Bruno Brunelle, Tennis Channel/Sinclair Broadcast Group, VP, Engineering and Technical Operations

Robert Brunelle, better known as Bruno, started his career in local TV at CJOH & City TV before moving onto a role in postproduction at Magnetic North where he was introduced to film and film transfers.

Brunelle’s experience in film, postproduction, and live TV would prove to be an asset when he was part of the first HD mobile production unit in Canada, a partnership between Telesat and Dome Productions. One of the early shows produced by this mobile unit in HD was “Sting’s 40^th Birthday Live from Hollywood Bowl” in 1992.

Brunelle then shifted from live and post to on-set film production where he worked as a high-definition consultant on Gene Roddenberry’s Earth the Final Conflict. This experience with HD and live would lead to his next adventure with explorer James Cameron and the live broadcast from the deck of the Titanic for Discovery called “The Last Mysteries of the Titanic”

Continuing this relationship with James Cameron and Vince Pace, Brunelle worked on the motion picture film AVATAR as a 3D camera and systems engineer. His work with the Cameron Pace Group led to furthering the use of 3D production for both live and film production

Brunelle returned to live production as VP of Engineering for PRG/VER. Here he was involved in many live events such as the RIO Olympics, Super Bowl LI and LII, and the FIFA Women’s World Cup.

Brunelle is currently working for Sinclair Broadcast Group at Tennis Channel as VP of engineering and technical operations in their new SMPTE ST 2110 television production facility in Santa Monica, CA.

Kevin Callahan, Fox Sports, VP, Field Operations and Engineering

Kevin Callahan is tasked with providing coverage of events large and small, both on location and from the studio. He joined Fox Sports Media Group in the summer of 2013 to oversee the technical planning and development/deployment of new technology. One of his key roles is overseeing Fox’s World Cup operations and engineering, as well as operations for Fox’s entire soccer portfolio. For the previous eight years, Callahan was the engineer in charge of Game Creek’s Fox trucks. In that time, he served as EIC for the NFL on Fox, including Fox’s coverage of Super Bowl XLII, Super Bowl XLV, and NASCAR on Fox. Callahan has worked with vendors and Fox to migrate to a tapeless workflow on site and expand a tape-based workflow from site to the studio. Prior to joining Game Creek Video, Callahan worked for NBC News Tech Ops providing live coverage of news events from around the world.

Jason Dachman, SVG, Editorial Director, U.S.

Dachman oversees all aspects of SVG’s North American editorial operations – including all news on sportsvideo.org, the daily SVG Insider newsletter, and SVG’s annual print publications – and is one of the primary contributors to SVG’s coverage of the sports-video-production industry. A member of the SVG team since 2009, Dachman also serves as program director for SVG’s Esports Production Forum, RSN Summit, Sports Content Management Forum, Sports Graphics Forum, and TranSPORT conference.

Prior to joining SVG, Dachman covered local sports for The Patriot Ledger in Quincy, MA, and served on the production staff of SiriusXM’s The Ron & Fez Show. He began his career in the Sports Information department at Northeastern University in Boston, where he earned a B.A. in media communications and cinema studies. A native of Denver, CO, Dachman currently resides in Queens, NY, with his wife Alyson and daughter June.

Mike Davies, Fox Sports, EVP, Technical and Field Operations; SVG Chairman

Mike Davies manages all day-to-day aspects of live broadcast operations and oversees the integration of new and emerging technologies for Fox Sports and Fox Sports 1. With over two decades of experience in sports television, Davies specializes in technical production and innovation for large sporting events. As the head of field and technical operations, he manages a highly talented team of individuals responsible for the thousands of live sports broadcasts yearly at Fox, including the technical execution of Super Bowls XLII, XLV, XLVIII, LI, and LIV. In addition to technical design and oversight, Davies also works within the Fox Sports Lab, a designed approach to exploring technical partnerships to enhance the viewing experience.

Previously, Davies oversaw Fox Sports broadcasts of the Daytona 500, the US Open, the MLB All Star Game and World Series, and the productions of various live VR events.

