Chip Adams, NBC Olympics, VP, Venue Engineering

Christopher “Chip” Adams is currently the vice president of Olympics venue engineering for NBC Universal and has led the venue engineering effort for the last nine Olympic Games. He has been involved with NBC’s Olympic coverage since the 1988 Summer Olympic Games in Seoul, South Korea. Adams has over 36 years of experience in remote television engineering, working for clients such as ESPN/ABC, CBS, All Mobile Video, HBO, NEP, and NBC. He worked at WGBH Educational Foundation facilities WGBH and WGBY TV as a remote engineer, working on This Old House, The Victory Garden and Evening at Pops broadcasts.

Adams has been a technical manager for golf, basketball, football, and horse racing events, and has operational experience in video shading, video tape editing, audio, and RF engineering. Adams has also received 11 Sports Emmy’s for Remote Operations and Technical Achievement.

Currently, he is finalizing NBC’s venue plans for the 2018 Winter Olympic Games.

Terry Adams, NBC Olympics, VP, IBC Engineering

Terry Adams has played a key role on the NBC Olympics engineering team since 1999 when he was named director of IBC Engineering. He was promoted to VP of IBC Engineering and oversees planning and operations of the NBC Olympics facility within the various Olympic International Broadcast Centers. He is a graduate of Ohio University.

Kevin Callahan, NBC Sports, Senior Production Engineer, Sports and Olympics

Kevin Callahan is a senior engineer with NBC Sports Group and NBC Olympics. Callahan joined NBC Sports Group in 2013 with the buildout of the Stamford, CT facility, working on a variety of new system designs and implementations. He was the lead engineer for NBC Sports Group’s IP control room built in 2016, has worked on site for the past five Olympic games, and has been the principal engineer for NBC’s Paralympic Games. Prior to NBC, Callahan worked for NEP Broadcasting as a mobile unit engineer, and started with NBC as an audio engineering intern with Bob Dixon for the Beijing Olympics. He holds a bachelor of science in audio engineering and electronics from the University of Hartford, and is a member of SMPTE, SBE, and AES.

Tim Canary, NBC Sports Group, VP, Engineering

Tim Canary is the vice president of engineering at the NBC Sports Group in Stamford Connecticut. He and his team oversee all technical facilities within Stamford including studios, control rooms, core systems, transmission, ingest and system integration. His team, which recently completed the massive Olympics at-home project for the Rio Games, also supports all Stamford based productions including Football Night in America, NASCAR America, Premiere League Soccer, NHL, and digital/web encoding and streaming.

Canary has been with NBC since 1998 and has held multiple positions, starting as a staff engineer at MSNBC and moving to the NBC Network in New York where he was the director of production engineering. He has been the primary engineering lead for the Olympics at-home project since 2008.

Canary is a graduate of Ithaca College and resides in New Jersey with his wife and two children.

Brandon Costa, SVG, Senior Editor

Brandon Costa is senior editor for the Sports Video Group, where he covers college sports broadcasting and technology. He also writes on various sports production topics ranging from mobile live production trends to future technologies, including 4K. As program director of the SVG College Sports Summit, Costa assists in the design and execution of the summit’s itinerary.

Prior to his time at SVG, Costa spent five years hosting programs, producing voiceovers, and writing editorial content for MLB Advanced Media in NYC. He has also served as community sports editor at the Asbury Park Press in Neptune, NJ. He began his career at WRHU Radio in Hempstead, NY as a sportscaster. A native of Hazlet, NJ, Costa is a graduate of Hofstra University. He currently resides in Jersey City, NJ. 

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 Sports Asset Management & Storage (SAMS) 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 spent 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 BA in media communications and cinema studies. A native of Denver, Colorado, Dachman currently resides in Brooklyn, New York.

Robert Erickson, Grass Valley, IP Evangelist, Americas

A member of the Grass Valley team since 2008, Robert Erickson has more than 17 years of experience in the broadcast and IT markets with previous roles covering systems engineering, television station management, broadcast network design, and RF transmission systems. Throughout his career, his focus has been on designing and maintaining infrastructure and playout systems based on new and emerging technologies for both existing and greenfield broadcast facilities.

