few certified Google partners, and his work on this technology put him into the Forbes 30 under 30 class of 2018.

Garvin holds a Bachelor of Science in business administration from the Eller College of Management, along with an executive education from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Steve Grigely, NEP Broadcast Services, SVP, Centralized Production, Global Operations

Steve Grigely is the senior vice president of centralized production, responsible for NEP’s global centralized production operations. He has been in the broadcast industry for over 20 years, having started his career at Fox Sports in remote field operations and production management where he was responsible for major production event planning.

Prior to his current role at NEP, Grigely spent a number of years at Fox, including as director of field operations at Fox Sports, leading technical planning for multiple Fox properties including the NFL, UEFA Champions League Soccer, MLB Postseason, NASCAR, and a variety of other major leagues and events. He moved to Fox Sports’ Regional Sports Network Group in 2015, overseeing technical operations for 22 RSNs, covering 2,500 production events per year.

Grigely joined the Sinclair Broadcast Group in 2019 as Sinclair acquired its RSN Group, leading the transition of production and operational workflows to the company’s new transmission operations facility. He also led strategy on the RSN’s remote production and centralized workflows.

Grigely earned a B.A. in broadcast journalism from the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University. He currently resides in the Los Angeles area.

Kristian Hernández, SVG, Associate Editor and Social Media Manager

Kristian Hernández 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, Hernández served as co-founder of CHC-TV, the first student-run television studio at Chestnut Hill College in Philadelphia, PA. While at CHC, Hernández produced a daily sports show named “On the Hill with Hernández” — covering all men’s and women’s athletics for the college. Also, Hernández spearheaded the college’s newspaper, “The Griffin”, as its sports editor. Hernández 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.

Megan Kirst, Broadcast Management Group, SVP of Engineering

Throughout the years Megan Kirst has spent time working for Sony Electronics. At Sony, she managed the equipment, installation, and enormous wire-listing database for the Winter Olympic Games in Albertville, France. Her duties at Sony also encompassed system design and engineering and led to roles as senior project manager and engineer of broadcast facilities all over the country. Some of the systems Kirst oversaw include MTV, QVC, CBS NEWS, FOX TV, DirecTV and more.

Kirst started her own integration company following her Sony tenure and brought her years of expertise to Varian Semiconductor, for whom she designed a remote video conferencing system that could be used in semiconductor clean rooms all over the world. The Remote Assist allowed engineers in Gloucester, MA to instantly troubleshoot problems with semiconductor manufacturing equipment without having to travel around the world to the customer’s facility. This remote video conferencing system was featured in Forbesmagazine as an innovative way to support customers. Other projects for global video have included San Francisco Community Television Center, Berkeley Community Television, Oracle, a 53-ft mobile exhibit trailer for the National Park Service, a 30-ft Production trailer for Atomic TV, Bally’s marquis sign in Las Vegas, video conference rooms at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories, and many more.

In 2018, Kirst managed the build-out and switchover to HD for ZIZ, the National Broadcasting Corporation of St. Kitts & Nevis in the Caribbean; as well as the complete design, construction, and placement of an on-board video and radio system on the US NAVY’s CVN-79 aircraft carrier, the John F. Kennedy.

Kirst is proficient in all areas of project management, engineering, master control automation, production trucks, camera shading, EIC, and troubleshooting down to component level. She brings her extensive skills in all aspects of engineering development, planning, installation, and support to Broadcast Management Group’s worldwide clientele.

Deon LeCointe, Sony Imaging Products & Solutions – Americas, Director, Networked Solutions

Deon LeCointe is the director of networked solutions in the Imaging Products & Solutions – Americas division at Sony Corporation. He oversees Sony’s IP product portfolio along with Nevion’s real-time IP media networks and virtualization solutions to build a power-packed solution and services offering designed to help customers plan, implement, and manage their IP environments. LeCointe works with television networks and broadcasters to design and build equipment that delivers live content to millions of homes around the world. He leads a team of solution architects, engineers, and marketing professionals that oversee development, sales, and marketing of products designed for news, sports, and entertainment.

