WASHINGTON—The AWARN Alliance has elected its 2021 Steering Committee, the organization’s governing body that provides guidance to the AWARN Alliance and its executive director.
For the first time, the membership elected a chair and vice chair for the AWARN Steering Committee, which will help streamline governing activities at the Alliance. John Taylor, senior vice president, public affairs, LG Electronics North America, was elected chair. Jim DeChant, vice president of technology, News-Press & Gazette Broadcasting Co., was elected vice chair.
“Advanced emergency alerting and messaging has been clear use case for ATSC 3.0 from the very beginning. AWARN has positioned the broadcasting and consumer electronics industries to use this powerful new technology for voluntary, cross-industry solutions for addressing some of our country’s most pressing public safety communications needs,” said newly-elected chair Taylor. “Our governance structure has evolved to meet the challenges and opportunities we face, and I’m honored to be serving on the Steering Committee with my esteemed colleagues.”
ATSC President Madeleine Nolan, who serves as an ex officio steering committee member, applauded the AWARN Alliance for “major strides made to date, forging strong connections with the broader emergency management community and educating key stakeholders about the capabilities of advanced emergency messaging powered by ATSC 3.0.” She added, “I am excited about AWARN’s goals as articulated in its ‘Vision and Mission’ statements and look forward to continued close collaboration with the entire AWARN team as we work toward common goals.”
2021 AWARN STEERING COMMITTEE
· Chair: John Taylor, Senior Vice President, Public Affairs, LG Electronics North America
· Vice Chair: Jim DeChant, Vice President of Technology, News-Press & Gazette Broadcasting Co.
· AWARN Executive Director: John Lawson, President of Convergence Services, Inc., which manages the Alliance
· Public Television Representative: Tim Bischoff, Chief Technology Officer, Kentucky Educational Television
· Small Broadcaster Representative: Pete Sockett, Director of Engineering and Operations, Capitol Broadcasting Co. – WRAL/WRAZ/WILM
· Joe Di Scipio, Senior Vice President, FCC Legal & Business Affairs and Assistant General Counsel, Fox Corp.
· So Vang, Vice President of Emmerging Technology, ONE Media 3.0
· Anne Shelle, Managing Director, Pearl TV
· Yoshi Tsurimaki, Producer of Business Development, T-NET Japan
Ex-Officio Advisors:
· Madeleine Noland, President, ATSC
· Luke Fay, Senior Manager of Technical Standards, Sony
· Kelly Willams, Vice President, Engineering and Technology Policy, National Association of Broadcasters
