Dave Arland wears many hats in the broadcasting industry, serving as Executive Director of both the AWARN Alliance and the Indiana Broadcasters Association.  Arland is a past president of the National Alliance of State Broadcasters Associations and has a roster of industry organizations as his company’s clients, including ATSC, Pearl TV, A3SA, and Run3TV. He is a 1985 Radio/TV graduate of Butler University in Indianapolis and enjoys curating collections of vintage TV sets and two Indiana-made Studebaker cars.

Ralph Bachofen brings 30 years of experience in ATSC and IP technologies to his role as General Manager North America at Enensys where he is leading the group’s North Ameriacan branch, further strengthening the company’s position in the Americas.

He is a proven leader in the broadcast industry, skilled at business planning and case development, sales, distribution channel marketing, and selling to executives of Fortune 500 companies.

Prior to Enensys, Bachofen was the Sr. Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Triveni Digital, guiding the company through the transition from ATSC 1.0 to NextGenTV domestically and many international markets. Before, he was with Conexant Systems, a semiconductor company driving broadband communications for the digital home. His professional career also includes senior technical and marketing roles at Siemens and Accelerated Networks.

Bachofen is a frequent speaker on the topic of ATSC 3.0 deployment strategies, test and measurement approaches, advanced broadcast platforms, and mobile DTV delivery, at well-renowned industry conferences. These include the Broadcasting Engineering Conference at the NAB Show, BroadcastAsia Conference, and the Caribbean Cable and Telecommunications Association. Bachofen has an Executive MBA and a Bachelor of Science degree in telecommunication technologies.

Jordan Bartow is General Manager, North America, at Quickplay where he leads efforts to drive Quickplay’s next phase of innovation and market expansion in the region.

Throughout his 15+ year career, Bartow has delivered an unmatched track record of driving AI, media, and enterprise cloud transformations. Prior to joining Quickplay, he was Key Account Director at Google Cloud where he led efforts to AI sales, product development and implementation, along with managing relationships with global partners. In this role, he spearheaded cloud initiatives and AI transformation projects that drove more than $1 billion in revenue. Before joining Google Cloud, he held top sales positions at Oracle and Simplus.

Lynn Claudy is Senior Vice President of Technology for the National Association of Broadcasters in Washington DC, the premier advocacy organization for America’s broadcasters. He joined NAB in 1988 as a staff engineer and held positions of director of advanced engineering and technology and vice president before assuming his present position in 1995. Prior to joining NAB, Lynn was employed by Hoppmann Corporation, a communications systems integration firm for corporate and government clients where he held a variety of technical and management positions, as well as a part-time Professor of Physics at American University. Previous to that, he was a development engineer at Shure Brothers Inc., a manufacturer of professional and consumer audio equipment.

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In addition to his role representing the technical interests of NAB’s radio and television members in standards organizations and other forums, Lynn is a member, current Vice Chair and former Chair (2019-2021) of the Board of Directors for the Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC), an appointed member of the FCC Technological Advisory Council (TAC), a former member of the FCC Communications Security, Reliability and Interoperability Council (CSRIC), a Fellow of the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE), member of the Society of Broadcast Engineers (SBE), the Audio Engineering Society (AES), the Association of Federal Communications Consulting Engineers (AFCCE), a senior member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and 2016 recipient of the IEEE Jules Cohen Outstanding Engineering Achievement Award. Lynn has a B.A. degree in music from Oberlin College, a B.S. degree in electrical engineering from Washington University in St. Louis, and a Master of Science degree in electrical engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology.

Michael Collette is an Emmy award-winning serial entrepreneur and startup CEO. Previous CEO roles include Cognitive Networks (acquired by Vizio to form Inscape), which pioneered ACR-based granular viewing data and evolved a transformative measurement ecosystem, Deductive (acquired by MarketCast), which specialized in advanced applications of granular viewing data, and Ucentric Systems (acquired by Motorola), which deployed embedded set top box software to enable whole-home DVR. A prolific patent author, he also led global marketing and product for OpenTV, a global leader in interactive television software.

Kevin Colligan is the VP of Media & Innovation for Cascade PBS, where he oversees digital product, data & analytics and programming for Seattle’s PBS channel. He is also the project lead for the Local Streaming Initiative and is responsible for the launch of Local Public, a streaming-apps-as-a-service platform custom designed for local PBS and dual licensee stations.  Before joining Cascade PBS, Kevin helped to launch Major League Baseball Advanced Media (and designed baseball’s Content Management System) and was head of digital for the Grammy Awards.  He started his career as a newspaper reporter.

