Steven Kaufman

Steve is a senior media technologist and production executive with over twenty five years of leadership in the media industry.  This experience spans a number of roles in a wide variety of businesses including Broadcast and Cable Networks, I.T, production, engineering consulting, and post production; representing an array of top-tier media companies including ABC, NBC, CNBC, FNN, A&E Networks, MTV Networks, MSG Network, Lucas Film, The National Hockey League and Major League Baseball.

With his extensive experience in technology, operations and production sides of the media business, Steve brings a broad based perspective on technology and the industry in general. Experienced in many facets of the media business, he has the ability to develop strategy and solutions incorporating the best combination of new technology, manpower capital, organizational efficiencies and traditional methodology and workflows, insuring a real-world best-of-breed approach.

In his consulting practice, Steve helps media companies, both old and new, forge a path bridging content creation and video media with the new digital landscape.  For established Broadcast media clients, this can mean re-engineering internal strategy and process to leverage existing content to new digital platforms. For new media clients, this frequently means building internal content creation capabilities within those organizations, or developing internal process and technology to bring video content into their business operations.

In recent years, Steve's work has been recognized with two Emmy Awards, three Webby awards, and a Webby nomination.

In his role as the head of production technology, operations and digital media at MTV Networks, Steve oversaw all aspects of content creation and Television Production,  including studios, remote production, satellite, editing, and digital media operations and technology for the entire MTV Networks channel group. This included MTV, VH1, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, TV Land, CMT, and Spike TV. Spanning over a decade, in support of this rapidly growing company, Steve developed both operational and technical strategy, overseeing the exponential growth of MTV Networks Production and Media facility resources, which increased from a single edit room in 1994 to over 300 edit rooms nationwide, as well as studios, remote production trucks, digital animation studios, duplication, digitizing, transcoding, and streaming facilities which he built over the subsequent years.  

As a leader of the digital expansion within the MTV Networks organization, Steve worked closely with Business Development teams in developing strategy and hammering out agreements with outside partners. Once strategies were adopted, he developed the necessary digital standards, processes, and internal workflows to operate those new digital businesses, which included numerous download-to-own, cable VOD, Mobile, and Broadband platforms.  Steve led numerous internal digital initiatives including content preservation, Digital Asset Management, and digital Copyright Protection, forging company strategy and standards.

Leveraging his extensive Production background, Steve also services clients as a Technical Producer, working with production teams in developing programming ideas, and managing the technical challenges to produce programming. Recently, for YouTube, this involved oversight of all of the location logistics for a major live webcast production event, as well as web site development and live streaming.

In addition to a position of Senior Vice President, Production Operations and Technology at MTV Networks, in other positions held during his career, Steve has worked as an electronic technician and Production Technical Director at ABC Television, working on programs such as World News Tonight and Nightline, was CTO at an independent production editing company, NEXUS Productions, and held the position of Senior Project Manager at A.F. Associates where he was responsible for engineering design and construction of a number of large-scale broadcast production facilities.