Academy President Not Seeking Board Reelection

BEVERLY HILLS, CA — The Hollywood Reporter reported Friday it has learned that Cheryl Boone Isaacs, the president of the Beverly Hills-based Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, is not seeking reelection to the Academy's board.

Boone Isaacs has been a member of the Academy's board of governors for the better part of the last quarter-century. She has been Academy president for the last four years, the third woman and first African-American to have the job.

There are a number of big names among the 157 Academy members who have thrown their hat into the ring for this year's board race, which soon will result in a winnowing down of the ballot to no more than four candidates from each of the organization's 17 branches. Each branch will pick a single representative in June, according to the Reporter.

The big names include Netflix chief Ted Sarandos, Sony Classics co-chief Michael Barker, CBS Films president Terry Press, Get Out producer Jason Blum, Rush Hour director Brett Ratner, Pixar and Disney president Ed Catmull, Martin Scorsese's longtime producer Irwin Winkler, Tom Cruise's former producing partner Paula Wagner, documentarian Morgan Spurlock, Weta chief Joe Letteri and actors Geena Davis, Whoopi Goldberg, Queen Latifah and Rita Wilson, whose husband, Tom Hanks, already serves on the board, according to the Reporter.

Also in the mix are several former board members who once served as officers — including past president Hawk Koch, past vice president Rob Friedman and past treasurer Dick Cook — as well as former marketing chief Christina Kounelias and Michael De Luca, who recently co-produced the 89th Oscars telecast, the newspaper reported.

Academy board members may serve up to three consecutive three-year terms before "terming out" and having to take a year off before running again. Officers, such as the president, are chosen from and by the board for one-year terms, and are permitted no more than four consecutive terms in any one office.

Boone Isaacs just completed her second three-year term on the board and would have been eligible to seek one more, but would not have been eligible to run for president again. Academy sources told the Reporter that after a grueling four years in that office, she is looking forward to some time off.

— City News Service. Photo by Al Powers/Powers Imagery/Invision/AP