SMPTE President Renard Jenkins To Present Keynotes For Public Media Technology Summit & NAB BEIT Conference

Renard Jenkins

The Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) today announced that SMPTE President Renard T. Jenkins will serve as the keynote speaker for the inaugural Public Media Technology Summit (PMTS) preceding the 2023 NAB Show and for the NAB Show’s Broadcast Engineering and IT (BEIT) Conference during its opening session. Jenkins is senior vice president of production integration and creative technology services at Warner Bros. Discovery.

Slated for April 13-14 at the Renaissance Las Vegas Hotel, the PMTS will include sessions on RF, IT and general technology practice and management — particularly as they intersect with ATSC 3.0/NextGen TV, IP-based facilities, cloud-based production, and the related business and service opportunities that support public media’s unique mission. Jenkins, who was vice president of operations, engineering and distribution at PBS prior to joining Warner Bros. Discovery, will present his keynote address on the first day of the summit. While at PBS, Jenkins founded the organization’s Advanced Format Center and was responsible for the strategic direction, technology development, engineering, and operational management of PBS’ entire media supply chain.

Part of the NAB Show, the BEIT Conference will focus on content delivery ecosystems and infrastructures through presentations and in-depth discussions. Jenkins will speak during the BEIT Conference Opening Session, scheduled for 10-11 a.m. on Saturday, April 15, in the Las Vegas Convention Center’s West Hall (W219-W221). The session also will include the official BEIT Conference welcome and the presentation of the NAB Best Paper Award.

Jenkins and his teams have earned numerous awards, including two Emmys, an Innovator of the Year Award, and a 2020 Broadcasting & Cable Technology Leadership Award, for their work in film and television production, postproduction, and research and development. He is a SMPTE Fellow and a board member for MovieLabs, the Hollywood Professional Association, the UltraHD Forum and the Content and Entertainment Council as well as a member of the Microsoft and Oracle advisory boards.

A champion and advocate for inclusion, diversity, equity, and accessibility in the technology and media industries, Jenkins is a strategic adviser to the board of directors of the Washington, D.C., chapter of the National Association for Multi-Ethnicity in Communications, chair of the Warner Bros. Discovery Technology and Operations Equity and Inclusion Council, chair of the SMPTE Global Inclusion Working Group, and co-chair of HPA ALL, which advocates for and promotes diversity, better equity, and increased inclusion and accessibility in the media and entertainment industry.