In his current role, Erickson is a participant in the Alliance for IP Media Solutions (AIMS) and advocates for proper implementation of current and emerging broadcast standards on live production equipment. He spends much of his time engaging with customers to educate them on emerging IP technologies and trains internal staff on how IP technology drives different system designs. Erickson also designs and manages IP POC (proof of concept) systems for customers worldwide, testing and implementing solutions based on a diverse product line including cameras, servers, routers, multiviewers, various processing nodes, and VM-based software solutions.

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 Post Alliance (HPA).

Tim Felstead, SAM, Head of Product Marketing

Tim Felstead is the head of product marketing for SAM and offers a deep understanding of the media business, its technology, markets, and processes. During a 25 year career, Felstead has worked in many areas of the technology side of the industry including software engineering, product management, sales management, and marketing management. His primary role at SAM is to bring insight to the current and future needs of customers and help plot their product development path.

For 2017, his focus is on the global sports and live production market, promoting the entire SAM line from content creation to management and delivery. He is the board representative of SAM with the IABM (International Association of Broadcast Manufacturers), a member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing, and represents SAM within the AIMS (Alliance for IP Media Solutions) group. Felstead lives and works in the UK and is based at the SAM headquarters in Newbury.

Hugo Gaggioni, Sony Electronics, CTO, Broadcast and Production Systems Division

Hugo Gaggioni, who joined Sony in 1988, holds six patents and has authored 32 technical publications in the areas of video compression, digital filter banks, and HDTV devices and systems.

With research interests ranging from digital video, image processing, and information theory to video/audio compression and multidimensional signal processing, Gaggioni has served as session-chairman of thirteen international conferences in the areas of HDTV and bandwidth compression systems. He has also given numerous presentations and tutorial courses on signal processing and advanced video technologies at international events sponsored by SMPTE, IEEE, and Eurasip organizations.

Gaggioni was a member of the Advanced Television Advisory group to the U.S. Federal Communications Commission from 1987 to 1994. He is a fellow of SMPTE and the recipient of the 2004 Leitch Gold Medal award for technology leadership. Gaggioni was chairman of the SMPTE technical groups on digital representation of the 1125/60 high definition TV standard (SMPTE 260M, 88-92) and digital HDTV serial interfaces (SMPTE 292M, 93-96). He was also chairman for a SMPTE group on editing of MPEG bit-streams for TV studio usage.

Gaggioni represented Sony Corporation of America to the ANSI X3-L3 committee and the ISO/IEC MPEG coding group from 1988 to 1996.

He holds degrees in telecommunications, systems engineering, and electronic engineering from the University of Essex in Colchester, England, the University of Pennsylvania, and Columbia University, respectively.

Mo Goyal, Evertz, Professional Engineer/Director, Product Marketing

Mo Goyal has been with Evertz since 2005, with roles such as product manager of modular products, master control, and branding. He is currently responsible for business development and strategic marketing of new technologies (including software defined video networking, IP, and file playout) for all business units. Goyal is also the co-chairman of the Aspen Community, which encourages the deployment and adaptation of the open format found in SMPTE RDD 37.

Goyal’s previous work experience prior to Evertz includes: developing software for small to mid-size IP data routers, creating IPv6 forwarding engines for 10GbE network processors for large core routers, and introducing Ethernet services on Nortel optical transport products. He graduated with a degree in computer engineering from McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada and has been a member of the Professional Engineers of Ontario since 1996.

Matt Keiler, TVU Networks, VP, Corporate Accounts

Matt Keiler is a senior business development and relationship management professional at TVU Networks. Prior to joining TVU, Keiler spent seven years at ADP leading sales and channel development in the Chicago market. He also played an integral role in the launch of ADP’s Business Process Outsourcing and Alliance divisions in the Midwest. Prior to his time in enterprise software, Keiler spent six years with Tribune Company, NBC Sports Network, and FOX Sports Net in a variety of affiliate relation roles helping expand network distribution and partnerships with cable operators. Keiler began his career in television by participating in the elite NBC Networks internship program at 30 Rock. Keiler has a B.A. from Ohio University.

