“Heaven Is for Real” producer DeVon Franklin, Colombian director Rodrigo Garcia (“Mother and Child”) and “The People vs. Larry Flynt” producer Janet Yang have been appointed as three new governors-at-large to the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences’ board of governors, the board announced Monday.
Franklin joins the Executives Branch, Garcia the Directors Branch and Yang the Producers Branch. Each will serve a three-year term beginning July 1. They succeed Gregory Nava, Jennifer Yuh Nelson and Reginald Hudlin in the roles.
The board positions were added by then Academy president Cheryl Boone Isaacs in Jan. 2016 in the wake of backlash over #OscarsSoWhite with the promise that the board would always include at least three non-white male members.
“The Board looks forward to welcoming DeVon, Janet and Rodrigo. They are each well-positioned to support our continuing global outreach efforts,” Academy President John Bailey said in a statement. “We are grateful to our three outgoing at-large governors, Gregory Nava, Jennifer Yuh Nelson and Reginald Hudlin, for their dedicated service to the Academy over the last three years.”
The appointments are also a part of the Academy’s A2020 initiative, which seeks to support inclusion and increase representation on nonwhite industry professionals within its membership and the greater film community.
In addition to the governors-at-large, the Academy’s 17 branches are each represented by three governors, who may serve up to three consecutive three-year terms. The Board of Governors sets the Academy’s strategic vision, preserves the organization’s financial health and assures the fulfillment of its mission.
The Academy’s 2019-2020 Board of Governors will be announced in June.