About SDVI
Optimizing Media Supply Chains – Transforming Modern Media
The Challenge
Over years, media organizations have evolved in to large facility operators in order to meet the ever changing demands of media delivery. Every time they have to deliver content to a new platform, they need a new system. Every time advances are made in formats (think SD to HD, tape to file, or now, HD to UHD), they need to upgrade their systems. And every time this happens, their focus on content is gradually eroded as they spend more time and money worrying about the infrastructure they operate.
SDVI brings supply chain thinking and modern technical approaches to the space, backed by decades of experience in the media and entertainment technology sectors.
Our Goals
To massively simplify supply chain deployment and operation across all environments
To provide a marketplace of applications and processes on a consumption basis
To bring cost tracking, transparency and reporting to our customers’ operations
To utilize analytics to model and optimize our customers’ operations
Results From Our Customers
time to market improvement with an 85% cost savings
faster content processing at less than 10% of the cost
reduction in human involvement for ingest
The elastic and agile properties of the cloud model will allow us to fulfill bulk distribution at the lowest price point in the shortest time to market. It will allow us to pivot the supply chain quickly to deliver on any new business objectives.
Don Jarvis
Senior Vice President, Global Engineering and Technology
A+E Networks
Industry Recognition
SDVI is a proud recipient of a 2019 Technology and Engineering Emmy® Award from the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS) along with our first two customers, Fox Networks Engineering & Operations (now Walt Disney Television) and Discovery Communications. In conjunction with AWS and Evertz, this validation of cloud-based media supply chains was awarded for “Pioneering Public Cloud-Based Media Supply Chains.”
Leadership Team
Simon Adler
Simon Adler
Senior Vice President, North America
Simon Adler has worked in the media and entertainment industry for over 20 years, designing and overseeing the deployment of complex automation and processing systems for some of the largest names in broadcast video, both in Europe and North America.
Adler joined SDVI from Dalet, where he served as VP of Western US and Canada, including the sales, pre-sales, support and projects teams. Prior to Dalet, Adler was a founding member of AmberFin. Before AmberFin, Simon served as Head of Projects for Snell and Wilcox, managing the pre-sales and post-sales planning and support teams for major global projects. Adler graduated from Solent University in Southampton, UK with a Bachelor of Science (BSc) in Media Technology.
Jeff Beachy
Jeff Beachy
Chief Technology Officer
Jeff Beachy is an R&D architect and design engineer whose work in hardware and software technology has spanned computer graphics, engineering workstations, PC servers, supercomputers, and the cloud. In 2014, Beachy co-founded SDVI, a company dedicated to bringing supply chain thinking and modern technical approaches to media. As CTO, he has led strategic architecture and technology, operations, and security for the Rally™ Media Supply Chain Management Platform, which leverages key cloud-based IT-driven technologies, starting with a collection of scalable and agile microservices for resource management and orchestration. Rally was awarded a Technology & Engineering Emmy® Award in 2020.
Through his career, Beachy has taken on strategic architectural, technological planning, and architectural and technical leadership throughout the lifecycle of critical enterprise-scale technologies. Beachy’s background includes a focus on computer architecture and design at Tektronix and Intel, as well as system architecture and hardware design for media server and storage startup Omneon on its Spectrum media servers and the wider Omneon product line through 2014.
His successful work at both large, multi-product line companies as well as small, start-up ventures positioned him to become an innovator for leading Media & Entertainment companies.
Beachy holds B.S.E.E. and M.S.E.E. degrees from Purdue University, and he holds three patents.
Chris Brähler
Chris Brähler
Vice President of Product
As the Vice President of Product at SDVI, Chris Brähler is responsible for the strategy definition, execution, and direction of the SDVI Rally media supply chain platform.
Before joining SDVI in 2016, Chris was responsible for Content and Workflow Management applications at Harmonic Inc., which he joined as part of its acquisition of Omneon in 2010 where he worked in technical marketing. Chris also served as the Head of Product at Netorium GbmH in Germany. He looks back at 15 years of experience helping Media & Entertainment companies implement file-based workflows across Europe and the US.
Chris enjoys spending time outdoors, music production and is an aspiring Mixologist. He holds a Dipl.Ing. (FH) degree from the University of Applied Sciences in Bingen, Germany.
Andy Brinck
Andy Brinck
Vice President, Sales Operations and Alliances
In the course of his career, Andy Brinck has helped companies build momentum by establishing both the infrastructure and the relationships that accelerate success and form a rock-solid foundation for growth. In his role as vice president of sales operations and alliances, Brinck works to improve efficiency across the SDVI sales organization and expand and strengthen relationships with the company’s media supply chain and cloud partners.
