Joel Hagen (He/Him)

Sr. Content Specialist, Legrand | AV
Legrand | AV is a leading provider of branded AV solutions for the places we all live and work to create amazing audiovisual experiences.    With numerous product awards and patented designs, Legrand | AV brands provide innovative whole-room solutions. Using our unique multi-brand position, we’ve been able to leverage relationships with industry partners to create custom infrastructure solutions that enhance the AV experience. Legrand | AV supports the industry with free training, webinars, 24/7 access to tools for solution specification, and documentation ranging from technical drawings, Revit, spec sheets, room diagrams, and more.    A deep commitment to sustainability and environment drives us to create solutions that support durability and recyclability, and we continually seek out new ways to improve our impact on the environment. We work closely with our suppliers to ensure they share these values.  The brands of Legrand provide the most comprehensive offering of AV solutions in the market.
Scott Walker

President, Waveguide LLC

Tim Troast

VP & GM, Legrand

Joseph D Cornwall

AV Technology Evangelist, J Cornwall Enterprises LLC

A dynamic presenter, award-winning author and recognized industry personality, Joseph Cornwall has held management and technical positions in broadcast, residential and commercial AV markets for well over 30 years.  He’s been awarded InfoComm Educator of the Year, is an AVIXA faculty member and was inducted into the System Contractor News Hall of Fame for his achievements in pro AV. A graduate of the University of Cincinnati, he holds CTS-D, CTS-I, ISF-C, and FOI industry certifications. Joe identifies himself as an AV Technology Evangelist at Large and is retired from the daily grind.
Deanne Yoshida

Sr. Marketing Manager, Legrand AV

Karen Smidt

Director of Product Marketing, Legrand | AV

Michelle Loret

Senior Account Manager, Herman ProAV/ ADI Global

Gina Sansivero

Vice President, Marketing & Corp. Communications, AtlasIED

Patrick Whipkey

Vice President @ USAV Group, USAV

Frank Pisano

VP of Sales, Americas, BrightSign

Kent Cawthorne

Vice President of Sales, Solutions & Consultants, Legrand AV

Steve Greenblatt

President & Founder, Control Concepts, Inc.

Brad Grimes

Writer, Self Employed

Nathan Hufford

Global Enterprise Account Manager, FORTÉ

I am a client centric AV/IT Technologist / Account Manager working with enterprise clients on a national and global level. With a long career focused on convergence technology, I am passionate about developing great user experiences through development of solving collaboration challenges.
Joe Way

Executive Director, Digital Spaces, UCLA

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.
Frank Padikkala

Snr. Technical Sales Architect, Zoom

Frank is an IT/AV Evangelist in the AV Industry. Frank strives to bridge the knowledge gap between Tech disciplines. As a self proclaimed "cert junkie" he holds more than 10+ IT/AV Industry certifications, along with an MS in Cyber-Security/Information Assurance and BS in IT Sec. Frank is active on social media, is a life-long learner and believes in constant self-improvement. He contributes as an SME to AV publications and IT/Cybersecurity podcasts and events. He also hosts ITFactor, an IT - AV - Tech centric podcast on www.avnation.tv He volunteers with AVIXA currently serving as the Chair of the Diversity Council where he is constantly mentoring and creating opportunities for community development through open communication.
Megan Dutta

Director of Emerging Technologies, THE rAVe Agency

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.
Ben Thomas

Head of Pro AV, Sr. Director of Publishing, MarketScale

Ben currently serves as the Head of Pro AV and the Sr. Director of Publishing for MarketScale, a B2B publisher and strategic marketing firm. He has over a decade of award winning experience in media publishing for large scale events, OTT & live streaming platforms, marketing, network television, and podcasting. Ben decided on his career path at the age of 7, and to date has led some of the most influential brands in the world including Intel, Nokia, Samsung and Segway, to billions of content interactions. A huge hockey fan (Go Stars!), and former contestant and current fan of Family Feud, Thomas resides in Dallas, Texas.
David Labuskes

CEO, Audiovisual and Integrated Experience Association

I’m a has-been geek turned manager, turned executive, turned (hopefully) into leader.  I love technology and even more I love people.  So what I find really interesting is the intersection of people and technology…and in so many ways, that’s my definition of AV.