SMPTE®,the home of media professionals, technologists, and engineers, has revealed the board officers and regional governors who will serve terms beginning in January 2025.
Three new officers–Richard Welsh as SMPTE president, Eric Gsell as SMPTE executive VP, and Polly Hickling as SMPTE Education VP–have been elected for a two-year term from Jan. 1, 2025, to Dec. 31, 2026. One SMPTE officer, Lisa Hobbs, will be continuing her service as SMPTE secretary and treasurer for another two-year term. Additionally, Raymond Yeung will be stepping into the role of standards VP on Jan. 1, 2025.
“SMPTE’s membership has spoken,” said SMPTE interim executive director Sally-Ann D’Amato. “These officers have been tasked with an important responsibility, one each of them is prepared to tackle head-on. These next two years are looking bright for SMPTE!”
In addition to the officers, 10 regional governors were elected by the Society to serve two-year 2025-2026 terms.
These include the following regional governors, re-elected to continue their service:
Asia-Pacific Region Governor
Tony Ngai, Society of Motion Imaging Ltd.
EMEA – Central & South America Region Governor
Fernando Bittencourt, FB Consultant
United Kingdom Region Governor
Chris Johns, Sky UK.
USA – Central Region Governor
William T. Hayes, Consultant
USA – Eastern Region Governor
Dover Jeanne Mundt, Riedel Communications
USA – Western Region Governor
Jeffrey F. Way, Open Drives
Also elected were four newcomers to the SMPTE Board:
Canada Region Governor
Jonathan Jobin, Grass Valley
USA – Hollywood Region Governor
Allan Schollnick, Voxx Studios
USA – Hollywood Region Governor
Brian Gaffney, MTI FILM LLC
USA – New York Region Governor
Jeff D. Cohen, Meta Martis
Nintendo chief insists the Switch momentum will keep going, even after its successor
Japanese video game maker Nintendo's chief said Wednesday that Switch console sales were still going strong, while he promised its successor is coming.
"The momentum of the Nintendo Switch hasn't stopped," company president Shuntaro Furukawa told reporters.
His comments come a day after Nintendo reported a 60% drop in its fiscal first half profit, largely because of declining sales of the Switch, which now is in its eighth year, as well as Switch games.
Furukawa did not give details on the greatly anticipated upcoming machine but stressed all current game software will be playable on the next Switch.
People may want to keep playing the offerings from the rich lineup already on sale, as well as the games they own, he added, insisting the Kyoto-based maker behind the Super Mario franchise wasn't hemmed in by the idea of a console's "life cycle."
Nintendo is investing in both hardware and software development research, as well as movies, merchandising, amusement parks and music, Furukawa said.
Another Mario movie is set to be released in April 2026, a sequel to last year's hit film, and a Zelda movie is also being planned, although a date wasn't given. Movies boost game and machine sales, and the absence of a movie this year was one reason sales faltered, according to Nintendo.
Theme park Super Nintendo World is opening in Orlando next year, and another is set to open in Singapore. They're already open in Japan and Los Angeles.
Official stores also help boost Nintendo fans, and a new one is opening in San Francisco next year. Nintendo stores are already open in New York, Osaka, Tokyo and Kyoto, in addition to the temporary pop-ups in various cities.
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