Brinck has nearly 20 years of experience in channel programs and sales and in building technology alliances, primarily in the media and entertainment industry. Prior to joining SDVI, he served as vice president of worldwide channel sales for Veritone, where he established both channel and technology partnerships. Brinck also oversaw strategic alliances and worldwide channels sales in earlier leadership roles at Omneon, Harmonic, and Quantum.
Brinck is based in the Bay Area of California where he enjoys spending time in the mountains or on the beach with his wife and two kids.
Tom Donoghue
Tom Donoghue
Vice President, EMEA
As Vice President for the EMEA region, Tom helps SDVI clients to expand and grow their cloud-based media supply chains and works with new customers on their media supply chain journey in the cloud.
With over 30 years’ experience in the industry, Tom is highly knowledgeable in broadcasting and software fields. In cloud-native media supply chain innovation, he sees an opportunity for organizations to leverage intelligent automation, focus staff on higher-value work, iterate and experiment to ultimately deliver superior content and a superior customer experience.
Tom started his career in the M&E sector working with broadcasters in Scandinavia and the Middle East before moving into the software world. He has held senior positions at Pilat Media and Mediagenix as well as a Senior Consultant at Cognizant, where he was awarded UK Consultant of the Year 2017.
Simon Eldridge
Simon Eldridge
Chief Product Officer
Simon Eldridge is a co-founder and Chief Product Officer at SDVI Corporation, responsible for the definition, strategic direction and growth of all product offerings. SDVI Rally is the first and leading cloud-native media supply chain management solution, driving agility, efficiency, and business growth in major media organizations worldwide.
Across 20 years in both Europe and North America, Simon has established an extensive track record building and managing successful software and SaaS product lines at leading vendors in the media and entertainment space. He is a firm believer in cloud-native architectures transforming technical operations and improving operational efficiency. Simon also understands the value of solid relationships in making transformation successful.
Previously, Simon has held roles at Harmonic, Omneon, Harris Broadcast, Encoda Systems, and Arkemedia Technologies.
Alex Emmermann
Alex Emmermann
Vice President, Business Development
Nick Funk
Nick Funk
Vice President of Engineering
Over his 15 years in engineering, Nick has experienced what it takes to be successful at all stages of the software development lifecycle. While at Raytheon, Nick worked on defense aviation projects through design, development, integration and flight test, and operational support. This experience taught him the value of building the right solution for a problem, as well as the important role that engineering plays when the stakes are high.
As Vice President of Engineering, Nick applies all those skills simultaneously, as he is charged with overall responsibility for SDVI software development including design, implementation, validation, and deployment of all SDVI product lines. As such, he is dedicated to building a diverse engineering team while maintaining a healthy and sustainable engineering culture. Most importantly, however, Nick is focused on supporting his team in building a platform they can be proud of.
Erik Hellwig
Erik Hellwig
Chief Financial Officer
Erik Hellwig is Chief Financial Officer at SDVI Corporation. In his role, Erik leads the company’s finance organization with responsibility for financial planning and reporting, accounting, human resources administration, tax, and risk management. He brings over 20 years of expertise with technology companies deploying financial and administrative processes and governance in high-growth environments. Erik is experienced in a wide variety of business models, from SaaS to tech manufacturing, and has worked with organizations at an array of stages, from startups to multi-billion, multinationals.
Prior to joining SDVI, Erik worked with companies such as EBAY, BEA (Oracle), and Mist Systems (Juniper Networks) as an executive finance and administrative consultant. He began his career in the Palo Alto office of Ernst & Young and Hewlett Packard.
Erik holds an MBA from Purdue University, a bachelor's degree from Cal State East Bay, and a California CPA license (inactive).
Larry Kaplan
Larry Kaplan
President & CEO
As an industry leader and serial entrepreneur, Kaplan has an extensive track record of building and running successful businesses in the media and entertainment industry. Prior to founding SDVI in 2013, Kaplan served in the Office of the CEO at Harmonic Inc. following its $307M acquisition of Omneon in 2010, where he was the founding Chief Executive Officer. As Executive Chairman and then Vice Chairman of the Board at Omneon, he successfully guided the company from concept to market leader, and ultimately to successful acquisition by Harmonic Inc.
Prior to Omneon, Kaplan served as the Senior Vice President of the Sony Broadcast division at Sony Electronics Inc. Before Sony, Kaplan was the Vice President and General Manager of the computer graphics & television group at Tektronix Inc. in addition to the Chairman of the Grass Valley Group, a subsidiary of Tektronix.
Kaplan holds an M.B.A. from Rutgers University and a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Wisconsin, is a fellow of the Society of Television & Motion Picture Engineers (SMPTE) in addition to being an honorary member of the IABM.