Before joining Fox Sports in 2006 as director of field operations, Davies was with HBO Sports for 10 years. He has won multiple Sports Emmy Awards for his work with both Fox Sports and HBO including technical team remotes for NASCAR, MLB, and NFL coverage, as well as long form sports programming. He currently serves as chairman for the Sports Video Group.

Dave DeBuhr, Sony Electronics, Account Manager, Professional Networked Solutions Division

Dave 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.

Robert Erickson, TAG Video Systems, VP, Live Production and Sports

Robert Erickson is the vice president of live production and sports for TAG Video Systems. A member of the TAG team since 2023, he has more than 24 years of experience in the broadcast and IT markets with previous roles covering systems engineering, IT network design, and RF transmission systems.

Recently, Erickson’s focus has been on designing and implementing adaptable, software-centric workflow tools, that can scale from on-premises solutions to worldwide, cloud-based infrastructures.

Throughout his career, Erickson’s focus has been on designing and maintaining live production systems based on both traditional and emerging technologies for broadcast customers.

Erickson is an active participant and frequent presenter in many of the major industry associations, including the Society of Broadcast Engineers (SBE), Society of Television Engineers (STE), Society of Motion Pictures and Television Engineers (SMPTE), and Hollywood Professional Association (HPA).

Devon Fox, NBC Sports Bay Area & California, Senior Director of Live Events & Special Projects

Devon Fox serves as the senior director of live events and special projects for the NBC Sports Regional Networks serving Northern California – NBC Sports Bay Area and NBC Sports California.

In this role, Fox oversees all areas of production for more than 600 games annually, including live coverage of the MLB’s San Francisco Giants and Oakland Athletics, NBA’s Golden State Warriors and Sacramento Kings, and the NHL’s San Jose Sharks. She also serves on the NBA’s Broadcast Advisory Board.

Overall, Fox has spent 22 years in various production and operations positions for NBC Sports Bay Area and NBC Sports California. Previously, she served as senior director of newsroom operations for seven years, managing operations, finance, and talent for the networks’ studio programming, including pregame shows, postgame shows, and news programming. From 2000 to 2012, Fox was coordinating producer for live events.

A native of Sacramento, Fox is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley.

T.K. Gore, Kiswe, Global Head of Sports Partnerships, Content and Business Development

T.K. Gore serves as the global head of sports partnerships, content, and business development at Kiswe. Previously, he was the chief revenue officer at Phenix Real Time Solutions, overseeing worldwide sales.

During his tenure at Comscore, Gore led the development of audience measurement solutions across MVPD, vMVPD, and OTT platforms.

He founded Court 5 Consulting, a boutique firm specializing in advising sports media, properties, and sports tech start-ups on investment strategies.

Gore directed digital initiatives at Comcast Sports Group’s Chicago RSN, where he created its live streaming product, established a 24/7 newsroom, and collaborated with network JV partners including the Chicago Cubs, Bulls, Blackhawks, and White Sox. He was also a member of the early start-up team at WCSN (World Championship Sports Network), later Universal Sports, working alongside MLBAM to successfully launch Olympic sports DTC streaming and a new linear TV network.

Throughout his tenure at AOL and Time Warner, Gore managed strategic partnerships with major sports leagues, including the NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, and NASCAR.

Gore began his career in affiliate sales and marketing at Viacom and CBS’ Mid-Atlantic regional sports network, HTS, and Orioles TV. He also served as an adjunct faculty member at Northwestern University and the University of Chicago.

Gore holds a bachelor’s degree in English from George Mason University. He is an avid runner and enjoys platform tennis, padel, and pickleball.

Kristian Hernández, SVG, Senior Editor

Kristian Hernández is currently the senior editor of Sports Video Group. In his role, he is responsible for covering team-based and in-venue productions and various other sports technology topics within the industry. In addition, he is the program director for the annual SVG Venue Summit and SVG 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 BA 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.

Jeff Jacobs, NEP Group, SVP, Production

Jeff Jacobs is the senior vice president and head of production at NEP Group. Prior to joining NEP, he spent 10 years with NBC Sports/Olympics and another 10 with Viacom’s MTV Networks.

Following two decades at the network level, Jacobs formed his own company, Skyline New Media, a third-party sports and entertainment content production company specializing in alternate production workflows and creatives. He is a six-time Emmy Award winner and sits on several advisory boards, including for the Sports Video Group.

