Warrenton, VA – The Digital Signage Federation (DSF), the independent not-for-profit trade organization serving the digital signage industry, is pleased today to announce the election of its new 2020 Board of Directors. Spencer Graham of Real Digital Media, will continue to serve as Chairman. Len Dudis of Grupo Vidanta will continue in the Vice Chairman role and Paul Fleuranges of Pearl Media continues as Treasurer.  Laura Davis-Taylor of HighStreet will continue to serve in her executive committee role as Director of Marketing.  Ryan Cahoy of Rise Display has been elected by the board to serve as Secretary.

The at-large board elections, which concluded on December 23, 2019, have been announced.  Staying on the board of directors to serve a second two-year term are:

• Dave Haynes- Sixteen:Nine
• Stephanie Gutnik- OUTFRONT Media

Newly elected at-large board members who will be starting their first two-year term in January are:

• Chris Freeman- United Airlines
• Dominic Desieno- Wells Fargo
• Beth Warren – Creative Realities

The current DSF board of directors list may be found at https://www.digitalsignagefederation.org/about/board-of-directors.

All other directors will continue to serve on the board of directors through 2020.

“Our election turnout was fantastic this year,” said Mr. Graham.  “As in the past, the Nominating Committee did an excellent job at recruiting and selecting candidates.  Our entire sector is well represented by end users, operators, integrators, and vendors.  I look forward to growing emerging leaders in the DSF through our various committees and volunteer opportunities.”

About the Digital Signage Federation
DSF’s Mission is to support and promote the common business interests of the world-wide digital signage, interactive technologies and the digital out-of-home network industries. The DSF is a not-for-profit independent voice of the digital signage industry reflecting the diversity of its membership. It promotes professional recognition through certifications, continuing education, conferences, publications, and presentations offered by the DSF and affiliate groups. It provides government lobbying to leverage the collective strength of members and represent their interests at the higher levels of government and the community. The DSF provides leadership and networking opportunities focused on building a strong foundation for the advancement of the digital signage industry. For more information, visit www.digitalsignagefederation.org.

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For more information, contact

Brian Gorg, Executive Director, Digital Signage Federation

bgorg@digitalsignagefederation.org +1 540-551-5500

The Digital Signage Federation’s Alan C. Brawn Educator of the Year Award recognizes a deserving individual within our digital signage industry who exemplifies a willingness to share a broad spectrum of beneficial information in such a way that raises the level of knowledge of our industry, and promotes professional and personal growth – of not only an individual but our digital signage industry as a whole.

The nominee selected for the Award will have a recognized track record of presenting to the industry – including seminars, educational sessions and webinars, writing articles and white papers, or providing other learning opportunities which promote professionalism and growth of the industry. Those educational efforts can occur across a variety of industry venues but must have a level of emphasis on digital signage. The nominated individual will have a minimum of two (2) years of exposure within the digital signage industry. The individual can be nominated by other groups, companies or individuals who have an involvement in the digital signage industry and with personal knowledge of the candidate’s professional credentials. The nomination of an individual will be accompanied by the appropriate nomination form, including a written narrative of the candidate’s award qualifications and a professional photograph for publication, if selected. The presentation of this Alan C. Brawn Educator of the Year Award will be made at the Digital Signage Expo APEX Awards Ceremony. Nominations of individuals must be submitted on or before January 22, 2020.

Please meet your candidates for the 2020-21 board of directors seats. Elections open 11 AM EST on Friday, December 13.

CANDIDATE LIST AND INFORMATION

Click on a name below to learn more about this year’s slate of nominees.  Please read through all nominee biographies before casting your vote.  Each member company may vote for FIVE (5) candidates only.  Voting is only for the primary representative from a member company or their designee.  No more than 1 vote per company is allowed and all votes are reviewed.  The names below are listed with current board members listed first and then alphabetically.

*Running for a second 2-year term.

• Stephanie Gutnik
• OUTFRONT Media
• Digital Transformation

• Bio

  Guiding digital transformation at OUTFRONT Media, Stephanie Gutnik bridges sales and product advancement to ensure client campaigns are ahead of the curve. Her efforts extend across media channels to promote OUTFRONT inventory as a core media buy.  Stephanie was previously the Vice President, Business Development at Broadsign, a global role that included overseeing strategic partnerships, new product rollouts, geographic expansion and programmatic sales. She is a frequent public speaker, representing the OOH industry at conferences from Taipei and Dubai to London and Sao Paulo. With a seat on the DSF’s Board of Directors, Stephanie is also on committees for the OAAA, DPAA, IAB, Ad Club of New York and CANY.  Earlier, Stephanie ran Marketing for Broadsign and was in ad sales for News Corp. She graduated with a BA from McGill University and a MBA from Edinburgh Business School.

• Dave Haynes
• Sixteen:Nine
• Founding Editor

• Bio

  I do a few things these days:Mainly, I consult – helping end-users and vendors get their signage projects and products together. I help companies figure out the why, what, when, where, who and how of signage projects, so they don’t waste time and money. I’ve helped major banks, retailers and brands get their signage projects right from the start, or back on a proper track. I’ve also helped a lot of display, player and software vendors – big and small – with market analysis and strategy.I also do a lot of writing – everything from press releases and ghost-writing to the full narrative for coffee table books, like the ones Christie has published about its MicroTiles and its projection mapping tech. A lot of vendors come to me because I actually know their business (always useful), but also because I can take often complicated products and language and turn it into something accessible and readily understood. As a blogger, I get mountains of badly-written, incomprehensible material pushed at me every week.My home base is now in Hubley, Nova Scotia, a woodsy community about 10 minutes south of Halifax. I also see a lot of hotels and airports and convention centres.

