SMPTE announced that Hans Hoffmann has been elected by the membership to serve as president for the 2021–22 term.
He is head of media fundamentals and production at the European Broadcasting Union and currently serves as SMPTE executive vice president. When he takes office, he will be the first European to serve as the Society’s president.
“Hans is a wonderful leader in so many ways,” said Barbara Lange, executive director at SMPTE. “While he has a uniquely deep understanding of emerging technology in the modern media landscape, he also is a proven talent-builder. He has great instincts, a knack for defining a clear direction, and the leadership skills to bring everyone along.”
Hoffmann, a SMPTE Fellow, joined the Society as a young engineer and progressed through roles leading standardization groups, acting as chair of various technology committees and serving as a Board governor for the EMEA Region, vice president of standards and vice president of finance before becoming executive vice president. He has been involved with SMPTE, the EBU, the ITU and other international standards bodies throughout his career.
He was involved with founding the Inter SDO, an informal group of international standards bodies that meets regularly to compare work. Hoffmann has decades of experience working on future media production technologies, with a current focus on media in the cloud. “It’s an honor to be elected to this leadership position at SMPTE,” said Hoffmann.
“We have a world of opportunity ahead of us, and we need to be agile in positioning the Society to delve into the areas that address the rise of the cloud, IP, remote workflows and media creation, artificial intelligence and machine learning, software in place of hardware, and personalization and ‘immersiveness’ in media consumption,” he added.
“Equally important, we need to consider the perspectives of younger generations of media professionals and engineers and provide them with purpose and solutions that will help carry them forward. While SMPTE already is a global organization, we will continue to think more broadly and work more closely with industry and partner organizations worldwide in delivering concrete initiatives that speak to the interests and needs of our diverse industry. I am thankful that the EBU is supporting this important post, as it will obviously bring mutual benefits to user organizations and industry.”