After graduating from the University of Miami with a B.S. in electrical engineering and an M.S. in electrical and computer engineering in 2007, LeCointe joined Sony and has taken on a number of roles involving post-production workflow technologies, A/V codecs and compression, IP video transmission, 4K production, and content management systems for broadcast and news.

LeCointe has overseen the deployment of IP systems at CNN Studios at Hudson Yards in New York and Telemundo Studios in Doral, Florida. He also led the deployment of slow-motion video capture and replay systems for Sunday/Monday/Thursday Night Football, the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, and the World Series.

Steve Moorman, BitFire, Director, Operations West

Steve Moorman joined BitFire as a dedicated production veteran with over 20 years of national and international experience in television production, event management, and business development. As a line producer and production manager, Moorman oversaw the productions for over a dozen live sporting events and original programs at Sneaky Big Studios ranging from The Fiesta Bowl Wishes For Teachers, Grand Canyon University basketball and baseball games, and original programs for NBC Entertainment and The Peacock Network. Moorman worked in several production and tech roles at broadcasting giant, E.W. Scripps in Phoenix where he oversaw the development, launch, and broadcast of the daily access hour entertainment show, The List, now in its 8th season of national syndication. Prior to Scripps, Moorman spent more than a decade planning and leading live event production management on the world stage for The Academy Awards, The Grammys, and The Miss Universe Organization, to name a few. Moorman manages BitFire’s operations in the west where he is happy to call Phoenix his home.

Mike Petro, Blackbird, Technical Account Director

Mike Petro has a passion for applied technology and has spent his career in television and video. Early on, he cut his video production teeth on Discovery’s long-running Firepower series, and eventually produced more than a dozen hours of military technology docs. Technology was not just the focus of Petro’s productions, he was also a pioneer in ‘new media’ working on early CD-i titles, and produced some of the first DVDs ever released. As the Web matured, opening up opportunities for online video, Petro joined BNN (later renamed CameraPlanet.com,) where he led the development of a user-generated streaming video portal. He was soon promoted to GM and CTO, where he oversaw both web development and cable video production, until venturing out on his own shortly after the dot-com crash, later joining pioneering OVP, The FeedRoom, which was acquired by KIT digital in 2009. Petro stayed in the OVP space, serving in various capacities with Grab Networks, Limelight, Ooyala, and Brightcove. He departed from video only for a brief stint running professional services with an AI/ML startup, until rediscovering his passion for video and joining Blackbird, where he presently oversees partnerships and technology licensing, under the Powered By Blackbird program.

Petro holds a B.S. from MIT, and resides in central Vermont.

Mason Pierce, Key Code Media, Director of Broadcast Engineering

Mason Pierce has over 14 years of experience working in all aspects of media and broadcast production. He has a degree in electrical and computer engineering, as well as mechanical engineering.

Pierce began his career working for Tribune Media Group/Publishing with various technical roles. He eventually went on to manage a massive operation for Tribune which included a cutting edge 4K post/editorial environment comprised of over 35 editors and three HD production studios. This operation managed numerous Chicago publications (Hoy, Chicago Magazine, Hartford Courant) with an in-house video teams.

During his time at Key Code Media, Pierce successfully designed and managed the integration of the KLRU/Austin PBS Facility relocation and Oklahoma State University Spears School of Business, as well as the Sysmex Center for learning, among many others. These projects were new construction contracts with extremely complex workflows and tight deadlines. In additional to his skills on the broadcast and production side, Pierce also supports some of our largest post production clients in the U.S.

Brock Raum, BeckTV, Project Engineer

Brock Raum is a project engineer at BeckTV specializing in sports venue and sports broadcast integration. He was previously the director of live production and broadcast technology for Notre Dame Athletics, where he oversaw live broadcast productions, as well as the university’s launch of the ACC Network. Prior to joining Notre Dame, Raum served as lead producer for the Kansas City Chiefs, where he created and maintained broadcast workflows and technical systems for the team’s live productions. He has experience with both IP and traditional baseband broadcast systems. Raum’s producing and directing experience also gives him a unique perspective on the systems integration market.

