The Andrita Media Center is wholly owned by Broadcast Facilities, Inc. (BFI).


BFI’s senior management team is second to none in the industry:
 

Simon Bax, CEO
Simon Bax is the Chief Executive Officer of Broadcast Facilities Inc. He has extensive financial and operating experience primarily in the media and entertainment industry.


Most recently he was EVP and CFO of Pixar Animation Studios, until its sale to Disney in 2006. During his time at Pixar he was directly responsible for finance, administration, and investor relations, while overseeing marketing, distribution and consumer products. His role with Pixar earned him recognition as the “Bay Area CFO of the Year” by the San Francisco Business Times. Between 2002 and 2006, Bax was chairman of SmartJog, a technology startup that became the leader in fast secure digital delivery of media worldwide. Before 2002, he served as the CFO and President of studio operations for Fox Filmed Entertainment for eight years. He joined Fox from TBWA\Chiat\Day advertising, where he also was CFO.


Bax trained as a Chartered Accountant in London with Stoy Hayward & Co where he was named partner in 1986. He is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the British Academy of Film and Television Arts and serves on several boards including Panmure Gordon & Co, MobiTV, Docufide, the Berkeley Art Museum and the Caius Foundation.
 
 

William Tillson, President & COO
William Tillson oversees all areas related to the operation of the Andrita Media Center. In addition, Mr. Tillson, in association with Mr. Bax, is responsible for all business development for Andrita’s parent company, Broadcast Facilities, Inc.


Mr. Tillson was responsible for the design, construction and start-up of Andrita and he has overseen Andrita since it commenced operations.


Mr. Tillson is also the CEO and Principal of Broadcast Cable Services Inc. (“BCS”). BCS was founded by Mr. Tillson in 1992. BCS provides consulting services related to the facilities and satellite capacity that originate cable television channels world-wide. BCS’s clients have included The Disney ABC Cable Networks group, Viacom, Showtime, Game Show Network, Black Entertainment Television, Sony, RLTV and CURRENT TV among others.


Prior to founding BCS, Mr. Tillson was a senior executive at Compact Video overseeing all network origination, post production, telecine and sound operations as well as new business development. During Mr. Tillson’s tenure at Compact Video, the company launched TVN, and originated multiple networks including the Disney Channel and Starz Encore. Compact Video was the predecessor company to 4MC which became Ascent Media. Mr. Tillson has overseen the launch of more than 150 cable television networks in North America, Asia, Latin America and Europe and he has negotiated facilities and transponder transactions in excess of $2.5 billion.
 
 
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Tom Mikkelsen, CTO
Tom Mikkelsen oversees and is responsible for keeping Andrita and BFI on the cutting edge of all areas related to media technology.


Mr. Mikkelsen joined the BFI management team in July, 2008 and brings with him 35 years of experience in the broadcast industry. Prior to joining the team at BFI, Mr. Mikkelsen was the Senior Director for Broadcast Operations for MediaFLO USA, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of QUALCOMM that is offering interactive wireless multimedia services to consumers in cooperation with U.S. wireless operators. Mr. Mikkelson was responsible for the development, construction and implementation of all of MediaFLO USA's broadcast operations, including the co-located MediaFLO satellite teleport in San Diego.


Simultaneously, Mr. Mikkelsen serves as an advisor/ Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer for Network Captioning Services. The company provides closed captioning in English and Spanish for major television networks, local television stations and post production facilities. He is also a minority shareholder.


Over Mr. Mikkelsen’s 35 years of experience in the Broadcast industry, Mr. Mikkelsen has served as the Vice President of Production and Operations for Starz Encore, the Senior Director of Broadcast Technology and Facilities for AT&T Digital Media Centers (now Comcast Media Center) the General Manager of Engineering at Vyvx Advertising Distribution Services. He is a Fellow and active with the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE), as well as the Society of Broadcast Engineers (SBE), the Society of Cable and Television Engineers (SCTE) and the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE).