Mr. Contestabile enjoyed a 30-year career in Maryland state government holding a variety of positions including Deputy Homeland Security Advisor, Statewide Public Safety Interoperable Communications Director, and retired as Acting Assistant Secretary of the Maryland Department of Transportation (MDOT). In his career at MDOT, he was responsible for the engineering, procurement, emergency management and homeland security functions. After leaving Maryland State government, he joined the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab as Program Manager of their Emergency Communications Program. In that capacity, he executed projects with various federal sponsors to include the Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate, the Cyber Infrastructure Security Administration, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and FirstNet. After 10 years at JHU/APL, he left to join Skyline Technology Solutions, where he is presently Director of Public Safety Solutions. An engineer by training, he has executed projects related to Geographic Information Systems, Land Mobile Radio, Computer Aided Dispatch, Television Datacasting, Video interoperability and 5G LTE. He has worked with numerous public safety entities ranging from police departments [Houston, NYC, Chicago, Adams Co. IN., Grant Co. WA.], emergency management agencies, fusion centers, and Public Safety Answering Points [PSAPs]. He is the author of numerous public safety communications articles, the most recent of which was in support of JHU/APL preparing the DHS CISA “Information Sharing Framework” report published in the fall of 2021.

Chad is the Chief Innovation Officer and Head of Labs at Nebraska Public Media. In this role, he advocates for a solutions-oriented, futurist perspective on strategic issues confronting the company, a 'new and next' approach to ideating and creating content, and the development of grounded applications for groundbreaking technologies. This means a focus on generative and agentic AI tools, spatial media, and video game production. Through Labs, Chad leads a collective of artists, developers, researchers, and producers in the creation of products and experiences that evolve the definition of "public media".

Under his leadership, the Labs team has: experimented and developed policy around generative AI tools for business process and editorial use; ideated and produced the video game "Civics Scribble;" created the 3D interactive/VR experience "Expedition Nebraska;" produced "Watershed," the first 360-video series for PBS.org; produced the podcast series "Center of Gravity," "Sound of Home," and "On the Table;" developed an Emmy-winning 360-video initiative; launched Nebraska Public Media's first AppleTV, Apple Watch, CarPlay, Android Auto and Alexa apps, and developed/launched the organization's first new corporate website in 10 years.

As an extension of his work at the intersection of public media and emerging media, Chad authors the bi-weekly Public Media Innovators newsletter (available on LinkedIn). Through that newsletter Chad shares news, information and commentary on media, journalism, creativity, innovation, and tech.

Additionally, Chad is the inaugural chair for the Public Media Innovators peer learning community, organized and maintained through NETA. As with his bi-weekly newsletter, Chad seeks to expand the horizons of public media through community development and production of professional development webinars geared toward public media professionals.

Chad is also a photographer, videographer and FAA-licensed sUAS pilot." He holds an MBA from the University of New Mexico and a BA in Telecommunications and History from Indiana University.

Jim DeChant is the CEO of “Production Distribution and Revenue Group, LLC," a company focused on the broadcast and streaming media industries. His expertise spans design, content production, streaming media, RF transmission, advanced advertising, and project management. He has held key leadership roles, including Head of Live Streaming Playback Operations at Amazon Prime Video, where he oversaw global live event streaming monitoring, and VP of Technology for the News-Press & Gazette Company, where he designed and managed engineering and operations for 74 network affiliate stations. Jim's experience also includes serving as a senior solutions architect at LTN Global Communications, where he designed advanced network solutions, and as the general manager for KTVZ in Bend, Oregon.

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Jim has been actively involved in industry organizations, serving on the Board of Directors for the ATSC, leading the NAB BEIT Conference Committee, and co-chairing the AWARN Alliance. He also created the NPG/NAB ATSC 3.0 test facility, which provides on-site and remote interoperability and facilitates use by developers globally.

Luciano Escudero is the VP of Media Engineering at Globant. A passionate technologist with over 15 years of experience in the IT sector, he has contributed to diverse roles across various business domains. ​His career includes significant time spent as a software engineer in the gaming industry, as well as serving as a Technical Director for clients in the media sector. He oversees the execution and delivery of large-scale programs and numerous small to medium projects from a technological standpoint, particularly aimed at Globant’s media industry clients.

