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Ioan Allen was educated at Rossall School and Dartmouth Royal Naval College, England. After leaving the Royal Navy in 1959, he specialized in technical writing, including the preparation of Admiralty manuals. He then spent several years in artist management and record production. Ioan joined Dolby Laboratories in 1969 and was in large part responsible for the origination and development of all the major audio advancements emanating from the Dolby film program. During his tenure at the company, Ioan has spearheaded the introduction of many of Dolby's breakthrough audio formats—from Dolby Stereo in 1974 to Dolby SR in 1986 and Dolby Digital in 1992—each representing another step forward leading to the company's successful transition from analog audio pioneer to digital entertainment leader. Ioan holds several patents and has authored many papers in technical journals. He is a Fellow of the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE), the Audio Engineering Society (AES), the British Kinematograph Sound and Television Society (BKSTS), and a past president of the International Theatre Equipment Association (ITEA). He is active in world standards organizations, and is currently Engineering Director, Motion Pictures for SMPTE, an Adjunct Professor at the University of Southern California School of Cinema-Television and was recently awarded a prestigious honorary degree of Doctor of Science from the University of Nottingham in the UK. Ioan helped establish and is the chairman of the Dye Track Committee, which was honored in 2007 by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Scientific and Technical Committee for its contributions to the environmentally responsible industry conversion from silver-based to cyan dye analog soundtracks. He also currently serves as technical chairman of the Trailer Audio Standards Association (TASA). Ioan has received much recognition for his work over the years; he is a recipient of SMPTE's Samuel L. Warner Award for contributions to motion picture sound (1985) and of several Scientific and Engineering Awards from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (1979, 1987, and 2001). Ioan received the BV Sturdivant Award for extraordinary service to the exhibition industry (1998) from the National Association of Theatre Owners (NATO), and the Moving Image Society in Britain gave him the BKSTS Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Industry (1999). Ioan has also been honored for his contributions to the film industry with the Ken Mason Award from the Intersociety for the Enhancement of Theatrical Presentation (2002). In 1989, Ioan and Ray Dolby were awarded Oscars for continuous contributions to motion picture sound through the research and development programs at Dolby Laboratories. | |  | |
As Vice President, Human Resources, Sherie Berger is responsible for leading and executing Dolby's global human resources effort, including the recruitment and retention of its highly skilled workforce. Prior to Dolby, Sherie was at Hewlett-Packard, where she was Vice President, Global Leadership, Management and Professional Development. She has also served as Vice President, Human Resources, for Hewlett-Packard's Enterprise Storage & Servers business unit. Before joining Hewlett-Packard, Sherie was a senior consultant at Watson Wyatt Worldwide, a global human resources consulting firm. She also spent 11 years at Apple Inc., where her final position was Senior Director of Human Resources. Early in her career, Sherie held management and organization development roles at Varian Associates and Saga Corporation. Sherie holds a bachelor's degree in psychology and sociology from San Jose State University and an MBA degree from the University of California, Los Angeles. | |  | |
As Vice President, Manufacturing, John Blunden oversees the manufacture of Dolby professional products, including cinema processors, digital processors, and encoders for film studios for markets outside of the US, Japan, and Korea. Attracted to what he calls the company's philosophy of getting the job done right, John joined Dolby UK in 1986 as Production Manager, and immediately sought ways to improve and streamline the manufacturing operation. At the end of 1992, he moved the manufacturing operations from London to its current location at Wootton Bassett. This transfer took advantage of the high-caliber talent pool in rural England and enabled the creation of a first-class manufacturing environment. Prior to joining Dolby, John held positions in electronic design and development, in oil exploration, and in manufacturing, where he gained experience in a wide variety of production processes. John has a BSc degree in electrical engineering from the University of Bristol, and is a Chartered Engineer and a member of the Institution of Electrical Engineers (IEE). | |  | |
