Marquis Consulting Practice, the consultancy division of Marquis Broadcast, has expanded its team with the appointment of Dr George Waters to the newly created position of Expert Advisor.
Waters, a long serving authority on the broadcast industry, will enable Marquis to offer customers specialist advice on strategic and regulatory matters.
With a career in broadcasting that began in 1956, Waters started out with Irish public broadcaster, RTE. By 1968, he had become the company’s Director of Engineering and went on to serve as Director General from 1978 to 1985. Under his leadership, RTE expanded its network, introduced colour television, and added a second channel and two national radio services.
In 1982, Waters organised the first demonstration of HDTV in Europe and was elected Vice President of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). In 1985, he became the EBU’s Technical Director. His many responsibilities included standardisation of systems and operational practices and the design and operation of the Eurovision Network, the world’s most extensive terrestrial and satellite network for the transmission and exchange of television programming. He has also worked closely, on standardisation matters, with the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) and the European Telecommunications Standardisation Institute (ETS). He was a founder member of WorldDAB, DigiTag and the DVB Project and was a member of the DVB Steering Board. Waters co-founded the International Academy of Broadcasting and has been its President since 1993. He will continue to work in this capacity alongside his new role at Marquis Consultancy.
Dr Waters’ many industry honours include a Life Fellowship with SMPTE, a Fellowship of the IET, the IBC Award, the Award of Honour of the NAB, and the Presidential Proclamation of the SMPTE.
“We are highly honoured to welcome Dr Waters to Marquis Consultancy,” said Bob Gentry, associate director, Marquis Broadcast. “His illustrious career and professional experience will be of enormous benefit to us and to our customers as together we investigate, enhance and implement new broadcasting workflows, processes and technology, and respond as efficiently and appropriately as possible to the many consequences of change management.”
At Marquis Consulting Practice, Waters will work as a key member of the company’s senior consulting team advising on the intricacies of the many facets and consequences of introducing new digital technology into existing and new broadcasting processes. He will use his vast knowledge of the industry to give strategic advice for the successful implementation of new working practices from technology, efficiency and human viewpoints.
Waters joins Marquis Consulting Practice as the company expands in response to the continuing trend by broadcasters to adopt digital technology. Earlier this year, Marquis set up a new HR and recruitment capability and is now able to offer customers interim and senior level staff search and selection services, team recruitment for start-up organisations, training, and skill set auditing and development.