Currently, he manages multiple global teams for renowned media and sports organizations, including Hallmark Movies Now, Hulu, WarnerDiscovery, TelevisaUnivision, NFL, DTVGo, Paramount, and FIFA, among others, leading a group of over 500 engineers.

Marc Hand is CEO and founder of PMVG and co-founder and former CEO of Public Media Company (PMC). His media experience of more than 30 years includes serving as Managing Partner and co-owner of a group of commercial stations in Colorado, and as an associate with two national media brokerage and investment banking firms. Marc worked with the Station Resource Group, along with co-founder Susan Harmon, in the development and launch of Public Radio Capital (which transitioned into PMC) where he and Susan Harmon served as co-CEOs when it became an independent entity in 2001.

Chris Jansen leads Broadcast & Media Groups News Partnerships at Google. Chris began his career in broadcasting, delivering news on-air for several radio stations in his home state of Arizona. He then worked at Scientific American magazine before returning to broadcasting, this time in ad sales research at Univision Television. Chris then spent eight years at Kantar, providing research to agencies, advertisers and all types of media sellers in Digital, Print, TV, Radio and OOH. Prior to joining Google 13 years ago, Chris taught Communications and Broadcasting at LaGuardia Community College in Queens, NY.

Anshul is a media and entertainment executive with a passion for helping media companies build differentiated video services in the market. Anshul heads Broadcast solutions for Google Cloud globally and additionally heads TMEG Business Development in EMEA. In his role, Anshul is responsible for helping Telco, Media and Gaming companies leverage Google Cloud's technology to create innovative and engaging consumer experiences for their audiences. He also identifies and capitalizes on new opportunities in the cloud across the Google ecosystem.

Prior to joining Google Cloud, he held various leadership roles at Ericsson, including General Manager for its Online Video and Media business.

Debasish Mishra is an industry-recognized technology strategist and transformation expert with experience in multiple industries including media, manufacturing, and high technology industries. His firm, Scagility, specializes in scalability leveraging artificial intelligence. 

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He has over 10 years of experience in the media and entertainment industry, most recently serving as Chief Technology Officer for The WNET Group and also as Vice President and global Chief Architect for NBCUniversal. His tenure at both organizations leading large-scale cloud transformations earned him recognition by the American Business Association and the NY CIO Association.

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His career also includes stops at Corning, Microsoft and Merck & Co. He has a Master of Science in Public Policy and Management from Carnegie Mellon University and a Bachelor's degree from the University of Michigan.

George Molnar now leads development of SpectraRep’s nationwide datacast alert and warning network. A broadcast professional for three decades, Molnar is the recipient of numerous industry awards, including two Emmys for Outstanding Technical Team efforts. He previously served as Nevada’s Statewide Interoperability Coordinator (SWIC) and worked on the National Emergency Communications Plan and Nevada’s Statewide Communications Interoperability Plan. He also was a member of the State Emergency Communications Committee. Molnar served at PBS headquarters as director of the PBS WARN project. George holds a master’s degree in crisis and emergency management from the University of Nevada Las Vegas, and is a Certified Emergency Manager. He lives with his wife and a very energetic Jack Russell Terrier in the DC suburbs. 

Skip Pizzi is Owner and Principal at Skip Pizzi Media Consultant LLC, a media technology consulting firm based in the Philadelphia area. Previously he has held technology staff positions at NPR, Microsoft, and the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB), with over a decade of service at each organization. He has authored, co-authored, or edited several books—most recently, A Broadcast Engineering Tutorial for Non-Engineers (published by Focal Press)—and has been an editor and featured columnist for numerous broadcast, audio and digital media industry trade publications.

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Skip has served as Vice Chair of the Advanced Television Systems Committee’s (ATSC) Technology Group 3 (TG3, which developed the ATSC 3.0 standard) since its inception, and chairs the ATSC Brazil Implementation Team (IT-4), which is working with Brazilian broadcasters and technologists to design that country’s next-generation television standard. He is also Chair of ATSC Specialist Group on Program Requirements and System Management (S31), and Vice Chair of ATSC’s Automotive Implementation Team (IT-8).

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Skip currently represents Fraunhofer USA at ATSC, and LG Electronics/Zenith at both ATSC and the Consumer Technology Association (CTA). He has also served as Project Manager for WNET/WLIW’s NextGen TV transition in New York City, and is Senior Advisor to the Public Media Venture Group (PMVG). Skip was the 2017 recipient of ATSC’s Bernard J. Lechner Outstanding Contributor Award, the organization’s highest technical honor. He has received the Audio Engineering Society’s Board of Governors Award, and the Public Radio Regional Organizations’ PRRO Award.

