Kevin Thompson Joins VAB Board as Associate Advisor

The Virginia Association of Broadcasters welcomes Kevin Thompson of The Whitlock Group to serve as Associate Advisor. Thompson was elected to the Board of Directors in January of 2006 and brings a vast amount of expertise to the position. Below is an interview with Thompson that describes his professional experience, as well as his future goals for serving as Associate Advisor.

Describe your role and function at your company?
I am the President and Chief Visionary for The Whitlock Group. I share day-to-day responsibility for the company’s direction with Doug Hall, our COO.

How does your organization serve broadcasters in Virginia?
The Whitlock Group is the leading systems integrator for the broadcast community in the Commonwealth of Virginia. We serve as a consulting, design, build-out partner helping all of our broadcast clients’ transition to full digital plants and migrating our television partners to high definition facilities.

As the new Associate Advisor for the VAB, how will you represent your organization and others like yours?
I hope to help clarify and define the role of systems integrators as true partners. I will dedicate my time to providing insight and direction to our broadcast partners in Virginia. With The Whitlock Group’s national presence, I bring a broad perspective to help Virginia broadcasters be more competitive, .efficient and as an end result, more profitable.

How will your role differ from those of other board members; how will it be similar?
My role will differ because my position will allow a 20,000-foot perspective of the challenges that the broadcast community faces in both the near and long-term future. Since I am not a direct employee of a station or a group owner, I can be absolutely neutral on my opinions and advice. My role will be similar to the rest of our board members because I am dedicated to improving our role with our viewership and increasing our visibility with key legislators while pursuing the board’s key initiatives with our legislators and the FCC.

Do you have any specific goals you wish to accomplish while serving on the board?
I would like for all of the broadcasters in Virginia to rely on the VAB for supporting their stations’ growth and be readily accessible to all of our members.

Briefly describe your professional history.
Prior to joining The Whitlock Group in 1993, I worked for twelve years at Midwest Communications Corporation—a national broadcast products and systems integration company. While at Midwest, I was first a Field Engineer, then a Sales Engineer and was later given Branch and District Management responsibilities. I was twice awarded “Manager of the Year” in 1987 and 1988 and received “District Manger of the Year” in 1989. In 1992, I created my own company, Atlantic Broadcast Communications. One year later, John Whitlock, founder of The Whitlock Group, and I merged our two companies to form a consolidated broadcast and audiovisual/presentation systems integration firm. Since 1993, I have served as President of The Whitlock Group and am charged with management and strategic planning responsibilities, as well as developing long-term client and vendor partnerships.

Thompson’s professional affiliations, community activities and awards include:

• Serving as President of the Board of Governors of InfoComm International®, the premier association for the audiovisual and information communications industries.

• Serving a two-year term as voting board member on the Board of Directors of the Virginia Association of Broadcasters. He was the first non-TV or radio broadcaster to ever be elected to the board.

• Being elected Chairman of the Society of Broadcast Engineers Chapter 54 in Tidewater, Virginia, successfully doubling chapter membership and treasury.

• Participating as active contributor to American Cancer Society through outreach programs, including the annual “Dive for a Cure”; as an avid diver, Thompson will stay submerged underwater for two hours to help raise funds for the Society.

• Being one of five members in the country on elite dealer panel with Panasonic; he has been asked to speak at national panel meeting in Dallas, Texas. As a panel member, he provides a significant source of management, sales and organizational suggestions for Panasonic.

• Thompson was the first representative from a distributor company to ever speak at the Sony Corporation national sales meeting. He was asked to speak because of his indispensable knowledge of the video industry and keen sense of industry trends. He coordinated team efforts for master control systems design for WVPT-TV, which was recognized in Broadcast Engineering magazine in their “Systems Design Showcase.”

• This year marks Thompson's 33rd year as a recognized leader in the video industry.