Charles "Tad" Marburg was born in Syracuse, New York. He was raised in Virginia, England, and the Philippines before attending Oberlin College and graduate school at UCLA in the Theatre Technology and Lighting Design MFA Program. He began his professional career at Technical Audio Visual Services as a production manager supporting the road shows of "Beatlemania" and "Chorus Line." One of his projects was working on the William Shatner demo of "Star Traveler" for Paramount in 1979. He then went on to join Warner Bros in their Corporate Services department initially as its trailer distribution coordinator and then its Video Operations manager, where he developed and oversaw its mastering program, working with numerous directors, including Clint Eastwood, Stanley Kubrick, Stephen Soderbergh, and Barbra Streisand. In 1989, he went to Warner Bros Classic Animation as Director of Operations, where he served as postproduction supervisor and voice director on a range of projects from "Mrs. Bush's Storytime" to "Box Office Bunny" and Nike's "Hare Jordan." In 1991, he joined the newly created Warner Bros Technical Operations division as Director of Special Projects, which took him to Europe to survey and report on Warner's European distribution operations. From there, he became general manager of the newly built video operations facility where PAL mastering and down conversion to NTSC were perfected for the exploding DVD markets. His last staff job at Warner's was as VP of technical operations, overseeing the corporate archives and the studio museum.

In 2003, he left Warner's and became an independent consultant working on various projects; some of his clients included Deluxe Labs, IBM, Fuji, AON, Warner Bros, and Flix Innovations. In 2003, he also became a founding member of the newly re-constituted Academy of Motion Pictures and Sciences Science and Technology Council, where he was its first Public Programs and Education Sub Committee Chair. He oversaw the creation and production of 42 programs, including "The Astronaut as Filmmaker," which featured the crew of the space shuttle Atlantis, who performed the last repairs on the Hubble telescope. This program led him to develop projects with feature documentary director John Scheinfeld on "STS 125: Last Call to Hubble" and "The Guitar." During his first nine years on the Sci-Tech Council, he also launched the Council Intern Program. He has served on the Scientific and Technical Awards Committee, academy membership, and Cinema 2.0, where he chaired a number of the working groups. He also received an Academy Award with the John A Bonner Medal of Commendation. In 2013, he left his consulting practice. He returned to the executive suite as VP of Operations for Digital Cinema Coalition Distribution (DCDC), a company created by AMC, Cinemark, Regal, Universal, and Warner Bros to distribute feature films and trailers via satellite in North America. Moving on to VP Post Production at IMAX. He currently programs a speaker series at the Sidney Poitier New American Film School at Arizona State University.

Marburg's other professional affiliations include ATAS, SMPTE, BKSTS, and the ASC Technology Committee. He volunteers at the First Entertainment Credit Unions Media Benefits Corporation and on the Bel Air Beverly Crest Neighborhood Council and serves on the Local Selective Service System Board. He studies genealogy, regularly donates platelets, is an aeroponic farmer and hummingbird feeder, and is an avid hot sauce maker.

He is married to Millicent Marburg and they have two adult children.