• Dominic DeSieno
• Wells Fargo
• Digital Signage Technology Lead

• Bio

  In his role as Digital Signage Technology Lead, Dominic DeSieno has been managing field operations and system configuration for Wells Fargo since 2010. Before that, he worked for more than 10 years as a web programmer and website designer. Currently, DeSieno manages the hardware/ operations staff on the digital signage team that is responsible for systems for both employees and customers at more than 5,000 sites.

• Chris Freeman
• United Airlines
• Principal Solution Engineer, End User Services Engineering

• Bio

  I have worked for United Airlines for the past 32 years. Started out in IT as Computer Operator mounting reel-reel tapes. Eventually supporting Flight Attendants at O’Hare in Chicago for 10 years, before rejoining IT in the End User Engineering Group. In this Group I’m responsible for the setting the enterprise architectural standards for End User AV and printers along with the Lifecycle Management of the devices and services, being forward looking for new technology and how its fits within United Airlines. I work with our End Users to architect solutions and standards that fit their needs from Mobility to Digital Signage Hardware.Outside of United, I live 43 miles west of Chicago in a Far Western Suburb of Sugar Grove. Here I enjoy working around the house, outdoors with anything related to water activities. I have been married for the past 18 years to Tina and we have a daughter Tori. We also have rescued 4 Pomeranians that are our fur babies. We enjoy using my United Benefits of Travel and frequently travel around the United States visiting family and frequently visit Hawaii several time a year. Outside of United, I have volunteered in my local community for our Annual Sugar Grove Corn Boil Festival for the past 11 years and currently serve as its Vice President and Committee Chairperson for the Information Tent and Entertainment. Of course, I’m the in-house Technology Expert and bring my knowledge of Digital Signage to add to our Festival.

• Jeremy Gavin
• ScreenFeed
• CEO & Head Content Chef

• Bio

  Jeremy is an industry veteran focused on solving creative and technical content problems within the digital signage medium. After a decade of founding and leading a web design and development company, Jeremy became involved with digital signage back in 2005 as a co-founder of a failed touch-screen-based, out-of-home ad network aimed at commercial office buildings. Lessons learned in that failure helped Jeremy create Screenfeed, which has become one of the leaders in ready-made content solutions for digital signage. Screenfeed has been listed on the Inc 5000 list five times and serves content to over 170,000 screens globally everyday. Jeremy and Screenfeed have been promoting best practices and innovation for over 11 years now and recently expanded its focus beyond infotainment. He served previously on the DSE advisory board. Jeremy currently serves on the board of Steller Kindness, a non-profit aimed at inspiring acts of kindness; and also currently manages the official social media accounts for the musical legend Prince, whom he worked for several years earlier in his career.

• Robert Heise
• Global Display Solutions
• Executive Vice President and General Manager

• Bio

  Robert Heise is Executive Vice President and General Manager for Global Display Solutions, a global manufacturer of custom digital signage displays used both indoors and outdoors.
  Robert has been involved in the display electronics industry for over 30 years and has watched the evolution of digital signage in both technology and application. A technologist at heart, Robert enjoys talking about innovative solutions to the various challenges that are faced in the industry as well as the evolution of technology that is driving those solutions.
  As a public speaker, he has presented on both technical and non-technical topics related to the signage industry on a variety of platforms and stages and was recently part of a panel at DSE discussing the future of display technology.  Robert lives in the West suburbs of Chicago with his wife, Sue. He is an avid football fan and loves watching the Wisconsin Badgers and Green Bay Packers play whenever he can.

• Beth Warren
• Creative Realities
• SVP Marketing and Retail Strategy

• Bio

  In her role as SVP Marketing and Retail Strategy, Beth leads clients and teams in a persuasive pursuit of technology-driven ecosystems that add purpose, relevance and value to the consumer journey specific to a retail environment.Her own brand of commercial leadership style blends design thinking and technography so that connected experiences are born of the human experience – not for the sake of gadgetry – and seamlessly integrated in a way that transforms digital bling to bold, beautiful and better experiences.Apart from a 7-year tenure as chief marketing architect and keeper of the value proposition at Creative Realities, Beth oversees client relationships with high profile Brands such as Calvin Klein and Chanel, and Retailers such as Innisfree and Ryder Trucks. She’s deeply involved in bringing key OEM partners together [Samsung, Elo, Nanolumens, Bright Sign, Peerless-AV to name a few] to help unleash the work we do together and elevate the standard of excellence and elegance in what we create as a community of digital experts.Beth built her profession on Madison Avenue, at global Brand Agencies like DDB and Young & Rubicam – where she helped brands like Colgate-Palmolive stand out across channels – in Latin America, and ExxonMobil win at retail across Europe, Russia and China.Of all disciplines, Retail Technology combines her obsessions: Environment & Design Innovation, Modern Art, Retail Safari’s, Travel and Culture. In her downtime you might find her on a plane, on a Soul Cycle bike, coaching young women as part of her mentor programShe shares her time between NYC and Baton Rouge with husband Jordan Goldson and their mini doodle named Bendel: aptly named after the Merchant Retailer from Lafayette, Louisiana Henri Bendel.

• Irina Zeltser
• Talon
• Managing Director

• Bio

  Irina Zeltser is Managing Director of Talon US, the US arm of Talon UK’s multi award winning innovation and data infused OOH agency. Irina has been at the forefront of both the buyside and sellside of the OOH industry for over a decade. Prior to joining Talon, Irina led Project X as Managing Director, and steered the mobile and corporate development initiatives at Cemusa. She began her OOH career at Kinetic. Irina enjoys playing the piano, crosswords and scrabble, and is fluent in 4 languages. She lives in New York with her husband, son and dog and likes to spend as much time as possible in the South of France.