Mark Aitken was promoted from Vice President to Senior Vice President of Advanced Technology in August 2019, responsible for the Company’s development and deployment of NextGen technologies such as ATSC 3.0 as well as various 5G initiatives.
Mr. Aitken joined Sinclair Broadcast Group in April of 1999. He served as Vice President of Advanced Technology starting in July 2011 and prior to that, he served as Director of Advanced Technology. While at Sinclair, Mr. Aitken has become a board member for Saankhya Labs (an Indian based chip designer and leader in SDR and SDN technologies), President of ONE Media (Sinclair’s Innovations group), and is actively engaged in many industry organizations. He currently serves as a member of the Board for the Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC) as well as the Board of the Advanced Television Broadcast Alliance (ATBA).
Mr. Aitken is the author of many papers dealing with innovative RF product developments, advanced digital broadcast systems, and design-implementation strategies, and holds patents for various RF devices and Next Gen systems. Prior to joining Sinclair, Mr. Aitken had already accrued 25 years of industry experience as both a consultant and engineer. Mr. Aitken began his career as an engineer for COMARK, having now contributed to the broadcast industry for 48 years.
Mr. Aitken is a member of the Association of Federal Communications Consulting Engineers (AFCCE), the Institute of Electrical & Electronic Engineers (IEEE) and the Society of Motion Picture & Television Engineers (SMPTE). As well, he is a member of the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) TV Technology Committee which is focused on the broader technical issues of our industry.
He is a recipient of several prestigious industry awards including the 2008 “Broadcasting and Cable” Technology Leadership Award, 2013 recipient of the ATSC "Bernard Lechner Outstanding Contributor Award", 2018 awardee of “Future's” Industry Innovator Award, the 2018 NAB Television Engineering Achievement Award and the 2020 TVOT (TV of Tomorrow) Leadership award.