Gary Pass
Gary Pass
Vice President of Technical Solutions, EMEA
As the Vice President of Technical Solutions in the EMEA region, Gary Pass leads that region’s team of Technical Account Managers, Solutions Architects and Customer Support Engineers. The team works closely with customers on all technical aspects of the SDVI Rally media supply chain platform, from demonstrations to deployment, through to support and expansion of cloud-based supply chains. His role builds on 35 years of experience supporting media & entertainment companies across the globe in roles including sales engineering, technical support & professional services.
What Gary particularly enjoys about working in M&E is that he and his team deploy and support products that help get content to viewers’ screens. He loves helping customers to solve problems, either through designing new solutions or investigating and resolving complex support issues. He’s performed this role in previous positions at AWS Elemental, Harmonic Inc., Grass Valley, Quantel, and others.
Brian Pelletier
Brian Pelletier
Vice President of Technical Solutions, Americas
As the Vice President for the Technical Solutions team in the Americas, Brian Pelletier works closely with our Technical Account Managers, Solutions Architects and Customer Support Engineers to ensure our customers get the most from the SDVI Rally media supply chain platform. The Technical Solutions team works with SDVI customers to build better supply chains, supporting design and demonstration, assisting with deployment and expansion, as well as offering technical support.
Brian has worked in the television, media and entertainment industry for nearly 30 years, starting in production, then transitioning into engineering and system architecture. He is dedicated to growing SDVI’s world class Technical Solutions team which partners with customers to deploy media supply chain solutions that achieve both their business and technological goals.
Prior to joining SDVI, Brian served as the Director of Market Development for Content Creators and Programmers at Harmonic. He has held positions systems design and solutions architect roles, specializing in the design of production and playout systems, and has worked in all areas of television production, including master control, news operations, and technical direction for live sporting events, concerts and large corporate events.
Hilary Roschke
Hilary Roschke
Vice President of Strategic Operations
Hilary Roschke is the Vice President of Strategic Operations at SDVI. The Strategic Operations group is focused on keeping the company operating efficiently and effectively at scale while maintaining culture and sharp focus on customer success. Under Hilary’s leadership, the group operates at the nexus of people, technology and process to ensure optimal outcomes for SDVI, their customers, and their partners,
Hilary received her degree in Electronic Media and Film and has worked in the Media Industry since 2004 in a variety of operational and strategic roles. Over her career she has optimized complex operational and technical ecosystems, working at the front of major cloud transformation initiatives at one major media company. Hilary also served in business management capacity, working in strategic roles for a fortune 500 company, helping navigate executives and organizations through major inflection points like re-branding, re-organization and large-scale company acquisitions.
Geoff Stedman
Geoff Stedman
Chief Marketing Officer
Geoff Stedman is the Chief Marketing Officer for SDVI, where he leads all aspects of marketing and helps drive the company’s go-to-market strategies.
Stedman has a diverse technology marketing background, both with enterprise technology and in the media & entertainment market, and he has spent most of the past 20 years promoting advanced technologies that help transform media workflows. Stedman was one of the early leaders at Omneon, a video server company selling into the broadcast market, where he helped build the company from $2M to over $125M when it was sold to Harmonic. He remained with Harmonic for about 2 years post-acquisition running their media storage business before moving on to an enterprise storage startup. More recently, he spent 4+ years with Quantum Corporation, where he led GTM for the company’s scale-out storage business, which is a specialized storage solution designed for specific vertical markets such as media & entertainment. Stedman also most recently served as Enterprise Media Strategist for AWS Elemental where he led the division’s customer evangelism and helped define go-to-market strategies for AWS Media Services.
An aspiring woodworker and cook, Stedman will often be found in his workshop or the kitchen when not at his work desk. He’s a builder who likes building stuff, and that includes helping build world-class companies. Stedman holds a M.B.A. from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
SDVI is Moving to Net-Zero Carbon Footprint in 2023
Sustainability has always been one of SDVI’s core values: since our founding, we’ve set out to build a company whose products and whose operations have been resource-conscious, utilizing tools and technologies that minimize our carbon footprint.
Now we’re taking commitment further, becoming a net-zero company in 2023.
Partnered with Industry Leaders
Learn more about our AWS partnership.
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Industry Certifications, Memberships and Recognitions
Your New Career is Waiting
We are SDVI, a cutting-edge SaaS developer for Media & Entertainment, and we believe that the ideal company is a tight-knit team pursuing excellence and having fun along the way. We are a completely distributed company, with staff based around the globe, looking to grow our team of A-level developers.
Are you ready to join us?