The Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers has named David Grindle as its new executive director.
This weekend at the NAB Show in Las Vegas, the century-old Society introduced the exec, who will start his new role at SMPTE in July after concluding a 12-year tenure as executive director of the United States Institute for Theatre Technology, an association whose membership includes designers, engineers, technicians and other such professionals that work in the performing arts. Grindle succeeds Barbara Lange, who stepped down at the end of 2021 after 12 years in this role.
“David encompasses for SMPTE the leadership attributes we need to move the organization into the future,” said SMPTE president Hans Hoffmann. “He has broad experience in nonprofit organizations and working with board structures like we have, and I look forward to developing – together with the board and him and the home office staff – the strategies for the future growth of the Society.”
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THR caught up with the new SMPTE exec:
As you step into this role, what are some of your initial goals for the association?
My number one goal at NAB is to begin to meet people and hear what they want from their association. My number one goal is to listen and learn and talk to the membership.
[I want to be] an evangelist that can show the world not only the work that [members] are doing, but that this is a career path. Things that have been expressed to me that the board wants to see happen, are the opportunity to grow our membership, both in the United States and globally. SMPTE has an opportunity to connect to people and share ideas, both in existing markets–the traditional existing markets of film and television–but also in the emerging markets. The world did not realize how much it needed, not just wanted, but needed, film and television until the last two years when we became beholden to that which could stream to us. I don’t think that the world appreciates that it’s the same engineers who gave them streaming, gave them the ability to have a zoom meeting with their grandchild. One of my goals is to let the world see how much they’re impacted by the work of SMPTE members and by the work of people in our industry.
Wendy Aylsworth was the Society’s first and only woman president (2013, 2014). Would you comment on diversity and inclusion goals at SMPTE?
Diversity and inclusion was one of the big topics of conversation during my interview process. One of the challenges in any association is creating a space where people feel welcome because they see themselves. We have to do our part as an association. We need to make sure that women have voices. We had our first woman president, now we need our second, third, fourth, fifth, and beyond. To do that, we’ve gotta make sure that we are creating spaces and intentionally bringing to the forefront for the membership to see and seeking these people out and inviting them to become active and engaged in SMPTE. One of my goals will be to do outreach both to the industry and the people who are not members, but also do outreach at the university level and start building relationships so that we can have a more diverse industry and a more diverse Society.
In recent years, real or perceived, I feel like I’ve been hearing less about SMPTE standards initiatives. What is the state of that work?
Standards are one of the pillars of SMPTE and they are something that will always be a part of this organization. I think that the thing that is at the root of what you’re seeing, is the speed at which technology is changing. It’s hard to know what to grasp. In some instances, my perception is that standards may always seem to lag a little behind the pace of the industry. And that’s why something like [new SMPTE initiative] Rapid Industry Solutions becomes that step in between. Before you can create a standard, we need to create a normal workflow with all of this new technology. I think that’s where you’ll see to start to see, RIS as a step in the standard process.
This year, SMPTE has scheduled its first in person Fall conference since 2019. SMPTE also is a partner in the International Broadcasting Convention (IBC), which is set to hold its first in-person conference since 2019. What are your thoughts on the future of trade shows?
My last association, we lost our 60th annual trade show twenty days after the pandemic was declared. It was brutal. We took our 2021 event online. In March of 2022, we were in person again and the energy of an in-person meeting was incredible. I don’t think in-person meetings are going away.
We know what we can discuss online, and we know what we need to discuss in person. I think what we will see are more people doing things that are about hands on learning, in person. And the energy of being able to do business in person is something we’ve all missed, and we don’t realize how much we’ve missed it until it actually happens again. I’m really excited to see what we do in both of those [events]. I don’t think they’ll be back up necessarily to their fullest, pre-pandemic attendance yet, but I do think that what we’re gonna see is what the rest of the live meetings industry is seeing, which is an enthusiastic return to in person meetings.
Interview edited for length and clarity.