In his position as Vice President of Marketing, John Carey ensures that Dolby continues to deliver innovative products, services, and technologies, while overseeing the future product direction for its cinema, broadcast, live sound, gaming, content relations, and content protection business segments worldwide. John's responsibilities include increasing product visibility and demand, leveraging currently untapped markets, and developing new products and strategic relationships. He brings more than 25 years of experience to Dolby and has developed and managed worldwide sales, marketing, channel-sales, and direct-sales organizations for several companies in the electronics and entertainment fields. Before joining Dolby, John was Director of Business Development, Professional Audio, for DTS, Inc. He has also served as Director of Business Development, Volume Logic Group, Plantronics, Inc.; President, Klotz Digital America; President, Studer North America (a division of Harman International Industries); Vice President, Sales and Marketing, E-mu Systems (a division of Creative Technology, Ltd.); and Vice President, Sales and Marketing, Otari Corporation. John holds a fine-arts degree in music industry arts, recording engineering, from Fanshawe College, London, Ontario. He also studied music performance at the State University of New York at Buffalo. | |  | |
As Vice President, Corporate Marketing, Paula Dunn is responsible for the development and implementation of Dolby's communications and marketing strategies, including public relations, creative services, marketing services, global brand marketing, marketing events, and technical publications. Before joining Dolby, Paula was Senior Director of Corporate Communications for Sybase, Inc., an enterprise infrastructure and mobile software company. Prior to Sybase, she was a director in the technology practice for Ruder Finn, a global public relations firm. Early in her career, Paula served as an officer in the US Navy. While in the Navy, she held the position of Director of Naval Broadcasting, where she led a global network of 13 radio and television stations. Paula was also Director of Naval Publishing, where she managed a global news service and the Navy's monthly magazine, All Hands, among other publications. Paula holds a bachelor's degree in communications from the University of Michigan, a master's degree in communications arts from the University of Oklahoma, and an MBA degree from the University of Texas. | |  | |
Robin Dyer is responsible for sales, marketing, and business development of Dolby's technologies for applications including DVD, digital TV, automotive, mobile, personal computing, and gaming throughout Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. Robin joined Dolby Laboratories in 2003 to manage the marketing of the company’s consumer technologies in Europe. He has played an instrumental role in establishing the sales and marketing teams in all of the company's key consumer regions in Europe. Following a successful career as European Product Marketing Manager at Dell, and various product manager and manufacturing roles, Robin spent ten years with Philips Business Systems. He earned engineering degrees at Croydon Institute of Technology and Philips Engineering Centre. | |  | |
Since joining Dolby Laboratories in 1982, Steve Forshay has helped facilitate research and development of the breakthrough audio and surround sound technologies for which the company is widely recognized. As head of Dolby's Research Division, he helps ensure that research at Dolby, which includes sound technology as well as image signal processing and related entertainment technologies, can be successfully applied to the creation of new opportunities that align with the company's strategic direction, values, and business interests. Steve helps keep technology research and development focused on the end user—finding solutions that extend the entertainment experience with technology that is easy for the user to embrace. In addition to overseeing research activities, Steve participates in the formulation of corporate business, technology, and standards strategies. Prior to joining Dolby, he held engineering positions in audio entertainment system design at the David Hafler Company and in automotive entertainment and communications systems development at the Automotive and Industrial Products Division of Motorola, Inc. Steve holds a BS degree in electrical engineering from the New Jersey Institute of Technology and an MBA degree from St. Mary's College of California. He is a member of the AES, the SMPTE, and the IEEE. He is also active in several other industry standards and business forums. | |  | |
David Gray joined Dolby Laboratories in 1980 as an applications engineer in the Los Angeles office and attained his current position in 1993. After completing his studies at Montana State University and Windham College, David spent ten years building custom electronics and doing electronic repair for music artists such as The Kinks, Orleans, the Mahavishnu Orchestra, Steely Dan, and Frank Zappa, for whom he designed and built a then state-of-the-art recording studio in Southern California. David's involvement with Zappa's movie, Baby Snakes, served as his introduction to film sound, and eventually led to his joining Dolby. His group works harmoniously with both the engineering and Hollywood business communities, a strategy that David sees as the key to the company's continued success in introducing the new technologies and products that have transformed the entertainment industry. The recipient of a Scientific and Engineering Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in 1992, David was the 1994 recipient of the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) Samuel L. Warner Award for contributions to motion picture sound. In 1998, David was awarded the John A. Bonner Medal of Commendation “for outstanding service and dedication in upholding the high standards of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.” He is active in both the SMPTE and the Audio Engineering Society (AES) and serves on numerous committees. David is a member of AMPAS and is currently the Chairman of the Sound Investigation Committee and the Scientific and Technical Awards Committee. | |  | |
