Two Alumni Leaders Are Inducted Into the Illinois Tech Hall of Fame
Andrea Berry (CS ’84), whose career in broadcast media began upon her graduation from Illinois Institute of Technology, and Marc Hannah (EE ’77), a co-founder of the multibillion-dollar computer hardware and software company Silicon Graphics, Inc. (SGI), were named to the university’s Hall of Fame on May 27.
An Illinois Tech Life Trustee, Berry is the senior vice president and general manager of the broadcast, TV, and film division for the Production Resource Group, where she manages global teams that create technology solutions for live television sports, entertainment, and news as well as scripted and unscripted projects for film and television.
Inducted into the Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame, Berry has served as an award-winning broadcast media executive for the FOX and CBS television networks. At FOX Sports, as the senior vice president of field operations, she led remote technical teams for high-profile live events, including the World Series and events for the National Football League, the National Collegiate Athletic Association, and NASCAR, and was a part of the original team that launched the FOX Regional Sports Networks. As a broadcast operations leader, Berry held key roles supporting the technical operations and transmission of the networks’ content; her teams were also instrumental in launching new cable and broadcast television networks. She also served as the senior vice president of broadcast media services, managing the FOX Network Group digital media management initiatives.
Berry is on the boards of the Sports Video Group and the DuSable Museum of African American History. A recipient of four Outstanding Technical Team Remote Emmy awards, she was also recognized by the Alliance for Women in Media for STEM Leadership in Media. Berry received the Technology Leadership Award from Broadcasting & Cable magazine and the Women in Technology Leadership Award from TVNewsCheck, and she participates in many organizations advocating STEAM education and diversity.
Hall of Fame member Hannah helped to pioneer 3D rendering hardware used in varied applications from designing the Boeing 777 to dinosaurs in the movie Jurassic Park to the Nintendo 64 3D gaming system. He left SGI (acquired by HPE in 2016) in 1997 as vice president and chief scientist. Since then, Hannah has consulted on projects for SGI and other companies, and he has had leadership positions in multiple startups, including vice president of technology for Omniverse Digital Solutions, a minority-focused web-based media company; vice president of product architecture for Pulsent Corporation, a technology company developing compression technology for video delivery over the internet; and chief technology officer for SongPro, a consumer electronics company focused on offering portable media player cartridges and content for the Nintendo Game Boy. An Illinois Tech Life Trustee, Hannah has also served on several corporate boards and is a partner in the real estate development company Strategic Urban Development Alliance.
The Illinois Institute of Technology Hall of Fame recognizes the outstanding contributions and achievements of notable trustees, alumni, faculty, and friends from the time of the university’s founding up to the present.
Photo: Illinois Tech Hall of Fame inductees [from left] Andrea Berry and Marc Hannah
