The EBU’s Director of Technology and Innovation Simon Fell is among the 15 recipients to this year be made a Fellow of the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE).

The professional membership association founded in 1916 advances moving-imagery education and engineering across the communications, technology, media, and entertainment industries.

The fellowship recognizes individuals who have performed eminent service in the areas of engineering in motion pictures, television, or in the allied arts and sciences and is the Society’s highest accolade. 

Since joining the EBU in 2013, Simon Fell has led a team renowned for spearheading developments in new media technology on behalf of its Members.

The role profits from four decades of experience. At British broadcaster ITV he was Director of Future Technologies & Controller of Emerging Technologies; earlier he helped establish Carlton Television where he held several executive positions linked to operations, emerging technologies and the launch of digital broadcasting.

He has chaired the Technical Council at the Digital Television Group – the UK industry association for digital television, and represented UK broadcasters on the EBU Technical Committee between 2006 and 2009.

Additional roles include Director of Engineering for Rushes, Chief Engineer of 625 and Electronic Engineering at Channel Four, where he was instrumental in the adoption of Super 16 film. His early career included periods at Rank Cintel USA and Yorkshire Television in Leeds.  

The recipients will be recognized in a ceremony at the 2015 SMPTE Conference and Exhibition in Los Angeles on October 18.

Also elevated to the rank of Fellow are Annie Chang, VP of post-production technology at The Walt Disney Studios; Paul Chapman, senior VP of technology at Fotokem; Jim Houston, Principal at Starwatcher Digital; Peter Fasciano, executive director at Franklin TV and WFPR-FM; William T. Hayes, director of engineering and technology at Iowa Public Television; and  Larry J. Hornbeck, fellow emeritus at Texas Instruments; Toshiaki Kojima, senior standard manager at Sony; Sara J. Kudrle, product marketing manager at Grass Valley; Karl Joseph Kuhn, senior video applications engineer at Tektronix; Kenneth Michel, retired VP of content systems engineering at Disney/ABC; Delbert R. Parks III, senior VP and CTO at Sinclair Television Group; Michael Strein, director of technology and workflow at ABC-TV; Giles Wilson, head of TV compression business at Ericsson; and Peter A. Wilson, founder and managing director at High Definition & Digital Cinema (HDDC).