Ken Kerschbaumer, SVG, Executive Director, Editorial Services

Ken Kerschbaumer is 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.

Karen Hogan Ketchum, SVG, Senior Editor

Joining the SVG team in 2011, Karen Hogan Ketchum focuses on the venue industry while also reporting on a variety of sports-production and technology topics as senior editor. She oversees SVG’s print publications and drives the company’s Venue Initiative, coordinating the program for the Sports Venue Production Summit and Venue Production Seminars and serving as editor for SVG’s annual Venue Production Journal. In addition, Hogan Ketchum is the director of the Women’s Sports Media Initiative.

Hogan Ketchum began her career in sports at Fordham University with WFUV Sports, serving as supervising producer of “One on One,” WFUV Sports’ weekly call-in show. After graduating in 2009, Hogan Ketchum spent the 2009-10 season in the public relations department of the Trenton Devils (ECHL) before taking on a freelance copy editor assignment with Professional Sports Publications. A New Jersey native, she currently resides in Brooklyn, NY.

Gerhard Lang, Vizrt, Chief Engineering Officer

Gerhard Lang joined Vizrt in 2000 as the head of R&D Austria. Lang has worked in the area of numerical methods applied to tunneling and mine safety, stereo photogrammetry, micro seismic event visualization, traffic analysis, and simulations. All of these create a large volume of data and the need to visualize them in an understandable way.

David Mazza, NBC Sports Group and NBC Olympics, SVP and CTO

A 35-year veteran of the broadcast industry, David Mazza was named senior vice president and chief technical officer of NBC Sports Group and NBC Olympics in 2012. Mazza manages all engineering and technical elements for NBC Sports Group, and oversees the engineering group, which is charged with designing, building, and operating a re-useable multi-games infrastructure for NBC’s coverage of consecutive Olympic Games. Mazza and his team were instrumental in the building of NBC Sports Group’s state-of-the-art production facility in Stamford, CT, which opened in 2013. The 2016 Olympic Games were Mazza’s 14^th Olympics.

Mazza joined NBC in 1994 as the director of engineering and led the technical design, building, and operation of NBC’s International Broadcast Center for the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. This involved developing extensive new technology and systems for the “Virtual IBC,” which allowed part of the broadcast center to be located in New York and part in Atlanta.

Under Mazza’s leadership, NBC Olympics engineering pioneered additional technical achievements, including new transportable broadcast equipment systems, which all made its ninth appearance during the Rio Olympics; comprehensive HD coverage; and the Highlights Factory, which debuted new media content for a variety of at-the-time new distribution platforms.

Since beginning his career in 1978, David Mazza has worked in the broadcast production community in many disciplines including engineering design, project management, as a technical director, and a director. Prior to his role with NBC Olympics, Mazza worked on many other system design/build projects, including DirecTV in Castle Rock, CO, The Monitor Channel in Boston, MA, and many other projects involving production, post-production, and remote facilities. Mazza also worked in the fields of sound reinforcement, stage lighting, electronics repair, computer programming, and electronic sports timing.

Mazza’s technical work has spanned the worlds of sports, entertainment, and news working on projects such as Wimbledon from 1982 through 1994; several Super Bowls; Championship Boxing on HBO; NHL’s Stanley Cup Playoffs and Finals from 1985 through 1993; the MTV Video Music Awards; and 12 Olympic Games. During this period, Mazza earned many awards including 20 Emmys for the Olympics from 1984 through 2012, as well as several Monitor, ACE, and BDA awards. Mazza is a recipient of the 2013 Television & Film Lifetime Achievement Award, and the 2006 GE Edison Award for technical innovation.

