Eurovision key personnel
Bill Dunlop President and CEO
Bill Dunlop trained as a journalist at the BBC and worked for several years in his native Scotland before joining Independent Television News in London. He spent more than two years in France as Editorial Director of the pan-European network EuroNews and launched ITN’s British 24-hour news channel in 2000. He joined Eurovision in 2002 to head a newly-integrated North American operation. During his tenure Eurovision’s Washington office has grown into a major 24/7 hub of the Eurovision FiNE fiber network, handling worldwide HD distribution of US sports tournaments and receiving transmissions from around the globe for broadcast by American networks.
Jay Hahn Vice-President and Engineer-in-Charge
One of the country’s leading broadcast engineers, Jay Hahn was responsible for the design of Eurovision Americas’ Washington DC headquarters and recently completed a $1 million upgrade of the Technical Operations Center. For two decades Jay traveled the globe for Eurovision setting up broadcast operations at the world’s biggest news and sports events, including the end of apartheid in South Africa, the Bosnian war and the death of Pope John Paul II. He is an expert in both satellite and fiber technology and is responsible for the reliable operation of Washington, New York and Los Angeles, three of the busiest hubs on the global Eurovision network.
Sarah Gibbons Head of News and Events
A native of Alberta, Canada, Sarah Gibbons began her association with Eurovision Americas as an assistant at the 2002 G8 Summit in Kananaskis. Shortly afterwards she moved to Washington to become a news producer. Her organizational skills have been put to good use coordinating numerous operations in the field: from Hurricane Katrina to the Icelandic volcano eruption, Sarah has experience of working in the most demanding situations. In 2008 Sarah spent 10 months planning the largest event in Eurovision Americas’ history: international TV networks’ coverage of the election of Barack Obama. She was promoted to Head of News and Events in 2010.
Adam Mandelson Senior Network Planner
Adam Mandelson first worked at Eurovision Americas as an intern while studying at George Washington University. Soon after, he was given a full- time job as a network planner, and in 2008 he masterminded the planning of Barack Obama’s election: 68 simultaneous circuits between the US and Europe on the Eurovision fiber and satellite network. Now Eurovision Americas’ Senior Network Planner, Adam is an expert in creating circuits and assigning band- width on the Eurovision network to ensure that news and sports transmissions get safely to their destinations. Adam is known the world over for his friendly manner and commitment to customer service.
Eurovision key personnel
Jim Scott Business Manager, North America
Jim Scott has been Eurovision’s Business Manager in North America since February of 2009. Jim came to Eurovision from PanAmSat, where he managed clients in both the news and sports industries. Jim brings over 20 years’ experience in the broadcasting business as a location producer and writer at Major League Baseball Productions, and as a news editor at Satellite News Channel. He’s been a producer at the NCAA Final Four, the World Series and numerous MLB and NBA All-Star games. Jim’s experience in both production and transmission has given him extensive knowledge of the broadcast industry and a thorough understanding of customer needs.
Jerry Gips Senior Sports Producer
With three decades of experience in TV news and sports under his belt, Jerry Gips is an expert in ensuring that live transmissions of the world’s biggest sporting events get safely from A to Z. As Eurovision Americas’ Senior Sports Producer Jerry leads a team in New York dedicated to arranging production and uplink facilities, planning satellite and fiber transmissions and providing a full range of customer services to broadcast networks. Jerry has extensive field experience including Olympic Games in Vancouver, Los Angeles and Calgary, plus numerous other events ranging from Formula 1™ to world championship swimming.
Monica Girgenti Sports Producer
A native of New York City, Monica Girgenti spent more than 20 years working for Italian television before joining Eurovision in 2007. As part of the sports team, Monica liaises with the major federations, organizes production facilities and transmission paths and manages relations with broadcast networks around the world. She is experienced in handling numerous events including basketball, baseball, tennis and wrestling. She also specializes in winter sports, arranging tailor-made facilities for transmission of skiing, speedskating and curling. Monica began her career as a satellite coordinator, and during five years living in Europe she developed fluency in Italian.
Jussi Tuominen Sports producer/planner
As Eurovision Americas’ sports producer/planner, Jussi Tuominen is responsible for ensuring that accurate routings are created for sports events being transmitted around the world. From his desktop, Jussi can create and reserve circuits to and from any part of Eurovision’s global fiber and satellite network, specifying bitrate and timings and issuing detailed information to customers and technical operators along the route. Jussi recently traveled to his native Finland to manage distribution of the NHL season opening game in Helsinki. Before joining Eurovision Jussi worked in education and he is a specialist in web and multimedia development.