Skip Pizzi2017 Lechner Award Recipient

WASHINGTON, May 17, 2017 – The Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC) today honored Skip Pizzi of the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) as the 2017 recipient of the organization’s highest technical honor, the Bernard J. Lechner Outstanding Contributor Award. The presentation was made during the 2017 ATSC Next Gen TV Conference at the Ronald Reagan International Trade Center.

“Skip Pizzi is an outstanding leader with remarkable technical and management skills.  His enthusiasm and commitment has helped to facilitate the rapid development of the next-generation broadcast television standard,” said ATSC President Mark Richer, as he presented the award today.

Pizzi chairs the Specialist Group on ATSC 3.0 System Requirements and Program Management, which is responsible for consideration of the development of ATSC 3.0 use cases and scenarios. “These scenarios were used as the basis for the system requirements that enabled the development of Technical Standards and Recommended Practices that make up ATSC 3.0,” said Richer.

Pizzi’s Specialist Group was also responsible for review of  Technology Group 3’s  output for adherence to system requirements and for coordinating the ATSC 3.0 development schedule. In addition, that Specialist Group is responsible for drafting the overall ATSC 3.0 “System Standard” (A/300).

A musician and audio expert, he also played a key role in the development of the ATSC 3.0 audio standard and he served as co-coordinator of the advanced audio system test activities.  He also serves as vice-chair of TG3, which has overall oversight for the ATSC 3.0 standard.

Pizzi is the NAB’s Vice President, Technology Education and Outreach.  His career has spanned the broadcast and new-media industries, with 13 years as an engineer and technology manager at National Public Radio and 11 years in various posts at Microsoft. He also spent seven years as an editor at Broadcast Engineering magazine, and continues as a technology journalist and author. His most recent book is “A Broadcast Engineering Tutorial for Non-Engineers,” 4th edition, and he is an Associate Editor for the “NAB Engineering Handbook,” 11th edition, both published by Focal Press.

Pizzi is a graduate of Georgetown University, where he studied Electrical Engineering, International Economics and Fine Arts.