Joe Signorino, NEP U.S. Mobile Units, VP, Systems Integration

Joe Signornio has been an engineer with NEP for more than 25 years, beginning at NEP in 1988 as an engineer-in-charge. Since joining the company, he has worked as a technical manager, engineering manager, senior project engineer, and now is the vice president of systems integration. Awarded several Emmy’s throughout his career for his technical expertise, Signornio has also been instrumental in technical project management for top networks such as Turner, ESPN, CBS, NBC, and Fox, as well as some of the largest televised events, including NASCAR racing, the NBA Playoffs, and the Super Bowl. As an innovator, Signornio has developed creative engineering solutions, efficiencies, and communication guidelines that have benefitted many NEP partners. While serving as an NEP engineering manager, he directed the transition from analog, to digital 16:9, to HD for Fox, NASCAR coverage on ESPN and NBC, SPEED, DirectTV, and Turner. Most recently, Signornio has been heading up NEP’s in-house integration, ensuring that each project is completed with the company’s exacting standards from start to finish. In this role, during the companies latest mobile unit integrations, he has directed his team through the transition to IP audio, video, and communications systems.

James Stellpflug, EVS, VP, Product Marketing

James Stellpflug has more than two decades of industry experience including facility design and integration, mobile satellite communication, and mobile TV production. In his roles, he has overseen several major technology transitions, including migrations from analog to digital, SD to HD, and more recently from linear to cloud and VOD distribution. Stellpflug has designed and operated production trucks, as well as consulted on developments of early NLE news editing platforms. He has been with EVS Broadcast Equipment since 2000, serving in various roles from technical operations management and program management to his current role as global VP of product marketing.

During his tenure with EVS, Stellpflug has been involved with teams that have earned awards including a Technical Emmy for EVS Super Motion systems, as well as a Sports Emmy for involvement in Olympics coverage. Stellpflug holds a bachelor of science degree in broadcast technology management (engineering emphasis) from the University of Wisconsin – Platteville, and is a member of SMPTE, SBE, and PMI.

David Tasker, SAM, VP, Systems and Technology

David Tasker began his television career in his teenage bedroom with various, sometimes dangerous experiments, including the conversion of an old black-and-white TV into an oscilloscope. His professional career commenced as a development engineer at Mullards, a division of Philips Electronics. In 1981, Tasker joined BBC Television studio engineering before defecting in 1984 to the commercial side of broadcasting with equipment manufacturer Quantel.

In 2014, Quantel acquired Snell and the combined company was rebranded as Snell Advanced Media (SAM) in 2015. Having held senior positions in Europe, Asia, and the Americas during his extensive career with the company, Tasker has been involved in the evolution of real-time digital image processing and in particular, television standards conversion, in which he is considered a global expert, earning his company several accolades including multiple Emmy awards. Tasker is one of the company’s experts in the IP transition, guiding the product roadmap in alignment with industry developments/standards and with a focus on the real-world migration and implementation needs and challenges of broadcast/media users. Tasker actively supports the company in bringing technical expertise and insights to industry associations including: SMPTE, VSF, AIMS, and IABM. He holds qualifications from Carshalton College (London) and Merton College (London) in electronic engineering. Tasker is based in Toronto, Canada and supports the Americas region.

Jason Taubman, Game Creek Video, VP, Design and New Technology

Jason Taubman spearheads Game Creek Video’s innovative 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.

Will Waters, NewTek, Director of Product Marketing and Video Specialist

As NewTek’s director of product marketing and a senior video specialist on NewTek’s workflow engineering team, Will Waters specializes in broadcast production workflow planning, product configuration, marketing direction, and strategic messaging. He has been intimately involved in a number of new product ideas and has been closely aligned with customer needs and requirements ranging from entry level systems to top tier broadcasting. Waters has held sales engineering and senior support positions at NewTek as well, prior to which he was a technology systems designer and integrator, designing large-scale production video systems and streaming solutions.

Gary Zenkel, NBC Sports Group, President, NBC Olympics and Business

Gary Zenkel was promoted to President of NBC Olympics and Business at NBC Sports Group in January 2017. As President of NBC Olympics, he works closely with the International Olympic Committee, U.S. Olympic Committee, and NBC’s distribution partners and affiliates to advance coverage, distribution, and marketing while navigating the constantly changing media landscape. In his role as President of Business, Zenkel oversees the legal, business affairs, strategy, and operations functions for NBC Sports Group, as well as the rights acquisition strategy. He reports directly to Mark Lazarus, the Chairman of NBC Broadcasting and Sports at NBCUniversal.

