Tom Sherak has been re-elected president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences by the Academy’s board of governors, which met Tuesday evening. The governors also elected a slate of Academy officers, including first-time officeholders Annette Bening and James L. Brooks.
Sherak, a distribution and production executive who currently serves as a consultant for Marvel Studios and Relativity Media, will serve his second consecutive term as AMPAS president.
Academy presidents can serve a maximum of four consecutive one-year terms. It is virtually unheard-of for a sitting president not to be re-elected, if he chooses to run for re-election.
The other officers elected at the board meeting were past Academy president Sid Ganis, first vice president; writers branch governors James L. Brooks and Phil Robinson, vice presidents; producers branch governor Hawk Koch, treasurer; and actors branch governor Annette Bening, secretary.
Sherak has been a member of the Academy’s board of governors for eight years. He was considered one of the prime lobbyists for the move from five to 10 best picture nominees.
Traditionally, the first job of a newly-elected president is to choose the producer for the next year’s Oscar show. Sherak, though, has already done that, hiring producers Bruce Cohen and Don Mischer to handle the 83rd Oscar ceremony.
The Academy press release follows:
Beverly Hills, CA – Tom Sherak was re-elected president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences tonight (8/3) by the organization’s Board of Governors. This will be his second consecutive one-year term in the office.
Sherak is beginning his eighth year as a governor representing the Executives Branch. He had previously also served as treasurer for the Academy.
In addition, Public Relations Branch governor and past Academy president Sid Ganis was elected first vice president; Writers Branch governor James L. Brooks was elected to one vice president post and Phil Robinson, also from the Writers Branch, was re-elected to a vice president post; Producers Branch governor Hawk Koch was re-elected treasurer; and Actors Branch governor Annette Bening was elected secretary.
These will be the first officer stints for Brooks and Bening.
Sherak, a marketing, distribution and production executive with more than four decades of experience in the motion picture industry, is currently a consultant for Marvel Studios 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.
