Jenny YangThe veteran producer, who has served as president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences since August 2022, has been re-elected to the position by the Academy’s Board of Governors, the organization announced Thursday.
Also elected to the position of vice president are Leslie Barber (Chairman of the Membership Committee); Devin Franklin (Chair, Equity and Inclusion Committee); Donna Gigliotti (Chairman of the Finance Committee), concurrently serving as Treasurer; Lynette Howell Taylor (Chairman of the Awards Committee); and Howard Rodman (Chairman of the Governance Committee), who will also serve as Secretary.
Franklin, Howell Taylor and Rodman were re-elected; Gigliotti had served as an officer before, but not last term; this will be Barber’s first officer position.
The academy’s chief executive said: “I am delighted that Janet has taken on the role of Academy Director for a third time, continuing the great work we have done over the past two years.” Bill Cramer said in a statement. “I am also very pleased to welcome this year’s incredibly dedicated slate of Board Officers. I look forward to working with our officers and directors to advance the Academy’s mission, serve our global membership, and celebrate the work of our international filmmaking community, Continue to ensure the financial health of the College and expand our reach and influence within the industry.
Young’s tenure as president overlaps with Cramer’s tenure as executive (he was hired in June 2022), an unusual period of calm and good news for the organization, at least relative to the academy’s engulfed former Years from Envelopegate to #OscarsSoWhite to Will Smith slap.
Earlier this year, the Academy released the results of its annual membership survey, showing that 87% of members currently have a positive view of the Academy; 84% of members rated the recent Oscars telecasts favorably; and an unprecedented number in the history of the survey. Level of recognition (previously surveyed in 2020, 2022 and 2023).
Before becoming the 36th dean of the college, she was also the fourth female dean (after betty davis, flying rabbit and Cheryl Boone Isaacs) and the second person of color (after Boone Isaacs) to ascend to the board’s top job—Yang, a Queens-born daughter of Chinese immigrants—by connecting with key players in the Chinese and Hollywood film industries. Breaking into the entertainment industry, producing films such as empire of the sun. Then she became a producer in her own right, accumulating credits including The Joy Luck Club, The People vs. Larry Flynt and very happyand won an Emmy Award for TV movie Indictment: McMartin Trial.
She has been a member of the Producers Branch since 2002 and a special member of the Academy Council since 2019. Three of these seats were added to the board in the wake of #OscarsSoWhite to provide assistance to non-white and non-male individuals tasked with advocating for inclusion on the board. They are the only trustees who are not elected by chapter members but are nominated by the current president and approved by the board of directors. Young is the first governor-at-large to serve as president.
Young, 68, is entering her third term as president (officers serve one-year terms and can serve up to four consecutive years in any one position) and her sixth year as governor. Given that a board member cannot serve more than two three-year terms (consecutive or non-consecutive) without a two-year break, she will not be eligible to serve as president or board member next year or the year after. After the hiatus, she will be eligible to return to the board for up to two more three-year terms, but will then serve on the board for up to 12 years.
