The results are in after the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences held elections for 17 seats on its 55-person board of governors, and the new board — which will be seated later this summer — will include four rookies, three comeback kids and 10 re-elected incumbents.
Joining the board for the first time will be Focus Features chief Peter Kujawski (executives branch), repacling Donna Gigliotti, who was unable to seek re-election because she served two three-year terms and now must take a rules-mandated two-year hiatus from the board; and three Oscar nominees: the Coen brothers’ favorite composer Carter Burwell (music), replacing Charles Fox, who hit the rules-mandated max of 12 total years of service on the board and thus was ineligible to run again; ILM VFX supervisor Andrew Roberts (visual effects), succeeding Paul Debevec, who did not seek re-election; and David Fincher’s go-to makeup artist Gigi Williams (makeup artists/hairstylists), filling the seat of Howard Berger, who hit the two-consecutive-terms limit.
Returning to the board following a required hiatus are Isis Mussenden (costume designers), who is best known for the Chronicles of Narnia films, succeeding Ruth E. Carter, who had served two consecutive terms; Ed Wood and The People vs. Larry Flynt co-scribe and former Academy veep Larry Karaszewski (writers), taking the seat that had been held by Eric Roth, who also hit the two-consecutive-terms limit; and Christina Kounelias (marketing/public relations), the former comms chief for the Academy and Participant Media, who defeated incumbent Megan Colligan.
The incumbents who were re-elected: Marlee Matlin (actors), the first deaf performer to win an Oscar; Disney Animation VFX supervisor Marlon West (animation); former Casting Society of America president Richard Hicks (casting directors); Memoirs of a Geisha’s Oscar-winning lenser Dion Beebe (cinematographers); Jason Reitman (directors), the Oscar-nominated filmmaker best known for Juno and Up in the Air, who also was elected this week to the board of the Academy Museum; legendary documentarian Chris Hegedus (documentary); veteran indie film cutter and UCLA professor Nancy Richardson (film editors); Jason Blum (producers), the Blumhouse chief who was Oscar-nominated for producing Get Out; Hidden Figures set decorator Missy Parker (production design); and Cinema Audio Society career achievement award recipient Peter Devlin (sound).
The production/technology branch and the short films branch, which have fewer than three seats on the board (as does the animation branch), did not have seats come up for a vote this cycle.
The board’s three governors-at-large will be replaced later this month, as all three current occupants of those seats — including Janet Yang, who is also the Academy’s current president — will have hit their two-consecutive-terms limit. Yang, in her capacity as president, will nominate three new candidates, who then will have to pass a vote of the full outgoing board.
The incumbents whose seats on the board did not come up for a vote this cycle are Pam Abdy (executives), Wendy Aylsworth (production/technology), Lesley Barber (music), K.K. Barrett (production design), Rob Bredow (visual effects), Brooke Breton (visual effects), Paul Cameron (cinematographers), Patricia Cardoso (directors), Eduardo Castro (costume designers), David Dinerstein (marketing/public relations), Ava DuVernay (directors), Linda Flowers (makeup artists/hairstylists), Jennifer Fox (producers), Richard Gibbs (music), Jinko Gotoh (animation), Lynette Howell Taylor (producers), Kalina Ivanov (production design), Simon Kilmurry (documentary), Laura C. Kim (marketing/public relations), Ellen Kuras (cinematographers), Hannah Minghella (executives), Andy Nelson (sound), Daniel Orlandi (costume designers), Lou Diamond Phillips (actors), Gerald Quist (makeup artists/hairstylists), Stephen Rivkin (film editors), Howard A. Rodman (writers), Terilyn A. Shropshire (film editors), Dana Stevens (writers), Mark P. Stoeckinger (sound), Chris Tashima (short films), Kim Taylor-Coleman (casting directors), Jean Tsien (documentary), Rita Wilson (actors) and Debra Zane (casting directors).
