Cheryl Boone Isaacs has been re-elected to a third term as president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the Academy announced on Tuesday night.
The selection of a president was the first order of business for the new Board of Governors of the Academy, which met for the first time on Tuesday after last month’s elections, which brought four new members and returned a number of incumbents to the 51-person board.
Isaacs, who represents the Public Relations Branch of the Academy on the board, was expected to easily win re-election. She is the third woman to serve as AMPAS president, and the first African-American. She is one of 17 women on the board, an all-time high, and its only black member.
Sitting Academy presidents are typically re-elected for as long as they are eligible, and Isaacs has proven to be a popular president, as well as an important presence atop the Academy at a time when the Oscar nominations have been scrutinized for their lack of people of color. During her two years in office, the Academy has also moved forward on the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, which recently received final approval from the L.A. City Council.
Isaacs is eligible to serve one more term if re-elected in 2016. She does not face the nine-year term limit for service on the board, which forced her predecessors Hawk Koch and Tom Sherak out of office after serving one and three terms, respectively.
Isaacs served in the publicity and theatrical marketing departments of Paramount Pictures and New Line Cinema, and is currently the head of CBI Enterprises, Inc. In the past, she ran publicity campaigns for Best Picture winners “Forrest Gump” and “Braveheart,” while in recent years she has consulted on such films as “The Artist,” “The King’s Speech” and “Precious.” She stopped working on Oscar campaigns after being elected president.
One of Isaac’s first big tasks in this term is to select producers for the next Oscar show. Neil Meron and Craig Zadan, who had a three-year contract to produce the Oscars that ended in February, will not return for the 2016 telecast.
Isaacs is the 33rd different person to serve as Academy president. The only other women were Bette Davis, who resigned after only two months on the job in 1941, and screenwriter Fay Kanin, who served four terms in the early 1980s.
Douglas Fairbanks was the first president, in 1927. Since then, the job has been occupied by Frank Capra, Jean Hersholt, George Stevens, Gregory Peck, Walter Mirish, Karl Malden, Robert Rehme, Arthur Hiller, Sid Ganis, Frank Pierson, Tom Sherak, Howard W. Koch and his son Hawk Koch, among others.
