ITN appoints new chief technology officer

Gibson (pictured) will join ITN from BSkyB, where he was head of operations and technology for Sky Creative.

He replaces director of technology Keith Cass who is retiring after 34 years at ITN.

In his new role, which he takes up in April, Gibson will oversee the development of ITN’s digital media solutions, network infrastructure and workflows.

He will lead a team of 90 technical staff to deliver broadcast engineering, news operations, new business propositions and IT and communications.  

Reporting to chief executive John Hardie, Gibson’s brief will cover every technical aspect of national and international newsgathering for all of ITN’s newsrooms and production teams through to the infrastructure underpinning all of ITN’s commercial and support operations.

“Bevan is an excellent leader to step into the huge shoes being left by Keith,” said Hardie.

“The contribution made by Keith over a generation here at ITN has been immense and he leaves us in fantastic shape to take our place at the very forefront of the next iteration of the digital revolution.

“Bevan’s impressive track record and achievements show that he is exactly the right person to lead us on that journey.”

Having spent ten years at BSkyB, Gibson’s experience spans Sky News, where he was head of future technology, Sky News Arabia where he was launch director for the joint venture, and Broadcast Services, where he held a broad strategic role as broadcast engineering specialist.

Prior to joining Sky, he held positions at Orad UK and in Australia at the Sydney Olympic Broadcasting Organisation, Nine Network and Seven Network.

Retiring technology director Cass welcomed Gibson to the role of CTO.

He said: “Bevan’s background is a perfect match to lead us through the next phase of technical innovation and growth at ITN.  

“He will inherit some of the best technology managers, engineers and support teams in the business. It is fantastic opportunity for everyone involved.”

During Cass’ 13-year tenure as director of technology ITN picked up a Royal Television Society Innovation Award in 2004 for the ITV News ‘Theatre of News’ virtual reality studio, a technical Emmy Award in 2002 for ITN’s developments in digital asset management followed by the 2006 and 2007 implementation of one of Europe’s largest Avid installations.

Cass also oversaw ITN’s in-house software development team that developed NeMeSys, ITN’s own media content management and workflow system which underpins several of ITN’s major contracts and won the IBC Innovation Award for Content Delivery in 2007.