Based in New York City, Jacobs is well known for his innovations and ability to develop content applications for emerging technologies, as well as advances in the expansion of live events, live streaming, augmented reality, and revenue streams. In August of 2020, he sold Skyline New Media and soon after joined NEP Group as SVP and head of production for the global media technology partner’s newly expanded production division.

Michael Kidd, Disney Entertainment & ESPN Technology, Director of Architecture

Michael Kidd serves as the director of architecture for Disney Entertainment & ESPN Technology. In this role, he leads a team focused on cloud and content production strategy and infrastructure design.

During his 18-year tenure with the company, Kidd has championed initiatives to develop and adopt new technology in broadcast and digital media workflows. These efforts resulted in improvements to UHD/HDR production, web-based video playback experience, quick turn-around video production, and production software application development.

Kidd earned a Bachelor of Science degree in computer engineering from NYU Tandon School of Engineering in New York City. An avid private pilot, on clear weekends you can find him flying his family on trips around Connecticut and the surrounding region.

Jamon Lomax, Canon, Senior Manager of Television Broadcast & Production Sales, U.S. and Latin American Markets

Jamon Lomax is senior manager of television broadcast and production sales for the U.S. and Latin American markets at Canon USA. He leads an experienced team of industry veterans focused on sales and support of their partners in all areas of television broadcasting, and live sports and entertainment production.

Lomax resides in the Chicagoland area, and is a graduate of North Central College, with a degree in broadcast communications. He has spent the last 23 years at Canon USA working in a variety of client facing roles focused on professional imaging product sales. Lomax’s time at Canon has allowed him to partner with, and support some of the most creative and influential people and companies in the world. As the broadcast landscape continues to evolve, he is confident that the Canon team will be there and ready to continue providing world class support for their partners.

Angus Mackay, Matrox Video, Product Marketing Manager

Angus Mackay hails from a family of filmmakers and grew up around film sets. After studying psychology and communications, Mackay delved into post-production, eventually becoming an in-house producer. His journey continued with impactful roles in content production, product marketing, and customer relations, working for companies like Autodesk, Avid, and more. Mackay enhanced his skills with a McGill mini-MBA. Fluent in English and French, he enjoys skiing, hockey, and motorcycling.

Larry Meyers, Pac-12 Networks, EVP, Content

Dustin Myers, Fox Sports, SVP, Production Operations

Dustin Myers is a seasoned media executive with a demonstrated history of working in the content and broadcast media industry. He has been recognized for his exceptional work with multiple Emmy awards.

Currently, Myers is leveraging his expertise in cloud-based production and artificial intelligence as a key member of the team at Fox Sports. His responsibilities encompass post-production, media management, content acquisition, and the development and implementation of innovative technology initiatives. Additionally, Myers is charged with “Jewel Event” management, on both domestic and international scales, ensuring that Fox Sports delivers unparalleled coverage of the most significant sporting events to millions of viewers.

Costa Nikols, Riedel Communications, Global Vice President of Sales Enablement

Costa Nikols has spent most of his career as a technical sales leader for key vendors in the broadcast, M&E space. His latest role has evolved to “sales enablement” which consists of connecting people to information and resources that they need to be successful. Nikols has had quite an extensive background successfully guiding both colleagues and customers through several huge technological disruptions. He served as vice president of Global Sales Enablement at Grass Valley, where he helped guide the company through its transition from a hardware-based to a software-enabled brand. For over 20 years, Nikols held various leadership positions at Grass Valley and its acquisitions, including senior product manager at Snell & Wilcox and sales engineering group manager at Miranda Technologies. In these roles, Nikols discovered his passion and talent for helping guide both colleagues and customers through technological changes, whether it’s architecting a solution, connecting people to information, or through first-hand experience.

Rob Rees, Fox Sports, VP, Live and Post-Production Engineering

Rob Rees manages Fox Sports engineering broadcast engineers at the Los Angeles facility, supporting the day-to-day operations for Fox Sports live production and post-production as well as the broadcast engineers supporting Fox Deportes. He collaborates closely with the Fox Sports Field Operations & Engineering teams for technical oversight, integration, and support of Fox Sports Crown Jewel Events. These events include the Super Bowl, World Series, Men’s and Women’s World Cup, and NASCAR on FOX, all routed through the Los Angeles Fox Sports Facility.

