Digital Media Pipeline

Eric Hanson is currently Group Manager for Vidlab, Microsoft’s digital video processing and publishing operation.  In this capacity, Hanson leads the teams responsible for content management, video processing and publishing across the entertainment products and services portfolio from the Interactive Entertainment Business at Microsoft.  Hanson is also responsible for Microsoft’s industry engagement in numerous industry trade groups associated with the digital supply chain, content processing and delivery. He has held this position for the last 5 years.

Hanson’s success leading the Vidlab operations includes delivering an industry leading video catalog of high quality, premium content distributed through Microsoft branded services including Xbox Live® and Zune®. Since the launch of Xbox Live Video Marketplace in Fall 2006, Eric has been responsible for all video processing and ingestion operations for these services including overseeing launches in 17 countries and refreshing the complete catalog into HD 1080p and streaming formats. The Zune Video Marketplace provides instant access to TV and movie entertainment in HD 1080p for streaming to Xbox 360® or for download to Windows® PCs and Zune devices.

Prior to his current role in the Interactive Entertainment Business, Hanson spent more than 4 years in the Digital Media Division driving planning for media policy & standards, licensing content and strategic planning and more than 9 years in Microsoft Finance and IT where he was responsible for numerous financial process and system designs and for ERP deployments in the United States and Europe.  He is an 18 year veteran of the Microsoft Corporation.  

Hanson holds degrees in Accounting and Economics from the University of Washington and is a Certified Public Accountant. He is a current board director for the Pediatric Brain Tumor Research Fund, a charitable organization funding research into cures and treatments for children with brain tumors.