Andrea is an award-winning news broadcaster and journalist with over 25 years’ experience as national TV and radio presenter. She is currently a BBC Radio 4 presenter and documentary maker. She regularly presents news and current affairs programmes including The Media Show, Last Word, Any Answers and Woman’s Hour.
Andrea hosted Bloomberg Television’s business programme The Pulse and was the main anchor of ITV’s Weekend News. Andrea has also anchored bulletins for Channel 5, NBC Asia and CNBC Hong Kong. As ITN International Correspondent Andrea was the first British television journalist to visit Guantanamo Bay. She has reported live from Iraq, Kosovo, Gaza and Afghanistan.
Dan is one of the UK’s best-known television presenters and the creative force behind History Hit TV, a video-on-demand history channel which builds on the success of the UK’s most successful history podcast, Dan Snow’s History Hit.
Dan’s TV career began in 2002 when he co-presented the BBC’s 60th anniversary special on the Battles of El Alamein with his father, veteran broadcaster Peter Snow. Dan and Peter then went on to present the BAFTA-winning Battlefield Britain. Dan has since written several history books and has presented numerous history series and special events for the BBC. He is a regular face on BBC One’s The One Show.
Dan is on a mission to reinvent how history is told in the digital age through video, podcasts, online articles and more. He travels the length and breadth of the country to keep up with the cutting edge of history, talking to experts, historians, and the people who were actually there.
Andy is Conservative MP for Warrington South. Elected as an MP in 2019, Andy is Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Media Group, a leading forum for discussion on media policy matters.
A former journalist at commercial radio stations around the UK, Andy launched several radio stations in the 1990s having won commercial radio licences. In 2001 Andy joined the Guardian Media Group, initially as the programming director of their radio business in Leeds. He was appointed managing director of its Welsh radio interests in 2003 and spent five years working in Cardiff.
Andy played an instrumental role in the launch of Smooth Radio around the UK, based at MediaCity in Salford he worked with teams in London, Birmingham, Manchester, Glasgow, Newcastle and Nottingham and in 2010 he became the Group MD. In 2014 Andy left radio to launch his own consultancy business, working with retailers to grow their private-label ranges and introducing new brands to the UK.
Alongside work in business, Andy has spent time as the deputy chair of Warrington and is a parish councillor in Lymm. He is also a multi-academy trustee and chair of a regional advisory board on alternative provision in education. He also sits as a magistrate on the Merseyside bench.
Gonzalo de la Vega is the General Manager of EMEA at Fastly, where he is responsible for driving the growth and development in-region.
He has worked on most sides of the value chain, including digital music at Sony Music, music apps at Microsoft, and networks at Telefónica.
Previously, Gonzalo served as CEO of Nice People At Work and SVP of Sales at Musiwave.
Maria leads the strategic development and manages the day-to-day operations of a team of analysts tracking the evolution of global service providers and operators. She created the team while at Screen Digest, now part of IHS Markit.
Maria has participated in several leading reports and has led or been a significant contributor to many consulting projects for high profile media and technology companies.
Maria holds a first-class degree in Economics and Business Studies from Vigo University, Spain, and an MBA with distinction from Cardiff Business School, UK. She has received several awards, including an Outstanding Alumni Award for Academic Achievement and the 2015 Research and Analysis Excellence Award.
Faz is responsible for the distribution of ITV Linear Channels, ITV Hub and ITV Hub+ and ITV services on platforms. She was also part of the Britbox UK launch team. Her role includes negotiating terms that address prominence, search and recommendations tailored to an ITV audience. In this role she is also ITV’s lead negotiator for strategic distribution partners including Sky, Virgin, Apple, Google, Amazon and Samsung, and ITV’s commercial and product lead on Freeview Play and board director at Freesat.
Faz – a leading VOD expert who has shaped on-demand services for more than 15 years – joined ITV in 2011 to spearhead the distribution of the award-winning ITV Hub. As ITV’s Online Commercial Director she created, shaped and managed ITV’s relationships with partners such as Google, Amazon, Apple and Samsung.
