Gracenote, Co-founder, Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer

Recognized as one of the inventors of enhanced CD technology and credited with producing the industry's first enhanced CDs, Roberts can be considered one of the fathers of modern digital entertainment. He joined Gracenote in November of 1998 and helped found the company after it acquired ION, a multimedia and music technology venture he founded in 1993. Roberts serves as Gracenote's chief technology strategist, providing technology direction and overseeing the creation of products and services that leverage the power of the Gracenote database to deliver information services.

While at ION, Roberts produced the recording industry's first enhanced audio CD titles, including David Bowie's "Jump" and "Headcandy" from Brian Eno. He was the company's lead technologist and innovator in adding multimedia content to traditional audio CDs. ION was also widely recognized as a leading provider of enhanced CD production tools utilized by recording and multimedia development companies. In September 1993, Bertlesmann Music Group created the first interactive record label after acquiring a 50 percent interest in ION.

Prior to founding ION, Roberts was a founder and senior manager of LightSource, a software development company that produced multimedia and graphics editing software. Previously, he was a senior engineer at Pixar, where he created several award-winning, Apple-based music applications including "Studio Session" and "Jam Session." Roberts is Gracenote's representative to the Secure Digital Music Initiative (SDMI), an organization that is chartered with establishing standards for digital music and music playing devices.

Roberts is a frequent keynote speaker and panelist at digital media, entertainment, high technology and business events around the world.