Since the acquisition of NBCUniversal by Comcast in 2011, Zenkel has led two successful NBCU acquisitions of U.S. media rights to the Olympic Games. The first, in June 2011, awarded NBCU the rights to the Sochi 2014, Rio 2016, Pyeongchang 2018, and Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games. The second agreement was negotiated in June 2014 and granted NBCU the U.S. media rights to all Olympic and Paralympic Games through 2032, making it the longest U.S. media-rights agreement in Olympic history. Rio 2016 was Zenkel’s 11^th Olympics.

Zenkel has also been instrumental in major soccer acquisitions for NBCU, including Telemundo’s exclusive Spanish-language U.S. media rights to FIFA World Cup Soccer from 2015 through 2026, and NBC Sports Group’s three-season Premier League acquisition in 2013.

Zenkel served as Executive Vice President of NBC Olympics from 2001 to 2005. From 1997 to 2001, Zenkel served as Senior Vice President of Business Development and Marketing at NBC Olympics. Previously, from 1994 to 1997, Zenkel was Vice President of NBC Sports and Executive Assistant to NBC Sports Chairman, Dick Ebersol. During that period, he played a major role in NBC’s acquisition, contract negotiations, and renewals of the Olympics, French Open, Major League Baseball, Notre Dame Football, PGA Tour, U.S. Golf Association championships, and Ryder Cup. Zenkel joined NBC Sports in 1990 as Director of Sports Contract Negotiations. Prior to joining NBC Sports, Zenkel was a corporate associate with Cahill, Gordon & Reindel, a New York City-based law firm.

Zenkel graduated from the University of Michigan in 1983 and from the Georgetown University Law Center in 1987. He was a two-year letterman on the Wolverines golf team.

Gary Zenkel, NBC Sports Group, President, NBC Olympics and Business

Gary Zenkel was promoted to President of NBC Olympics and Business at NBC Sports Group in January 2017. As President of NBC Olympics, he works closely with the International Olympic Committee, U.S. Olympic Committee, and NBC’s distribution partners and affiliates to advance coverage, distribution, and marketing while navigating the constantly changing media landscape. In his role as President of Business, Zenkel oversees the legal, business affairs, strategy, and operations functions for NBC Sports Group, as well as the rights acquisition strategy. He reports directly to Mark Lazarus, the Chairman of NBC Broadcasting and Sports at NBCUniversal.

Since the acquisition of NBCUniversal by Comcast in 2011, Zenkel has led two successful NBCU acquisitions of U.S. media rights to the Olympic Games. The first, in June 2011, awarded NBCU the rights to the Sochi 2014, Rio 2016, Pyeongchang 2018, and Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games. The second agreement was negotiated in June 2014 and granted NBCU the U.S. media rights to all Olympic and Paralympic Games through 2032, making it the longest U.S. media-rights agreement in Olympic history. Rio 2016 was Zenkel’s 11^th Olympics.

Zenkel has also been instrumental in major soccer acquisitions for NBCU, including Telemundo’s exclusive Spanish-language U.S. media rights to FIFA World Cup Soccer from 2015 through 2026, and NBC Sports Group’s three-season Premier League acquisition in 2013.

Zenkel served as Executive Vice President of NBC Olympics from 2001 to 2005. From 1997 to 2001, Zenkel served as Senior Vice President of Business Development and Marketing at NBC Olympics. Previously, from 1994 to 1997, Zenkel was Vice President of NBC Sports and Executive Assistant to NBC Sports Chairman, Dick Ebersol. During that period, he played a major role in NBC’s acquisition, contract negotiations, and renewals of the Olympics, French Open, Major League Baseball, Notre Dame Football, PGA Tour, U.S. Golf Association championships, and Ryder Cup. Zenkel joined NBC Sports in 1990 as Director of Sports Contract Negotiations. Prior to joining NBC Sports, Zenkel was a corporate associate with Cahill, Gordon & Reindel, a New York City-based law firm.

Zenkel graduated from the University of Michigan in 1983 and from the Georgetown University Law Center in 1987. He was a two-year letterman on the Wolverines golf team.