Before joining ITV Faz was the Commercial Director at Move Networks delivering web video streaming for ABC, Fox and the Discovery Channel which streamed 180 million hours of premium video.
Faz has three young daughters. She has a keen interest in talent development in the digital and technology sectors and is a member of the CBI’s Innovation Council. Faz is also a founding member of ITV’s Women’s Network and ITV’s Embrace (Diversity and Inclusion) Network.
With over 25 years of experience in the broadcast and data networking industries, Sam leads NAB’s technology team in its efforts to promote innovation and propel broadcast technology into the future. He also leads PILOT, formerly NAB Labs, as well as NAB’s TV, radio, and digital technology committees.
Sam is a member of the Academy of Digital Television Pioneers and serves on the board of the National Wireless Safety Alliance. He has served as an advisor to numerous start-up and technology companies. He has previously served on the FCC Communications Security, Reliability and Interoperability Council (CSRIC), the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) Integrated Public Alert Warning System Network Advisory Council (IPAWS NAC), and the board of directors for the Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC).
Guy has more than 25 years’ experience as a leading entertainment market analyst with a specialisation in the global television business.
He is a regular speaker and moderator at many of the world’s leading entertainment business conferences, a frequent media commentator and author of numerous reports and research articles on the business and strategy of the television industry. His recent focus has been on content trends and developments impacting the streaming TV and direct-to-consumer markets.
Guy previously led the television research practice at Screen Digest and IHS Markit and is a co-founder of Ampere Analysis, a London-based research company with a focus on television and new media that is combining, for the first time, big data analytics, consumer research and industry analysis.
Jigna’s research focuses on the environmental impact of broadcasting and media technology. She is interested in how we assess environmental impact, sustainable design and using sustainability to drive innovation.
Prior to starting up this research area, she developed new technology for TV production, in particular, real-time 3D graphics for sports and virtual studios. Her areas of research included real-time image processing, camera tracking, augmented reality and 3D modelling. She contributed to the Piero sports graphic system which was awarded The Queen’s Award for Enterprise.
Jigna has a MEng in Electrical and Information Sciences from the University of Cambridge, an MSc in Innovation and Design for Sustainability at Cranfield University and is a Chartered Engineer.
Simon joined Ofcom as Director of Emerging and Online Technology in March 2020. He joined from Google where he was Head of Connectivity Partnerships for Europe, Middle East and Africa, working with mobile operators globally on improving wireless connectivity through advanced technology.
Simon is a specialist in communication technology, with a technical and commercial background, having worked in industry, including at Motorola and Philips, in academia at the University of Surrey and Trinity College Dublin, and as an advisor on communication systems for business users, operators and technology vendors.
He is also a Visiting Professor at King’s College London and was a member of the Ofcom Spectrum Advisory Board from 2007 to 2014. He has founded and chaired several technology forums and associations. Simon is also a trustee of the charity Music for All, where he organised the world’s first ever music lesson delivered using 5G.
Jamie joined BT Sport in 2012 as Chief Operating Officer to build the infrastructure, broadcast chain and operating model ahead of launch. A year later BT Sport 1, BT Sport 2 and BT Sport ESPN all started broadcasting from the brand-new purpose-built studio facility on Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.
Since then BT Sport has expanded to 13 channel outlets to deliver the exclusive Champions League and Europa League coverage, as well as the launch of Europe’s first 4K UHD sports channel.
Jamie started his TV career as a transport coordinator at the BBC. He had several roles at the BBC including Head of Sourcing Production Resources and Head of Production L2012 – responsible for the BBC’s multiplatform coverage of the Olympics, Paralympics and other key national events in 2012.
Barbara Lange joined SMPTE as Executive Director in January 2010. Founded in 1916, SMPTE is the global professional association that supports the technical framework and professional community which makes quality motion imaging available to consumers in a variety of media formats.
