Leon Silverman Honored with Bob Lambert Technology Leadership Award
Leon Silverman, former HPA President and current Board member, was recently honored with The Bob Lambert Technology Leadership Award. The award is given to a person whose outstanding, broad and lasting contributions to the advancement of the Entertainment Technology Center @ USC inter-industry projects and industry needs at large has helped shape the future of entertainment technology.
Lambert was a longtime innovator and thought leader. A senior executive of the Walt Disney Company for 25 years, where he guided Disney to successful new strategies, directing the company’s transition from traditional to digital animation, for which Disney and Pixar shared an Academy Award for Scientific and Technical Achievement. He was a founder and Term Chair of the Digital Cinema Initiative, the six-studio digital cinema consortium that successfully pioneered the industries transition from film to digital worldwide. Bob worked closely with the ETC in this transformative industry undertaking. An inventor, Bob held over 30 patents in media and related technologies. Bob was a longtime Board Member and past Chair of the ETC and was named Chair Emeritus of the ETC in 2010. Shortly thereafter, joined the ETC staff as Chief Strategic and Technical Officer. In recognition of Bob’s tremendous contribution to the ETC, its Governing Board unanimously voted to name the ETC Technology Leadership Award in Bob’s memory.
Silverman is the 7th recipient of the Technology Leadership Award – the 6th time it’s been awarded in Bob’s memory – as well as a recognized thought leader in our industry and active participant in guiding its future. Like Lambert, he has worked with ETC for many years. Silverman is currently Director, Post Production Operations and Creative Services at Netflix.