Additionally, Rees’ team handles home-run productions, remote integrations, and technical support for live events like MLB on Fox, College Football, College Basketball, and the USFL, spanning both FS1 and FOX. They also provide technical oversight for studio productions, including NFL on Fox, NFL Kickoff, MLB on Fox, and FS1 Studio Show programming.

Before joining Fox in 2015, Rees previously worked for five years as an engineer in charge for MobileTV Group on the remote trucks supporting the Fox Regional Networks, FS1, and FOX Remote Events.

Braden Riggs, Dolby.io, Solutions Engineer

Braden Riggs helps support the product strategy, marketing, and engineering for Dolby‘s Real-time Streaming Product. With a background in software engineering and data science, as well as video engineering, Riggs brings a unique perspective to the Remote Production space. Having worked with many of Dolby‘s biggest partners, his presentation at this event dives into the impact and role WebRTC video streaming plays on low-delay video broadcast and how these tools enable remote production at speeds and scales previously reserved for only the biggest players.

Scott Rokis, Broken Arrow Skyrace, Director of Visual Media

Scott Rokis graduated from the University of Illinois with honors while earning business school recognition for President of the Year. His loyalty kept him with General Electric for 13 years as he grew his expertise in business intelligence while learning the operations of industries as diverse as TV production, aviation, commercial real estate, fleet leasing, appliances, and lighting. In his final oil and gas role, Rokis led a global team responsible for analytic insights across 27 systems and four billion dollars in revenue. But, visual media? Starting in 2016, he moved into a Sprintervan to build a career in sports photography. In 2023, Rokis took a full-time role with Ultrasignup to bring live broadcast style coverage to trail ultra-marathon events. The 2023 Broken Arrow production is largely viewed as the highest quality production with a trail running event in North America.

TJ Scanlon, FOX Sports, Manager, Field Ops and Engineering

TJ Scanlon is a member of the FOX Sports Field Operations and Engineering team. In addition to supporting college football, college basketball, MLB, USFL, and Soccer, he plays a key role in facilitating FOX Sports’ Home Run Productions.  

In his current role, Scanlon helps manage, plan, and execute remote productions working with the FOX Sports Engineering teams in LA and Charlotte. In addition, he oversees HRP Kit maintenance and initiatives to improve remote production workflows. 

Prior to joining FOX Sports, Scanlon served in both engineering and technical management roles for a multitude of networks and shows including the Olympics, Riot Games, Super Bowl, PGA Championship, and World Cup. 

David Schonfeld, The Switch, Director of Sales Engineering

David Schonfeld is director of sales engineering at The Switch, where he harnesses the potential of new technologies to help media companies reshape their business models and optimize efficiencies. Schonfeld has over two decades of experience optimizing global content delivery, operational procedures, and innovative technological strategies. In his role, he helps media companies streamline business processes, drive cost efficiencies, and foster impactful relationships across diverse markets.

Previous to his role at The Switch, Schonfeld successfully created and sold a freelance production company, and transformed Andrita Media into an independent high-definition digital media facility. Other roles include head of operations for A+E Asia, director of operations for SPTL (Sony), global project director at dds+, and various leadership roles at several other production and broadcast organizations.

Schonfeld is a University of Phoenix alumni where he received an MBA in global workflows and efficiencies.

David Shapiro, Pixellot, President of North America

David Shapiro is currently Pixellot’s president of North America. He is the former CEO of Steel Sports and brings with him nearly 20 years of experience in management, coaching, and corporate development in the youth sports arena. In addition to his time at Steel Sports, Shapiro spent 13 years helping build Positive Coaching Alliance, a national non-profit with the mission of developing ”Better Athletes, Better People” and is currently a member of its National Board of Directors.