Ms. Lange’s portfolio includes executing on the SMPTE Board of Governors’ strategic vision and to ensure the Society’s continued relevance in an ever-evolving media ecosystem. Under Ms. Lange’s leadership, membership has grown by more than 30% globally, more than 200 leading-edge industry standards have been published — including industry game-changers such as Interoperable Master Format (IMF), High Dynamic Range (HDR), and Video Over IP — and the Society has educated thousands of professionals on critical technical topics. Today, Ms. Lange’s focus is implementing a 3-year strategic business plan that will further SMPTE’s visibility and relevance with an emphasis on attracting a younger and more diverse membership demographic.
In 2015, Ms. Lange led the acquisition of the Hollywood Professional Association (HPA), a leading trade association focused on the application of technology in the creation, distribution and consumption of professional media content; she now also serves as HPA Executive Director.
Ms. Lange holds a BA in Chemistry and German from Washington and Jefferson College, and completed the Executive Development Program at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. Prior to joining SMPTE she held executive roles in scholarly publishing at highly respected organizations including Springer-Verlag and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). Ms. Lange has been recognized by IEEE, Washington & Jefferson College, and honored with TVNewscheck’s 2020 Women in Technology Award for her role in “making a difference in the media industry”.
Rose is the founder and CEO of ScreenHits TV, the streaming video aggregator app that lets consumers place everything they want to watch in one place. Before founding the B2B side of ScreenHits in 2012, Rose was responsible for all music licensing deals, partnerships and bespoke music proposals for Audio Network North America. She joined Audio Network in 2010 from NBCUniversal where she was Director of Studio Partnerships. She held senior roles at the Sundance Institute and The Hollywood Reporter before that.
It is her unyielding drive as an African-American-British woman living in London that has made her a start-up force and example in the global marketplace. Rose has taken her experiences in business development, strategy, marketing and production and crafted a start-up focusing on programming distribution for worldwide content creators as well as a unique platform that allows consumers to integrate all their existing streaming services into one place. It is a game changer and the first of its kind to truly curate the online viewing experience across all different streaming devices.
Rose resides in London with her husband, two daughters and dog. She loves the weather (even though she is from Santa Monica, CA), enjoys her time travelling the English Countryside and is a vivacious risk-taker.
Thierry is in charge of defining and driving the execution of the long-term strategy of Harmonic’s video business. He is also President of the Ultra HD Forum, the global organisation responsible for promoting market adoption of UHD by defining industry best practices for the phased introduction of technologies facilitating the next-generation viewing experience.
He is a co-founder and board member the VR Industry Forum whose charter is to further the widespread availability of high-quality audiovisual VR experiences, for the benefit of consumers. Thierry also co-chairs the MPEG Roadmap committee that is tasked to present the 2020 MPEG roadmap to the industry.
His previous experience at Harmonic includes leadership positions in Solutions Marketing, where his area of responsibility covered Harmonic’s major markets, including broadcast, cable, telco, DTH and OTT, as well as multiscreen initiatives.
Sean joined Avast as Global Head of Partner Sales in June 2019.
He has over 20 years of experience in cyber security. Having also worked for Nokia Networks, F-Secure, Avira and CUJO AI over the years, Sean has helped forge numerous successful partnerships with Operators and Enterprises all around the globe.
Sean studied Management at the London School of Economics.
Gregor is the CEO of ABM Communications which he co-founded in 2017. Together with business partners Nick Bullen and Edward Mason, ABM launched True Royalty TV, the world’s only SVOD service dedicated to Royal factual content, in 2018.
True Royalty TV has since grown rapidly adding multiple original commissions to its original library of acquired content, and with further expansion planned into live coverage of events. It is available to consumers in the US, UK, Canada, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand with other country launches due shortly.
In 2018 it was the first UK-based SVOD to be made available via a US pay-TV platform after launching on Comcast’s Xfinity X1. Prior to establishing ABM, Gregor advised some of the world’s most famous and innovative brands in their transformations and marketing for the digital age.
