Tom Sherak has been re-elected to a third term as president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, AMPAS announced on Tuesday night following a meeting of its Board of Governors.
Sherak, a distribution and production executive who currently serves as a consultant for Skydance Productions and Relativity Media, has represented the executive branch of the Academy on the board for nine years.
His election certainly didn't come as a surprise: It is virtually unheard-of for a sitting Academy president not to be re-elected, if the president chooses to run. Presidents can serve a maximum of four consecutive one-year terms.
The other officers elected at the board meeting were producers branch governor Hawk Koch (first vice president); executive branch governor Robert Rehme and writers branch governor Phil Robinson (vice presidents); animation branch governor John Lasseter (treasurer); and actors branch governor Annette Bening (secretary).
Robinson, Koch and Bening have served as Academy officers for the past year. Sid Ganis, who had been serving as first vice-president, had to leave the board because of AMPAS term limits. Rehme, a past Academy president, replaces James L. Brooks in one of the two vice-president slots.
In his two years as Academy president, Sherak has presided over an eventful time during which the Academy went to 10 Best Picture nominations for the first time in decades, and then adjusted to its current variable number of nominations; tried to bring a younger audience to the Oscar telecast, with mixed results; and reorganized its executive structure with the retirement of longtime executive director Bruce Davis and the hiring of new CEO Dawn Hudson.
In addition to the election of officers, other news expected to come out of Tuesday's board meeting includes the selection of this year's Governors Award recipients and the institution of new campaign regulations that will reportedly place heightened restrictions on Oscar-season parties.
The Academy press release follows:
BEVERLY HILLS, CA – Tom Sherak was re-elected president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences tonight (August 2) by the organization’s Board of Governors. This will be his third consecutive one-year term in the office.
Sherak is beginning his ninth year as a governor representing the Executives Branch. He had previously also served as treasurer for the Academy.
In addition, Producers Branch governor Hawk Koch was elected first vice president; Executives Branch governor Robert Rehme was elected to one vice president post and Writers Branch governor Phil Robinson was re-elected to the other vice president post; Short Films and Feature Animation Branch governor John Lasseter was elected treasurer; and Actors Branch governor Annette Bening was re-elected secretary.
Sherak, a marketing, distribution and production executive with more than four decades of experience in the motion picture industry, is currently a consultant for Skydance Productions and Relativity Media.
Previously, Sherak was a partner at Revolution Studios where he oversaw the release of more than 30 films including “Black Hawk Down,” “Anger Management,” “Rent,” and “Across the Universe.”
Prior to joining Revolution, Sherak was chairman of Twentieth Century Fox Domestic Film Group and served as senior executive vice president of Fox Filmed Entertainment. Previously, he held various positions at Fox, including senior executive vice president, where he oversaw the distribution and post-production of “Mrs. Doubtfire,” “Speed,” and “Independence Day,” among others.
In 1990 Sherak was named executive vice president of Twentieth Century Fox. Prior to that he was president of domestic distribution and marketing for Fox, where he launched such films as “Romancing the Stone,” “ Aliens,” “Wall Street,” “Die Hard” and “Working Girl.” He began his career in the industry at Paramount Pictures in 1970.
Academy board members serve three-year terms, while officers serve one-year terms, with a maximum of four consecutive terms in any one office.