Jeff Griffith directs Dolby's Brisbane, California, manufacturing facility, which produces Dolby products for professional audio, broadcast, and cinema applications. Before joining Dolby Laboratories in 1991, Jeff held a variety of manufacturing positions in industries from Beckman Instruments in San Ramon, California, and Fairchild Semiconductor in Palo Alto, California. Jeff is a Certified Manufacturing Engineer (Society of Manufacturing Engineers) and a Professional Registered Engineer in the State of California. He is a graduate of the AEA/Stanford Executive Institute and the Leadership at the Peak program at the Center for Creative Leadership. He received a BS/BA degree from the University of San Francisco and an MBA degree from Golden Gate University. Jeff serves on the advisory boards for the University of San Francisco and Golden Gate University. | |  | |
John Iles joined Dolby Laboratories in 1976 following a rewarding career as a sound mixer and studio manager for major international recording artists in the 1960 and '70s. As a key member of the Dolby UK team, John helped usher in the early use of Dolby Stereo sound in films produced in England, and later in all the main European territories. Using his extensive experience in audio to enable this new film format, John helped forge the adoption of Dolby technologies among film technicians and movie theatre owners throughout Europe. Among his many accomplishments at Dolby was his personal involvement in most of the major films produced in Dolby formats in the '70s and '80s in Europe. In his current role, John manages a team of sound consultants that provides technical support for Dolby film production in areas other than the Americas and Japan. He is a Fellow of the the British Kinematograph Sound and Television Society (BKSTS). In 1992, he was awarded the Charles Parkhouse Award for services to the British film industry. | |  | |
Since joining the company in 1997, Steve Jacobs has been charged with overseeing the strategic, technical, and architectural aspects for all product development at Dolby Laboratories. This includes products for broadcast, professional audio, traditional cinema, and, most recently, Dolby's design efforts for digital cinema. Among his many contributions to the company are his leadership in the development efforts that brought to market a dozen professional broadcast products, including Dolby E, and enabled digital television to deliver multichannel audio to the public. Prior to joining Dolby, Steve was the Director of Electrical and Acoustic Engineering for Plantronics, Inc., where he was responsible for the company's wireless program as well as the electrical and acoustical designs in its products. Steve received a BS degree in mathematics and physics from Brooklyn College of the City University of New York, and a PhD degree in physics from Syracuse University. He is the coinventor on several patents in the wide-ranging fields of wireless communications, electrical and mechanical designs, and materials processing. | |  | |
George Lin is Vice President and Chief Information Officer of Dolby Laboratories. He is responsible for Dolby's worldwide IT organization and leads global business process optimization, integration, and automation efforts for the company. Before joining Dolby, George was CIO of Advent Software, a financial services company. Prior to Advent, he managed the consolidated IT organization of EMC Software, a division of EMC Corporation, the world's leading developer and provider of information infrastructure technology and solutions. Before it was acquired by EMC, George was CIO of Documentum, a provider of enterprise content management solutions. Named a Premier 100 IT Leader by Computerworld magazine in 2003, George won CIO Decisions magazine's prestigious Mid-Market Leadership Award in 2006. He is a contributing author of the Prentice Hall PTR book CIO Wisdom: Best Practices from Silicon Valley's Leading IT Experts. He serves on the advisory boards of the Fisher IT Center at the University of California, Berkeley Haas School of Business and Tablus, a leading content security solutions provider. George graduated with a bachelor of arts degree from the University of California, Berkeley. | |  | |
As Senior Vice President, Sales, for Dolby, Stuart Mitchell is responsible for worldwide revenue generation efforts, as well as the day-to-day operations of the global customer management organizations across all market segments. Stuart brings more than 25 years of experience to Dolby, having built, managed, and led global sales teams and operations with several high-technology companies. Before joining Dolby, Stuart headed global sales and professional services efforts for PalmSource, which creates software platforms licensed to mobile device manufacturers, operators, and other ecosystem partners. Prior to PalmSource, Stuart served as Executive Vice President and General Manager of Immersion Corporation, a leader in next-generation user interfaces utilizing touch-enabled technology licensed to consumer markets and products manufactured and sold to professional markets. He also spent 12 years at Adobe Systems, where he served as Vice President, Sales and Marketing Systems Division. In this position, he was responsible for building Adobe's global sales and field marketing organization, focusing on revenue growth, the creation of industry standards by licensing imaging technologies and applications to leading industry partners, and building key ecosystems across consumer and professional markets. Stuart holds a BS in engineering physics from the University of Colorado, Boulder. | |  | |