Ali is a multimedia journalist and filmmaker at Al Jazeera English. She has covered stories in Latin America, southern Africa and the Middle East, and is currently the presenter of All Hail The Algorithm, a five-part series exploring the impact of algorithms, biometrics and big data on our everyday lives.
Ali has received several accolades including being selected by the International Women’s Media Foundation for a fellowship to cover under-reported regions; three Lovie Awards for European Internet Excellence and an Australian Walkley Award for current affairs reporting.
Ali holds four degrees including a Master of Science from the London School of Economics where she was awarded the Lucy Mair Prize for best dissertation.
Vladislav is an IoT security threat expert leading the IoT Lab Team at Avast.
He has conducted many threat experiments including hackability of Wi-Fi networks and security analysis of consumer applications. He also researches and performs simulated hacks of IoT home appliances to demonstrate their weaknesses to raise awareness around IoT security.
Vladislav joined Avast in 2015 as a QA Engineer / Software Developer. Before Avast he worked at Samsung as an Android OS Tester & Automation Engineer.
Emily took up the post of Head of Technology in the DVB Project Office in January 2020 having spent more than 20 years in the digital television industry. She has worked with several DVB Members across a variety of roles, including with Thomson Video Networks (now Harmonic), TeamCast (now ENENSYS Technologies) and SmarDTV/Neotion.
Emily has strong expertise in the traditional broadcast world along with a solid grounding in emerging technologies from the broadband world. As Head of Technology, Emily leads on all technical and standardisation matters within DVB, and along with DVB Chair Peter MacAvock is the public face of DVB, representing the organisation around the world at conferences and tradeshows and supporting DVB’s modules and working groups.
Stuart has designed and delivered high quality innovative services, solutions and projects at the forefront of the digital TV industry. His 35-year career has seen him work as a broadcaster (with the BBC and Sky), a network operator (NTL) and since 2010 as a CE manufacturer.
As European Director of R&D at LG Electronics Stuart focuses on all aspects of digital TV product and platform development and is an active participant in many EU and international forums including DVB, HbbTV and DIGITALEUROPE, CENELEC and IEC.
Chris is a passionate and experienced media technology architect and evangelist whose career began when the worlds of IT and video were yet to merge. Over the years he’s played a pivotal role in the early adoption of ABR technologies to drive OTT delivery worldwide through senior roles at organisations such as ITV, Inlet Technologies, Cisco Systems and Ericsson.
With the design, development and production of over 30 large scale enterprise video platforms under his belt, he has worked with some of the biggest brands in the industry to drive multi-platform content distribution on a global scale. Spicy Mango is an expert media technology consulting and software delivery organisation, working with clients such as Vodafone, Discovery, Akamai, Brightcove, Cisco and NBC.
John is responsible for the Club’s digital and broadcast infrastructure, as well as the product management of Arsenal.com, Arsenal Player and Arsenal mobile apps. His team work closely with the editorial to drive a portfolio of strategic projects designed to increase the organic growth of the Club’s media output.
Before this John spent 14 years at Sky UK where he performed a number of roles involved in developing Sky’s products and services across both TV and broadband.
He played an integral role in developing Sky’s understanding of Ultra HD, the launch of Sky 3D, Europe’s first 3DTV channel, and research into Immersive Audio.
Mariana’s research focuses on the use of sound for accessibility, as well as the study of acoustical heritage. In addition to researching and lecturing in the field of sound, Mariana also leads the BSc in Film and Television Production.
She has a background in music and sound design, having been awarded the BA degree in Arts with specialisation in Music and the MA degree in Post Production with specialisation in Sound Design.
In 2013 she completed her PhD at the University of York on the importance of virtual acoustics to further our understanding of medieval drama. Mariana has received funding for research from the Arts and Humanities Research Council, the British Academy, the European Commission, and the Royal Society
Gordon, a Sky veteran of 20 years, is a technical and broadcast strategy expert working in the technology and innovation team at Sky Sports.
