Ken Freeman

Ken Freeman’s career in the technical world began in 1986 at San Diego State University while he was there studying Chemical Engineering: his hobby, working with audio, lighting and video equipment, became his career. He quickly ascended through the student technician role to become the Stage Manager and Technical Director for the campus, including the 400–seat Backdoor Club, 1100–seat Montezuma Hall and 4500–seat Open Air Theater. That relationship continues to this day with him recently designing and overseeing the recent revamping of the University’s performance lighting systems. In 1988, he joined the ranks of the professional world working as an electrician for artists such as Michael Jackson, Joe Pitka, U2, The Who and Madonna. The 1988 America’s Cup races gave him his first taste of technology in the tough field conditions as the technical provider for the America’s Cup Press conferences. In addition, he forged a relationship with the producer of San Diego’s Street Scene where he has worked in the roles of electrician, stage manager and audio mixer.

In 1992, Freeman toured as a sales and marketing specialist with Yamaha during the rollout of their professional audio mixers, which have staples in the audio business. This relationship opened many doors in the pro audio world including working on the audio crew for the 1996 Republican National Convention, 1996 Presidential Debates and with the White House Communications Agency. Continued services to the political arena continue; the recent December 7, 2004 Presidential visit to Camp Pendleton at which he served as production designer and technical contractor. He also developed free–lance relationships with many corporate staging providers and had the opportunity to work on projects such as Microsoft’s Windows rollout, Intel’s release of the Pentium, Seagate’s Cheetah launch, the Infiniti brand introduction and the first public presentations of Toshiba’s DVD.

For years, Freeman has designed the technical tools and resources required by large outdoor projects and events such as the 1996 Olympiad in Atlanta, ESPN’s X Games, Winter X Games and the Great Outdoor Games. He served as ESPN’s live events technical director from 1997 until 2000. In 2000, after almost three years on the road with ESPN, with ESPN winning three technical Emmy Awards and over 30 major events successfully completed, he moved back to San Diego and became an audio–video–lighting consultant. He seized the opportunity to develop another generation of technical systems after the dot–com explosion to take advantage of new markets: these technical systems looked after projects such as the product launch of the JBL Vertec Line Array, 100th Anniversary of the Bureau of Land Management at the base of Hoover Dam, the 2002 Global X Games Challenge in the Alamo Bowl and the inception of the Surround Sound Music Awards in Los Angeles.

His innovative thinking and can–do attitude, combined with well–established industry–wide contacts, have made him a key figure on some of the largest events, and under some of the most challenging circumstances and timelines. These qualities, and most pivotally, his experience in managing some of the largest outdoor audio–video systems ever used, at the ESPN X Games, make Ken Freeman a tremendous addition to the BMP management team.