As Vice President, Marketing Products and Platforms, Francois Modarresse leads teams that hold product management responsibility for technology platforms that have broad application across the entertainment industry, and products that meet specific consumer electronics, mobile, PC, portable, and video markets. His responsibilities include increasing product and technology visibility and demand, leveraging untapped markets, developing new products, and strategic relationships. Before joining Dolby, Francois headed marketing and business development for SkyStream Networks, an IP video delivery platform manufacturer since acquired by Tandberg Television. At SkyStream, he fostered the successful rollout of breakthrough technologies used in video-on-demand and electronic movie rental services. Prior to SkyStream, Francois helped found AdvanceV Corporation, a start-up company devoted to developing and selling technologies for next-generation set-top boxes and digital media appliances. He also spent 17 years with Philips Electronics, where he held several engineering and marketing positions. In his final position there, he oversaw Philips's US set-top box strategy for DirecTV, Dish Network, and DirecTV/TiVo services. Francois holds a Diplôme d'Etudes Supérieures Spécialisées (DESS) masters degree from the University of Orsay, France. | |  | |
Bruce Nottage is responsible for ensuring the financial stability and continuity of Dolby Laboratories' European operations, based in the UK. He is responsible for the Finance, Administration, IT, and Human Resources departments, overseeing training and health and safety for more than 100 employees at the European headquarters, including those working in the manufacturing plant. Bruce considers the collegiate atmosphere first fostered by Ray Dolby extremely important to the future of the company. Bruce oversaw the logistics of the office's move from London to Wiltshire in 1993, as well as the recent expansion to two buildings on the site. Bruce studied economics at Manchester University and graduated in 1973. He then trained with Touche Ross (now Deloitte & Touche) as a chartered accountant, subsequently working with the firm on rubber, coffee, and cocoa plantations in the South Pacific before joining Dolby Laboratories in 1981. | |  | |
As Vice President in charge of Dolby's tax responsibilities, Alan Sankin handles corporate international, federal, and state tax matters for the company. Before joining Dolby in 2007, Alan was Vice President, International Taxes, at Oracle, where he oversaw its international tax issues. He has extensive experience in international and acquisition taxation for multinational corporations, having also held tax and treasury positions at Cisco Systems, the business consulting firm Fair Isaac, and others. Alan is an attorney, licensed to practice in California, New York, and New Jersey (where he is also a CPA). He is also president of the San Francisco Foreign Tax Club and a member of the Silicon Valley Tax Directors Group. Alan holds an LLM in taxation from the New York University School of Law, and a JD from the University of Toledo College of Law. | |  | |
Robert Schumann cofounded Cinea, Inc., in 1999 to develop and commercialize a broad variety of content protection solutions for markets that include digital cinema, in-flight entertainment, high-definition DVD, and video-on-demand. In September 2003, Dolby acquired Cinea as a wholly owned subsidiary and named him General Manager. Leveraging 17 years of security technology experience, Robert is guiding Cinea in its mission to continue providing world-class antipiracy solutions for the digital video marketplace. Under his leadership, Cinea developed and rolled out the key management infrastructure for Dolby Digital Cinema systems, implemented a forensic watermarking system (S-TRACK), used by several major motion picture studios for individualizing 2003 Academy Award screeners on VHS tapes, and developed the S-VIEW secure DVD system for the protection of high-value DVD content. Prior to cofounding Cinea, Robert was chief architect for the Digital Video Express encrypted DVD platform and spearheaded the development of this leading edge consumer system. He also directed planning for the international expansion and exploitation of Digital Video Express technology in new markets. He has a BS degree in computer science from the Rochester Institute of Technology. | |  | |
Since joining Dolby Laboratories in 1979, Peter Seagger has played an important role in introducing new Dolby technologies to various world markets. Peter organized the debut of Dolby SR in Europe during the 1986 Audio Engineering Society (AES) annual conference in Montreux, Switzerland, facilitating the recording industry's universal recognition of SR for its ability to elevate analog, multitrack recording to a new level of excellence. In 1992, Peter played a similar role in the introduction of Dolby Digital for cinema, demonstrating the new technology to the industry during a hectic two-week tour of London, Munich, Paris, Barcelona, and Milan, and later Sydney, Australia. He has also been responsible for stewarding Dolby's presence at most of the industry tradeshows and conferences throughout Europe and Asia. Prior to joining Dolby, Peter worked in sales for the building and construction industry, traveling extensively throughout the world. He received his BA degree in modern languages from the University of Kent at Canterbury in 1972. He is an associate member of the AES and a member of the IBC Exhibitions Committee and has also previously served as Director of the Association of Professional Recording Services. | |  | |