He’s a pioneer in remote production (at home) for sports broadcasting, devising
production workflows that solve technical, commercial and human challenges – particularly the production challenges prompted by Covid-19 safety measures – and provides leadership for transformation projects across both technical and production teams.
Earlier projects included devising innovative workflows and commissioning services for remote Formula 1 production at Sky.
Jason Power is Senior Director, Commercial Partnerships and Standards at Dolby, based at the European headquarters in London. In this role, he works to enable ecosystems for new content experiences, working with partners in content production, service distribution, consumer electronics and standardisation. His current activities focus on enabling the market success of next generation audio and high dynamic range video.
Jason has previously led other successful efforts to introduce several new technologies within the European broadcast industry including 5.1 surround sound. His efforts to establish practical broadcast workflows for surround sound were recognised with a Technical Emmy Award in 2006.
Jason is an active contributor to several industry forums including DVB, HbbTV and DTG, and currently chairs the DVB Commercial Module subgroup on Audio Video Content, CM-AVC. He holds a BSc in Applied Physics with Electronics from Aston University and an MBA with Distinction from London Business School.
Patrick leads Xperi’s Customer Success Team for their Discovery products around the world. He is focused on helping customers successfully implement discovery solutions that utilise Xperi’s metadata, voice, analytics and recommendations products, enabling consumers to find and enjoy the entertainment content they love.
Patrick joined TiVo – which merged with Xperi last year – as Director, Client Engagement, in 2015. Prior to TiVo, Patrick held positions at BBC Worldwide, Red Bee Media and Ericsson that focused on delivering high quality metadata to service providers. Patrick holds a bachelor’s degree in English and Classical Studies from University College Dublin and a post-graduate diploma in Broadcast Journalism.
Melissa is responsible for Live Sports Production at Facebook and more recently at Oculus as well. She’s charged with helping Facebook’s partners to foster a deeper and more meaningful connection between fans and the broadcasters, teams, leagues and athletes they follow through video content. As Head of Production for Facebook’s exclusive rights for La Liga in South Asia, Copa Libertadores and Champions League in LATAM, Melissa is redefining the live sports experience for social audiences.
Melissa joined Facebook after five years as the Head of Live Content at Red Bull Media House, working specifically on the creation and expansion of Red Bull’s media network, Red Bull TV. In this capacity she oversaw a global production team who produced premium live third-party sports, music and cultural events and many ‘beyond the ordinary’ Red Bull competitions across the globe.
Her 20-year career has encompassed long-term production roles on prestigious international events such as the Beijing and Sydney Olympics, FIFA World Cup in Korea/Japan, and Commonwealth Games in India, as well as productions in Australia on live motorsports, magazine shows and studio productions.48
Melissa started her career as a sports journalist for The Age Newspaper. She holds an MA in International Relations from the University of New South Wales and a BA in Journalism from RMIT. She currently works in Facebook’s New York office and resides in New Jersey with her husband and two daughters.
Fabien graduated from the Supélec (short for Ecole Supérieure d’Electricité), one of France’s prestigious ‘Grandes Ecoles’, with a degree in software science specialising in artificial intelligence.
He was hired as a software researcher by Thomson (now Thales), specialising in real-time image recognition systems with massively parallel architecture. As a software team leader and program manager he contributed to the birth of several innovative products: TAK – the first ever connected TV set; SmartRight – the DRM that allows content sharing. With GrassValley, the EM2/4000 familly: the first software-based realtime broadcast encoders, winning the TV-Technology Star award at NAB, Las Vegas.
He joined Technicolor more than 10 years ago as a software product manager, acting as a technology evangelist for the software solutions for set top boxes, notably Android-TV.
William provides thought leadership and advises clients around the world on strategy and implementation around broadband and broadcast convergence.
Previously, as head of interactive at BBC Broadcast, William operationally managed services on satellite, terrestrial, cable television and online.