 
 
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Greg Yen, CFO
Greg Yen oversees all areas of finance and accounting related to Andrita and BFI. Mr. Yen also works closely with the CEO and COO on business development for Andrita and BFI.


Mr. Yen joined the BFI management team in August, 2008. Prior to joining BFI, Mr. Yen was the Senior Vice President Finance, Guidance Technologies & Solutions for Gemstar-TV Guide International Business where Mr. Yen served as the unit head of finance for the worldwide interactive program guide division and was responsible for all budgeting & planning, forecasting, and reporting. Mr. Yen most recently worked on the due diligence for the acquisition of Gemstar-TV Guide International by Macrovision.


Prior to Gemstar-TV Guide International, Mr. Yen worked with Mr. Bax as the Head of Marketing and Distribution Finance for Pixar Animation Studios and was the primary financial liaison Disney for worldwide theatrical, home entertainment, television, consumer products and participations. Before Mr. Yen’s time at Pixar he served as the Senior Vice President, Finance & Accounting for Twentieth Century Fox Television Distribution, which distributed film and television product to worldwide clients in Pay TV, Free TV, and Pay-Per-View.
 
 
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Steve Mankowski, Vice President of Broadcast Engineering
Steve Mankowski is responsible for all aspects of engineering as it pertains to the on-air operations, production operations, and post-production operations of the facility, which includes the design, build-out and support for the facility. Mr. Mankowski also oversees the design and implementation of new network infrastructures at Andrita which also includes Andrita’s IT department.


Steve Mankowski joined the management team at Andrita in mid-2005 as the Vice President of Broadcast Engineering with 20 years of experience in the broadcast industry. Prior to Andrita he was the director of engineering for G4 Media. Included in his work experience are assignments at AT&T Digital Media Center, The International Channel, and KVEA Channel 52 Telemundo.
 
 
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Chere Johnson, Vice President Operations
Chere Johnson has been with Andrita since the launch of the facility in 2003. Ms. Johnson manages all components of the Andrita broadcast operations. Her principal responsibility is to ensure that all “on-air” networks are transmitted as scheduled 24/7 and that each network achieves the highest level of performance exceeding a 99.95% reliability rate. Ms. Johnson’s responsibilities include managing Andrita’s 24/7 Master Control staff.


Ms. Johnson joined Andrita with over 20 years experience in the broadcast industry. Prior to Andrita she was a program coordinator at USA Broadcasting/Univision. Included in her work experience are assignments at Ashfield Film and Video, Johnson Controls World Services, TGS Technology and Group W Cable.
 
 
 

Jarred Kennedy, Vice President Client Services

Jarred Kennedy is responsible for handling the day-to-day interaction between BFI and its current and potential clients. In this capacity Mr. Kennedy works with BFI’s engineering, broadcast operations, and media services teams to coordinate the roll-out of new services and technology required to meet the needs of BFI’s clients. In addition, Mr. Kennedy works with Mr. Bax and Mr Tillson to develop new clients and identify and execute growth opportunities for the business.

 

Mr. Kennedy joined the BFI executive team in June 2009. Prior to joining BFI, Mr. Kennedy was Director of Business Development at Sony Pictures Television. Previously he was a consultant with McKinsey & Co in London.

 

Mr. Kennedy is a graduate of Harvard College and the Harvard Business School.
 
 

Angela Pierce, Vice President, Administration & Chief of Staff

Angela Pierce oversees all areas of administration, human resources, security and facilities related to Andrita and BFI.

Ms. Pierce is responsible for coordinating all major projects at BFI, ensuring that all BFI divisions are effectively interacting throughout execution of the project. In addition, Ms. Pierce directly oversees BFI’s production studios and assists Mr. Bax and Mr. Tillson in executing BFI’s strategic plan.

 

Ms. Pierce joined the BFI management team in February 2009. Prior to joining BFI, Ms. Pierce was Head of Studio Operations, Facilities and Human Resources at Revolution Studios where she oversaw the day-to-day operations of the studio.  Previously she was with Twentieth Century Fox serving as Executive Director, Domestic Distribution Services and Special Projects, office of the Chairman.