CEA Honors Four Individuals During Second Annual Technology Achievement Awards
ARLINGTON, Va.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA)® announced that its second annual Technology and Standards Awards go to Warner W. Johnston, WWJ Consulting; Adam Goldberg, AGP, LLC; Ray Conover, Hubbard Broadcasting Inc. and Walt Zerbe, Russound. The awards were presented at the second annual Technology and Standards Awards dinner, held in conjunction with the CEA Technology and Standards Fall Forum, a four-day event that brings engineering leaders together to develop CE standards.
“CEA’s Technology and Standards Awards honor industry leaders who help advance the state-of-the-art in consumer electronics,” said Brian Markwalter, CEA’s vice president of technology and standards. “These designers, developers and engineers focus on new technologies or bring significant enhancements to existing technologies and help drive further innovation within the industry.”
This year, the CEA Technology Leadership Award went to three industry leaders. The award is presented for commitment to excellence as evidenced by the extent and consistency of an individual’s participation in the Technology & Standards program. Warner W. Johnston received the award for his two decades of exceptional service on CEA’s Technology & Standards committees. Johnston, a former broadcast engineer at ABC from 1971 until 2008, chaired the working group responsible for many revisions of CEA-608, the Emmy award-winning standard for closed captions, and associated standards. He also acted as technical editor of EIA-608-B through CEA-608-E. Johnston began representing ABC in CEA standards activities with an interest in closed captioning and ancillary data packets in the NTSC closed captioning system.
Ray Conover has also been awarded the 2009 Technology Leadership Award. Conover is the chairman of the CEA R5 Antennas Committee and was the principal author and editor of CEA-774, which relates to the test and measurement of TV antennas. As Senior VP of Engineering for U.S. Satellite Broadcasting he also developed and handed off to CEA the antenna selector map, a retailing tool for the selection of TV antennas using advanced computer mapping techniques presently used on Antennaweb.org. Conover served as vice president and director of engineering at CONUS Communications and has consulted on numerous developing projects including Satellite News Gathering projects for Hubbard Broadcasting and Fuji Television in Japan.
The 2009 Technology Leadership Award was also presented to Adam Goldberg, who serves as chair of CEA’s R4.3 Television Data Systems Subcommittee. He has chaired the Television Manufacturers Caucus (TVMC) and working groups on A/V Synchronization Processing and Unidirectional Cable TV Compatibility. Goldberg has been closely involved in digital television and digital telecommunications activities, including the digital television transition, cable television compatibility and regulations affecting consumer electronics.
Walt Zerbe received the 2009 CEA Technology Achievement Award for the creation of the Multi-Room Audio Standard (ANSI/CEA-2030). This award is focused on an individual’s contributions to new technologies or significant improvements made to existing technologies and participation and leadership in CEA’s Technology & Standards program. Zerbe has more than 20 years of experience in the custom installed audio industry. He was a key leader in the creation of the joint CEA/CEDIA R10 Residential Systems Committee, where he currently serves as co-chair. Zerbe has also previously served as co-chair of the R3 Audio Systems Committee, chair of the R3 WG7 Multi-room audio committee, co-chair of Multi-Room Audio Video Council (MRAV) and as a board member of the TechHome Council.
About CEA:
The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) is the preeminent trade association promoting growth in the $172 billion U.S. consumer electronics industry. More than 2,000 companies enjoy the benefits of CEA membership, including legislative advocacy, market research, technical training and education, industry promotion and the fostering of business and strategic relationships. CEA also sponsors and manages the International CES – Where Entertainment, Technology and Business Converge. All profits from CES are reinvested into CEA’s industry services. Find CEA online at www.CE.org.
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