Dave Shaw, NFL Media, VP, Head of Media Operations

Dave Shaw has been the VP, head of media operations for NFL Media for the last 13 years. He oversees production content, engineering, production management, master control, and commercial traffic for NFL Media group including NFL Network, NFL+, and delivery to digital distributions. Shaw is also responsible for all studio and remote production operations for NFL exclusive live games on NFLN, Super Bowl coverage, NFL Draft, NFL Scouting Combine, and all NFL tentpole event coverage. NFL Media moved in 2021 to a new 200,000 sq ft NFL LA facility and Shaw oversaw the project – including the budget, design, project management, construction, technical implementation, and stage buildouts.

Prior to NFL Media, Shaw was the president of Venue Services Group (NMT subsidiary) for five years and the SVP of technical operations for the Madison Square Garden Network for 23 years.

Corey Smith, CBS Sports and Paramount+, Senior Director, Digital, Software Engineering

Corey Smith joined CBS Sports and Paramount+ in March 2022 as the senior director of digital and software engineering. He leads the technical team building the next evolution of advanced production technology, strengthening CBS Sports’ leading cloud-based hybrid television production platform. Smith has been transforming digital television and broadcast systems since 2011, and he previously worked on Microsoft’s Xbox Live team, managed Sinclair Broadcast Group’s digital news publishing operations across the U.S., and tackled the next generation of cloud encoding and distribution systems for Activision Blizzard Esports. His primary focus for Activision Blizzard Esports was on the cloud-based production and broadcasting of Overwatch and Call of Duty Leagues globally.

Courtney Stockmal, Fox Sports, Director, FIFA World Cup

A veteran TV director, Courtney Stockmal directs the productions behind Fox Sports’ premier shows.

Having worked at Fox since the launch of FS1 in 2013, she currently serves as the lead director for all of the FIFA World Cup Productions as well as FOX NFL Kickoff, one of the networks biggest pregame shows. Stockmal has directed several Emmy award-winning productions and has worked on every major sporting event for Fox including the MLB Postseason, Big Noon Kickoff, both Men’s and Women’s World Cups, and Super Bowl LIV.

Outside of Fox, Stockmal served as coordinating director for Apple’s launch of MLS, directed the 2016 and 2020 Summer Olympic Games, and worked a variety of entertainment shows such as Ellen, Entertainment Tonight, and the Red Carpet for both the Oscars and the Grammys.

Steven Thorpe, NEP Group, VP, Network Origination and Delivery

Steven Thorpe is vice president of network origination and delivery at NEP Group, the world’s leading media technology partner for content producers of live sports, entertainment, and events. He leads the buildout and operation of next generation centralized production, master control, and transmission services for a variety of top-tier sports leagues, leading streaming services and other marquee clients.

Prior to his current role, Thorpe was senior vice president of video platforms at Fox Corporation where he led engineering, product, and operations for audience facing video solutions across the company’s portfolio of sports, news, entertainment, and local apps and websites.

During his time at Fox, he led an overhaul of the video supply chain and content delivery ecosystem, focusing on quality of service and delivering a “Better than TV” customer experience. This platform is responsible for delivering many of the world’s largest streaming events, including Super Bowl LIV, the FIFA World Cup, and MLB’s World Series.

Earlier in his career, Thorpe worked at NBCUniversal in a variety of positions, including on the NBC.com team responsible for the award-winning iPad app and Full Episode Player. He began his career as part of the college football production team at Fox Sports while attending the Edward R. Murrow College of Communication at Washington State University.

Nick Upchurch, LiveU, Senior Sales Engineer

Nick Upchurch is a senior sales engineer within LiveU’s Sports division.  He serves a critical role within the sales organization, acting as a customer advocate, ensuring their technical requirements are fully understood and met. Upchurch is the main technical point of contact for sports industry customers across the West and Central regions. In this role, he provides support for some of the biggest names in professional sports including NFL Teams, rights holders, sports associations, and universities.

Prior to joining LiveU, Upchurch spent many years in the IP satellite industry, both in network services and antenna manufacturing.

Brad Wall, LTN, CTO

An industry pioneer with a proven track record spanning more than 25 years, Brad Wall has held roles at world-leading organizations including ABC and Disney. Awarded several patents for his innovative cloud media initiatives, Wall has implemented large-scale broadcast, OTT, and digital media projects that drive transformation.