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He is a graduate of Georgetown University, where he studied International Economics, Electrical Engineering and Fine Arts.

Peter Riordan is a Global Strategy Leader for Amazon Web Services' Media, Entertainment, Games, and Sports business unit. He has led the Broadcast solution area where he worked with customers worldwide on live remote production, channel origination, newsroom operations, and content distribution. As the industry evolves, he now focuses on helping media organizations leverage Generative Artificial Intelligence to transform their business operations.

Beginning his career at a PBS member station as a member of the production crew, Peter went on to spend a decade with major content owners including HBO and Discovery Communications. He later focused on global content distribution, developing workflow and change management expertise across the entire media lifecycle from production through multi-platform delivery.

His achievements include designing the technology systems that first enabled the NFL and Verizon to bring every game of a season to their mobile app, and leading major technology initiatives for leading media companies. Currently, he helps broadcasters leverage cloud solutions and GenAI to transform their operations and reach audiences more effectively.

Peter is an active member of the Television Academy and SMPTE, and has served on the AMWA Board of Directors. With over 35 years of experience spanning traditional broadcasting to cloud-based solutions, he brings valuable perspective to the ongoing evolution of television technology.

Mike has worked at Heartland Video Systems (HVS) for over 20 years, focusing on Call Letter TV systems. HVS is a systems integrator and has been involved in over 90 ATSC 3.0 market launches with BitPath, Pearl, and self-launched with our help. Mike’s primary focus was ATSC 1.0 Encoding and PSIP, and he has commissioned hundreds of ATSC encoding systems. Almost five years ago, HVS made the decision to focus Mike’s efforts on ATSC 3.0. HVS built an ATSC 3.0 lab where they have all major equipment available, allowing them to quickly mockup any system and test changes or ideas offline. HVS has equipment from multiple vendors from encoding through exciter, including consumer TV’s & set tops as well as multiple vendors of test equipment and monitoring gear. This variety of equipment allows HVS the ability to verify compatibility with various brands, as well as functions of latest software releases. Mike works closely with Pearl, A3SA, EIDR, BitPath, and the consumer electronics companies to help solve problems and develop & test features like Stat Mux, HDR, Atmos, Signal Signing, DRM, and Virtual Channels.

Christian Siebeneck is a seasoned professional with over two decades of experience in technology, operations, leadership, and recognized for his strategic vision and commitment to innovation. Currently serving as a key executive in his field, Christian has built a reputation for driving organizational growth and fostering collaboration across diverse teams.

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Christian began his career in the technology sector, earning degrees in computer technology from Kent State University. His early roles honed his technical expertise and leadership skills, eventually leading him to executive positions where he has overseen transformative projects and operational advancements. Notably, he served as Chief Executive Officer at GreatWave Communications, where he spearheaded initiatives to expand broadband services across Northeast Ohio, leveraging his deep understanding of operations and project management to enhance community connectivity. During his tenure, he was instrumental in implementing cutting-edge technologies and strategies, which significantly improved the accessibility and quality of communication services for thousands of residents.

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In his current role as CTO, Christian continues to champion innovation, guiding Twin Cities Public Television-TPT through technological evolution and operational excellence. His leadership philosophy emphasizes adaptability, cross-functional teamwork, and a forward-thinking approach to solving complex challenges. Christian's efforts have led to numerous technological upgrades and efficiencies, positioning TPT as a leader in public media. One of the key initiatives under his leadership includes the development and deployment of advanced digital platforms, enhancing the reach and impact of TPT's content. Additionally, Christian has played a crucial role in cultivating partnerships with other technology firms and organizations, further driving innovation and resource sharing within the industry.

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An important aspect of Christian’s role at TPT is organizational risk management, where he has developed a robust framework to evaluate and mitigate risk within the organization. This framework has been pivotal in safeguarding TPT’s assets, ensuring uninterrupted service delivery, and maintaining high standards of operational integrity.

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Christian resides in Woodbury, Minnesota with his wife, Karin. Outside of his professional commitments, he is an avid railroad enthusiast and loves to jump in the car and explore day trips that include hiking and exploring the outdoors. His career is a testament to his dedication to using technology and strategic insight to create lasting impact, both within his professional sphere and the wider community.