Tony Spath is responsible for marketing Dolby technologies for professional and consumer applications including DVD, digital TV, and PC gaming throughout Europe, Asia, and Australia. He is also involved in developing new Dolby products for professional applications. Following a successful career as a music recording engineer and producer, Tony joined Dolby Laboratories in 1985 to help launch and promote Dolby SR in Europe, Asia, and Australia to film studios and the music business. He played an instrumental role in introducing Dolby technology to a growing film industry in India. His efforts helped increase the use of Dolby technologies from one screen in the late 1980s to today's thriving Bollywood market, in which all major features made in Mumbai are created and first screened with Dolby Digital sound. A key player in Dolby's transition from analog to digital, Tony also was involved in the first broadcast services to include Dolby Digital 5.1 in Europe in 1999. He has a degree in music from the University of Surrey. | |  | | Mahesh Sundaram, Vice President, Asia PacificAs Vice President, Asia Pacific, Mahesh Sundaram is responsible for sales, marketing, business development, services, customer support, and business operations in the Asia Pacific region. Mahesh joined Dolby Laboratories in 2004 and previously oversaw Dolby’s consumer electronics business worldwide. Mahesh brings more than 17 years of strategic sales, marketing, and management experience to the company. His career includes nine years at Intel Corporation, where he held several product marketing and management positions worldwide, overseeing the company’s business-to-business and wireless computing initiatives. Mahesh also held business development and sales positions with IBM and Fujitsu. He received a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the Victoria Jubilee Technical Institute at the University of Bombay (now the Veermata Jijabai Technological Institute at the University of Mumbai). |
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Craig Todd's involvement with multichannel sound spans more than 25 years, beginning with his initial work on Dolby Surround sound in 1977. Since 1992 he has focused his efforts on bringing multichannel digital audio to the consumer. He was instrumental in establishing Dolby Digital in DTV, CATV, and DVD formats, and has most recently made major technical contributions to the technology strategy and systems architecture of Dolby's Digital Cinema system. A holder of more than 20 patents, Craig has participated in standards-setting activities for the Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC), the Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB) project, the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE), the International Telecommunications Union (ITU-R), the Audio Engineering Society (AES), the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), and the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA). He is a Fellow of both the AES and SMPTE, and in 2002 was awarded the SMPTE Samuel L. Warner Memorial Medal for contributions to motion picture sound. Craig holds a BS degree in physics from the California Institute of Technology. | | 
| | Masayuki Urushiyama, Vice President, JapanAs Vice President, Japan, Masayuki "Uru" Urushiyama is responsible for sales, marketing, customer technical support, business operations, and business development throughout the Japan region. Uru joined Dolby in 2007 to expand Dolby's sales strategy and customer relationships in the region. His career spans more than 25 years working with large, complex, multinational customers including IBM, Matsushita, Sony, and Toshiba. Uru worked for more than 15 years with ALPS Electric Co., Ltd., one of the leading component manufacturers in Japan, and also held senior management positions at Adobe Systems. He served as President and Director of Sonic Japan KK, a Dolby customer. Uru holds a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from Yamagata University. |
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As Managing Director of Dolby's European headquarters in the UK since January 2000, David Watts oversees all aspects of the company's operation in Europe and other international territories including India, Russia, and China, including the film marketing, professional audio, and manufacturing locations in Wootton Bassett, and the consumer products licensing office in London. He joined Dolby on the very day of the UK media debut of the groundbreaking movie Star Wars in December 1977. Soon after his arrival, David helped build an infrastructure for transitioning international film production from mono to stereo, working directly with sound mixers in Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and China. Among the films to take advantage of this new stereo format was the Australian cult classic The Road Warrior. During his tenure at Dolby, David has held several positions in the UK and US, including Applications Engineer, Dolby Stereo Sound Consultant, Applications Manager, Director of Product Planning, and Vice President of Marketing. He received a degree in mathematics from the University of Sussex in 1973. Prior to joining Dolby Laboratories, David worked for Granada Television in Manchester, England. | |
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