Indianapolis - Sep 1, 2007 - The Society of Broadcast Engineers has completed its national elections. The organization's ballots were tallied Thursday night. Elected president was Barry Thomas, CPBE CBNT, vice president of engineering for Radio Lincoln Financial Media, Atlanta. Thomas says his immediate goals for the SBE include to, "Continue the excellent efforts the SBE has made in certifying, educating and networking broadcast engineers but to also to refine all of our efforts to better serve our members." Long term, Thomas says his goals are, "to finely focus our work on the core purposes of SBE, to strengthen SBE chapters and facilitate our members’ involvement in creating the next innovations in broadcasting, to make SBE members the most qualified, certified and best-equipped people to provide service to broadcasting and media."

Vincent Lopez, CEV CBNT, will serve as vice president. Lopez is currently director of engineering for WSYT-TV/WNYS-TV, Syracuse, NY. Ted Hand, CPBE 8-VSB, chief engineer for WSOC-TV/WAXN-TV, Charlotte, NC, is the new secretary. Assuming responsibility as treasurer is Ralph Hogan, CPBE CBNT, assistant general manager of engineering services, Washington State University, Pullman, WA.

Thomas recently completed two terms as treasurer of the SBE. Lopez served two terms as secretary.

New members of the board of directors include Cris Alexander, CPBE AMD, director of engineering, Crawford Broadcasting Company, Denver; Andrea Cummis, CBT CTO, engineering and operations consultant, A.C. Video, Roseland, NJ; Dane Ericksen, CSRTE CBNT 8-VSB, senior engineer, Hammett and Edison, Sonoma, CA; Clay Freinwald, CPBE, RF systems engineer, Entercom-Seattle, Auburn, WA; Hal Hostetler, CPBE, senior engineer/IT director, KVOA Communications, Tucson, AZ; and Jerry Massey, CPBE CBNT 8-VSB AMD, corporate regional engineer and director of engineering, Entercom Communications, Greenville, SC.

Returning to serve the second year of their terms are Ralph Beaver, CBT, Tampa, FL; Keith Kintner, CPBE CBNT, Oshkosh, WI; Thomas Ray, CPBE, New York City; Christopher Tarr, CBRE CBT CBNT, Milwaukee, WI; Larry Wilkins, CPBE CBNT AMD, Prattville, AL; and James Bernier, CPBE CBNT, Alpharetta, GA. Chriss Scherer, CPBE CBNT, who will step down as president, will join the board as the immediate past president.

SBE officers serve one-year terms. Board members serve two-year terms. The new officers and board members will be sworn in at the SBE national meeting in Pittsburgh on Oct. 11.