Sinclair Promotes Mark Aitken, Scott Shapiro

Sinclair Broadcast Group has promoted Mark Aitken from vice president to senior vice president of advanced technology responsible for the company’s development and deployment of next-gen technologies such as ATSC 3.0.

In addition, Scott Shapiro has been promoted from vice president to senior vice president of corporate development, responsible for acquisitions and external investments.

In making the announcement, Christopher Ripley, Sinclair president-CEO, said: “Mark has positioned himself at the cutting edge of the industry for years as an innovator and thought leader. During his 20 years with Sinclair, he has worked tirelessly to develop best-in-class broadcast technology and was a creator of the next generation broadcast transmission platform, ATSC 3.0, which is on its way to becoming a global standard.”

Ripley continued: “This is an exciting time for Sinclair as we push forward our vision of ‘connecting people with content everywhere.’ Scott has been instrumental in bringing transactions to us that increase our reach and content offerings. Scott helped lead our acquisition of the largest regional sports network business in the country that will transform us into a diversified media company.”

Aitken said of the promotion: “I am honored that my leadership and commitment has been recognized, and I will continue to bring fresh ideas that will lead to a more promising future for Sinclair and our industry.”

Shapiro said: “It has been incredibly fulfilling to watch Sinclair grow and thrive over the past decade — but I am more excited about what we can accomplish in the next ten years.”

Mark Aitken

Aitken joined Sinclair Broadcast Group in April 1999. He has been VP of advanced technology since July 2011 and prior to that, he was director of advanced technology.

While at Sinclair, Aitken has become a board member for Saankhya Labs, president of Sinclair’s One Media and chairman of various industry organizations, including the Advanced Television Systems Committee or ATSC. He is also the author of many papers dealing with innovative RF product developments, advanced digital broadcast systems, and design-implementation strategies, and holds patents for various RF devices and Next Gen systems.

Prior to joining Sinclair, Aitken had already accrued 25 years of industry experience as both a consultant and engineer. He began his career as an engineer for Comark.

Scott Shapiro

Shapiro joined Sinclair in 2011 and after holding various roles in finance, launched the corporate development team in 2015 and was promoted to vice president in 2016. Previously he worked in Institutional Equity Research at Morgan Stanley and Prudential Equity Group.

Shapiro additionally has an audit and tax background, working for both KPMG and PricewaterhouseCoopers. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in history from the University of Rochester and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business.