William has a PhD in Communications, specialising in ‘video literacy’. A regular speaker at international conferences and frequent commentator on media matters, he began his career as a broadcast journalist and has over 30 years of professional experience working in the television, video and digital media.
He publishes the Multiscreen Index of leading pay-television services worldwide and edits the Connected Vision newsletter for informitv.com.
Carl heads up Futuresource’s Consumer Media & Tech team, having responsibility for the direction of the team’s industry and consumer research programmes across all forms of entertainment, content distribution and consumer electronics.
Carl also continues to contribute to continuous and custom projects, drawing on 20 years research and consulting experience.
Prior to his current position Carl led research and analysis teams across Home Entertainment, Broadcast Technology and Data Storage.
Orpheus was appointed CTO at Channel 4 in 2015, having first joined in 2003. As CTO, he oversees Technology Strategy and Operations at Channel 4 with responsibility for Architecture, R&D and Information Security as well as Service Delivery and Distribution across IT, Broadcast and Non-Linear platforms.
Orpheus designed and developed a number of the Channel’s core Broadcast and Rights Management systems and was instrumental in the launch of the pioneering 4oD service, providing technical oversight of its expansion across an increasing number of devices and platforms and its evolution into ‘All 4’.
Orpheus has since driven the adoption of ‘Cloud’ technologies, initially to power the company’s Big Data and Online platforms, increasingly now focusing on the transition of the Channel’s Corporate and Broadcast estates. He continues to explore opportunities presented by the increasing convergence between linear and non-linear distribution, and the move towards commoditised utility IT. Orpheus is a member of the DTG Council and a Board Director at the DPP.
Yvonne graduated in Television Technologies and Electronic Media Engineering from University of Applied Sciences Wiesbaden (HSRM), Germany, in 2010. She received a prominent award of the ARD/ZDF Academy for her thesis in September 2011 at the IFA in Berlin.
Following these studies Yvonne started in 2011 to work at the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) in the Technology & Innovation Department as Project Manager. She was responsible for projects and strategic programs on 3D and future TV technologies, such as UHDTV or LED studio lighting and highly involved in its standardisation.
In 2015 Yvonne joined Arvato Systems’ Broadcast Solution division. As a Product Manager she was responsible for the journalistic frontend “MediaPortal” of the Video Production Management Suite and included trends like AI and machine learning.
At NAB 2017, Yvonne was presented with the annual Technology Women to Watch Award from TVNews Check.
Yvonne joined the DTG as Strategic Technologist overlooking the IPTV and UHDTV workstreams in 2019. She is active in various industry bodies including SMPTE where she is a former Education Director and currently Governor of the EMEA & Latin America division, and works together with DTG members to explore the best viewing experience and strategies to move to an all-IP world.
Simon was appointed independent Chairman of the DTG in February 2019. His career across IT, online and broadcast media, telecoms and airport technology spans five decades.
Simon was most recently Director of Technology & Innovation at the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). Based in Geneva, Simon led the team driving the industry’s digital transformation and introduced several new initiatives bringing focus to areas such as cybersecurity and OTT and establishing the EBU Innovation Awards.
Simon also chaired numerous international working groups and standards bodies, as well as represented broadcasters in their negotiations with the EU on spectrum.
Before joining the EBU in 2013 he was CTO at Heathrow Airport where he managed the technical architecture department and introduced an innovation team. He has held several executive positions at UK broadcasters including ITV where he was Director of Future Technologies.
Richard is responsible for the DTG’s growth and development. With over 20 years of TV industry experience, Richard drives the DTG’s unique collaborative culture.
Richard joined the DTG in 2004 as Director of Public Affairs. He was appointed Director General in 2006 before transferring to Freesat as Commercial Development Director.
Following Freesat’s, launch Richard returned as DTG DG in 2008. In 2012, Richard was named as one of the 50 most influential digital media leaders by Digital TV Europe. Before the DTG, Richard spent 15 years in the TV industry with roles at Sony, Toshiba and Pace.