Raum is part of the board of directors for the Sports Creative Community and co-hosts Creativ (on iTunes and Spotify), a podcast focusing on the sports production industry.

Scott Renick, NEP Broadcast Services, Business Executive, Creative Technology

Scott Renick joined NEP’s Creative Technology Team in 2019. In his current role as business executive, Renick enjoys the privilege of offering a curated suite of industry-leading live event and studio solutions. His experience spans the spectrum of live and broadcast events, from global sporting to international consumer product launches. Renick’s expertise and passion for advanced LED display technology and processing, and media server and video system development and deployment, help drive innovation in an ever-evolving extended reality (xR), in-camera VFX (ICVFX), and content capture environment.

Nick Rivero, MEPTIK, Chief Technologist and Co-Founder

With a background in technology and system design for multi-camera and live production, Nick Rivero has worked with concert artists ranging from Taylor Swift to Lady Antebellum.

He now leads a team of designers and technicians focused on innovating extended reality and ICVFX. With years of experience in content design and realtime workflows and systems, MEPTIK has worked with Fortune 100 companies, musical artists, films, and broadcast to create work that captures the imagination and creates new experiences.

Eivind Sandstrand, Diversified, Senior Business & Technology Analyst, Media Workflow Group

Eivind Sandstrand draws experience from a career of more than 30 years in the technology industry and over 10 years in media and entertainment. His background in technology, including software and hardware architectures and development methodologies, has led him to working with many international companies in different areas of groundbreaking technology development, including the media and entertainment industry, public and financial sectors, and telecommunications.

Sandstrand has successfully worked as a principal consultant, project manager, and business analyst. He possesses deep media industry knowledge, with a uniquely broad understanding of new and traditional media business models, digital and linear/nonlinear platforms, next-generation and cloud-based solutions, and cross-platform paradigms.

Sandstrand’s background includes a specialization in content, workflow, and business management solutions, such as media asset management and other content creation, management, and distribution solutions. He is also well versed in enterprise-level broadcast business management systems, and throughout his career, has served in various roles in business management, sales, marketing, and product management.

Mark Siegel, Key Code Media, VP, Business Development

Jason Taubman, Game Creek Video, SVP, Technology

Jason Taubman spearheads Game Creek Video’s efforts in truck design and helps service the company’s vast profile of high-profile sports clients including ABC, CBS, ESPN, Fox, HBO, NBC, MLB, NBA, the YES Network, USA Network, NFL Network, and Winnercomm. Prior to joining Game Creek in 1999, Taubman was an engineer-in-charge for National Mobile Television and VTE Mobile Television Productions.

Matt Timmons, CineSys, SVP, Media Workflows

Matt Timmons serves as the senior vice president of media workflows at CineSys, overseeing asset management, application development, and many multifaceted integrations. Taking ten clicks to one or two are just some of the daily drivers for the team, as they partner with companies for the entire lifecycle of various workflows. From ingest to discovery, to edit, to delivery, CineSys stewards the best in experience and solutions.

Jeff Volk, Alpha Video, VP

Jeff Volk is VP of Alpha Video and the founding officer/director of the Alpha Video Sports & Entertainment Group. With 31 years of industry experience, 29 at Alpha Video, Volk has overseen the negotiation and installation of over 100 major sports venue technology integrations including control rooms, sound systems, broadcast infrastructures, A/V systems, and IPTV/digital signage solutions. Projects include the AAC Network production facilities for Temple and UCF, the production facility at the Las Vegas Raiders’ team headquarters, and the IP control room at Allegiant Stadium, amongst others. Volk uses his knowledge of technology, fan engagement, and team ROI to create technology environments that help better engage fans and drive revenue.