Dr. Josiah Way is the Executive Director, Digital Spaces at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), known as a revolutionary visionary and innovator in the audiovisual industry. As the leading educational technology thought leader, Joe was recognized as the 2019 AV Professional of the Year, 2023 AV Living Legend, 2008 Businessman of the Year, and is named to multiple top industry and influencers lists, including the 2024 global Top 100 Innovators and Entrepreneurs, 2024 Who’s Who in America, 2023 Top 50 UC Professionals, and 2019 and 2022 Top 30 Higher Ed IT Leaders lists. He is a highly sought keynote speaker and writer, most acclaimed for his innovative design of the technology standard for hybrid instruction and business development within the higher ed vertical. Joe is the cofounder of the Higher Education Technology Managers Alliance (HETMA) and serves as the Editor-in-Chief of Higher Ed AV Media, host of the Higher Ed AV Podcast, and writer of the Business of AV monthly column. Dr. Way authored the bestselling book, Producing Worship, and is a regular contributor to multiple leading AV-industry publications, while also serving on numerous corporate and higher education advisory boards. Joe has over 30 years’ experience in education, technical production and the arts, and organizational leadership and management. He has been featured in Forbes Magazine, the Wall Street Journal, ABC and PBS Television, Yahoo News, and consulted for high profile organizations like the United Nations, US Department of Education, and over forty Fortune 500’s. In his free time, Joe enjoys cruising the lake on his boat with family and friends, golfing PGA West, and perfecting his Traeger meat-smoking techniques. Oh, and he once won his fantasy football league. Joe is available for speaking engagements, media appearances, and business development consulting.

As a technology journalist, Megan A. Dutta puts her passion for the audiovisual industry on each and every page, whether print or digital. Dutta is currently the director of emerging markets at LAVNCH and editor-in-chief of LAVNCH [CODE] where she explores new technologies like extended reality (XR), experiential advertising, projection mapping, and more.

Mike Pedersen, the Audiovisual Experience Manager at Iowa State University since the summer of 2018, brings over 30 years of experience in the engineering industry with a focus on the professional audiovisual (AV) sector for the past 25 years. Leading the Audiovisual Experience Team (AVXT) at Iowa State, Mike oversees the maintenance of AV systems in over 200 university classrooms and provides consulting, installation, and repair services across campus. The AVXT won the 2023 Higher Ed AV Team of the Year with Higher Ed AV Media.  Recognized as an expert in the field, he holds both Certified Technology Specialist (CTS) certifications in Design (CTS-D) and Installation (CTS-I), a distinction shared by only approximately 700 individuals worldwide. In 2018, AVIXA named him CTS Holder of the Year.  Mike currently serves on the Membership Committee and Certification Renewal Committee with AVIXA, and he previously served as an elected member of the Certification Steering Committee and chair of the Technology Mangers Council.  He currently serves on the board of directors with the Educational Technology Collaborative (ETC) as the Membership Committee and Program Committee.  He has previously served extensively with HETMA including as the 1-year at large board member.  Before joining Iowa State, he spent almost 19 years at Mechdyne Corporation, contributing to various roles including engineering manager, R&D, and pre-sales engineering. Outside of his professional endeavors, Mike actively volunteers in STEM education, serving on the governor's North Central Iowa Regional STEM Advisory Board. A 1994 graduate of Iowa State University, he holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering with distinction and a minor in History and is working toward a Master of Engineering in Engineering Management degree.

I studied mechanical engineering, and moved to Broadcast where I worked in television for 7 years specialising in live and outside broadcast.   In 1992 I transitioned from television to AV and set up Hewshott in 2002 as an independent consultancy practice.  I lead the Hewshott Group worldwide, supporting each office across 3 continents as they collectively deliver projects for clients worldwide. Hewshott provides advice and project delivery resources in the AV, IT and Acoustic sectors, blending all three as required to support clients as they navigate through the technical challenges across multiple vertical markets. Outside of Hewshott, I have engineered numerous recordings and specialise in sacred music recorded on-site and have recorded in some wonderful buildings.   In my spare time, my engineering roots surface as I have two classic cars that are in a constant state of repair and maintenance, and the occasional modification.

Up through May 2022, I managed the AV Engineering & Operations team at the University of North Georgia. We maintained multiple campuses of classrooms with control systems in each and we worked with a team of support technicians who handle work on incident management while we handled incident escalations as well as problem management, change management, and request fulfillment (to use the ITIL vernacular). In May 2022, I became a Design Engineer 1 for AVI-SPL, based out of the Atlanta, GA office. I worked with the Account Managers to design systems for customers prior to sales, then worked with the post sales team once a system is purchased. Over the next two years, I was promoted to Design Engineer 2. In October 2024, I became an Engineering Manager for AVI-SPL, managing the Design Engineers and Project Engineers in the Atlanta, GA office.

Erin Maher-Moran is the IT Manager – Classroom Technology at Johns Hopkins University (JHU).  She manages the Classroom/Audiovisual Technology Services team. Her team designs, installs, supports and maintains the classroom technology in general pool classrooms, as well as supports events, on the Homewood Campus in Baltimore, MD. She is also the Vice Chair of the Higher Education Technology Managers Alliance (HETMA.org) and the host of AVNation’s EDTech podcast. With 25+ years in Higher Education AV, Erin has seen the industry grow and change in leaps and bounds.  She has been programming Crestron control systems since the early 2000’s and an AVIXA Certified Technology Specialist (CTS) since 2008. Erin is a former roller derby skater and coach.  This has helped her understand the importance of building a dynamic team as well as allowed her an opportunity to develop her leadership skills and style. Erin holds a BFA in illustration and an Advanced Graduate Certificate in Interactive Multimedia Development from the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT). She is currently pursuing her MS in Engineering Management – Technical Leadership at JHU.