As an award-winning photographer with United Press International and Agence France-Presse, Tim Roberts spent a decade capturing both triumphs and tragedies on film - from Super Bowls, the Final Four and the Olympics to natural disasters, hostage situations and the final days of the Branch Davidian standoff. This firsthand experience as a photojournalist proved invaluable when Roberts joined Wieck in early 1991 to help launch operations for what was then known as Wieck Photo DataBase - with The New York Times as its first client.
As photo editor for the enterprise, Roberts soon began researching the new digital technology and formats available for compressing, storing and transmitting photographs. Within six months of the startup, Roberts was experimenting with a system of delivery that enabled newspapers and magazines to dial in via modems and download photo files in less than one-third the time required by previous technologies.
By the mid-1990s, Roberts was leading the fast-growing company’s migration to Web services. He was appointed president in January 2002 after serving nearly three years as vice president and general manager.