Commercial Integrator is proud to continue the #AVLivingLegends series, this week announcing Blaine Brown, chief AI officer at CTI, as our 85th inductee.
As chief Al officer at CTI, Brown leads the company’s enterprise-wide Al strategy across both client-facing solutions and internal operations, focused on integrating Al into intelligent spaces and organizational workflows in practical, scalable ways that drive measurable business impact.
Brown previously served as vice president of innovation at Diversified, where he led initiatives across generative Al, immersive environments, pro AV, collaboration platforms, cloud technologies and intelligent workplace ecosystems.
An avid AI enthusiast, Brown is also the founder of Inflection Labs, an applied Al venture focused on intelligent systems, emerging media platforms and practical Al experimentation.
In this interview, Brown highlights how his career has helped build meaningful relationships rather than just being a job. He also expresses his gratitude for mentors who have shaped his trajectory and underscores the importance of trust, encouragement, honest feedback and belief in people. Brown then recounts one of his most memorable projects — outfitting a giant multi-touch wall for Eli Lilly when the market wasn’t ready yet.
Read on to learn more about Blaine Brown, Commercial Integrator’s newest inductee in the #AVLivingLegends series! And don’t forget to visit our hub page to explore past honorees.
Interview with Blaine Brown
Commercial Integrator: What motivated you to join the commercial AV industry?
Blaine Brown: Looking back, I was drawn to this industry before I even had language for it. I loved movies as a kid — I made home movies with my parents’ VHS camcorder, did stop-motion videos with action figures, and I was always fascinated by how picture and sound could create an experience. I also had an engineering streak early on. In elementary school, I took apart my dad’s Marantz amplifier, went to RadioShack for parts and repaired it.
One of the biggest early moments for me was seeing my first real home theater at my uncle’s house in California. It had a three-gun CRT projector, a large electric screen and a Laserdisc player. I was blown away, but I also noticed the image was misaligned. So, I pulled up the settings and calibrated it — when I was 10. That moment captured something that still defines me today: I loved both the magic of the experience and the technical side of making it better.
I studied broadcast engineering in college, but I also worked on computers, networks and servers as an on-campus job. Commercial AV ended up being the perfect intersection of those interests just a few years later.
CI: What has kept you motivated and engaged in the decades that followed?
Brown: For me, this has never felt like just a job. I genuinely love this industry. I read about it, think about it and experiment with it, whether I am being paid to or not. What has kept me engaged is that commercial AV has never stood still. I came into the industry when systems were much more hardware-centric and much less connected. Over time, I got to live through the convergence of AV and IT, the rise of collaboration platforms, managed services, cloud, digital experience, intelligent spaces and, now, AI.
That constant transformation has been energizing. Every few years, the industry opens a new chapter, and I have always wanted to be part of helping shape what comes next. I still get excited by the same thing that drew me in early on: using technology to create better human experiences.
CI: Reflect on your role as both a mentee early in your career and as a mentor later in your career. Who helped shape the trajectory of your professional life? How have you tried to help shape others’ careers?
Brown: I was fortunate to have people who shaped me at different stages. A friend from college, Brian Meyer, was the one who first pointed me toward the company where my AV career began, Video Images.
Later, the owners of Sensory Technologies had a major impact on me. My technical instincts came naturally, but business acumen and leadership did not. Andy Sellers helped me understand how to operate a business ethically and responsibly. Derek Paquin also had a big influence on me in how he thought about opportunity, value and the broader business side of the industry. Ann Sellers’ business and financial experience was part of that foundation as well.
Those leaders helped round out parts of me that were less developed early on, and they empowered me to lead the company’s technical vision.
On the other side of that equation, mentoring others has been one of the most rewarding parts of my career. I have had the privilege of helping numerous individuals grow technically and professionally. Watching people whom I mentored go on to build successful careers of their own has been deeply meaningful.
If I have tried to give anything back, it is trust, encouragement, honest feedback and the belief that people can grow into more than they may see in themselves at the time.
CI: What’s the most memorable story/anecdote of your career in commercial AV?
Brown: One of the most memorable projects of my career was building a giant multi-touch wall for Eli Lilly in 2008. Mark Kershiznick, one of their leaders, wanted to modernize how marketing teams and researchers collaborated, with a Holodeck-like vision.
The challenge was that the market was not ready yet. The first iPhone had only recently come out with a 3.5-inch multitouch screen. Microsoft had just shown a prototype of the Surface Table that used projection with IR camera tracking. And turnkey systems were still years away. There was nothing you could just buy off the shelf to do what he wanted at that scale.
So, I reverse-engineered the Surface Table solution concept, created one of the first wall-sized, multi-touch interactive displays and partnered with Brandon Fischer and his company to build the software user experience layer for what Lilly called its Explorer Rooms. It was one of those projects that reminded me how AV is equal parts invention, problem-solving and belief.
A few years later, products started to emerge that could do pieces of what we had built custom. But at that moment, we had to create the future before it was available. Even better, the solution delivered a clear return on investment, so it was not just impressive technology. It was highly useful.
CI: What has been your greatest professional accomplishment to date?
Brown: I am proud of roles, titles and recognition. But if I had to name my greatest professional accomplishment, it would be helping push our industry forward by seeing where it was going early and building around that.
Across different chapters of my career, I helped lead into managed services, cloud-based digital signage, hosted video collaboration, intelligent spaces, machine intelligence and, now, enterprise AI. I have always been most fulfilled when taking something that feels early, uncertain or ahead of the market and translating it into something real that helps clients and teams.
External recognition is meaningful, including being recognized as one of the top global voices in AI, but what matters most to me are the people, relationships and friends I’ve made along the way.
CI: What has been your biggest professional regret to date?
Brown: My biggest professional regret has probably been underestimating the value of what I brought to the table at certain points in my career.
I have been early on a number of ideas and opportunities, but I did not always push as hard as I should have or bet on myself as confidently as I could have.
Some of that came from being more focused on the work than on positioning; some of it came from loyalty. Loyalty is a good quality when it is mutual. It becomes a mistake when it keeps you in situations where your value is no longer fully recognized.
That is a lesson I learned over time: Do great work, be loyal and be humble, but also understand your worth and do not ignore your instincts when you see where things are headed.
CI: What’s the best advice or pearl of wisdom you either received during your career or came to realize on your own?
Brown: This industry never stands still, so the people who keep learning, adapting and exploring are the ones who continue to create value over time. But skills alone are not enough.
In a relationship-driven industry like ours, integrity, honesty and how you treat people matter just as much.
Would you like to nominate a peer or colleague — or perhaps yourself — to be part of this #AVLivingLegends series? If so, just email Dan Ferrisi!
