Producer Janet Yang was elected president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences by the organization’s board of governors. Her election was announced on Tuesday (Aug. 2).
Yang is the fourth woman, and second person of color, to serve in that post. The first woman to serve as president was screen legend Bette Davis, though she served for just two months in 1941 before resigning. The other women to serve as president are Fay Kanin (1979-83) and Cheryl Boone Isaacs (2013-17), who is also the only previous person of color to serve in the post.
Yang is beginning her second term as a governor-at-large, a position for which she was nominated by her predecessor as Academy president, David Rubin, and elected by the board of governors.
Yang, a member of the producers branch since 2002, began her career in China in distribution. Her film and TV producing credits include The Joy Luck Club, The People vs. Larry Flynt, Shanghai Calling, High Crimes, Dark Matter, Zero Effect, and Over the Moon. The latter received a 2020 Oscar nomination for best animated feature film (though Yang was not among the nominees). Yang won an Emmy in 1995 for the HBO film, Indictment: The McMartin Trial, which was voted outstanding made for television movie. She shared the award with Abby Mann, Diana Pokorny and Oliver Stone.
Yang most recently served on the board as vice president and chair of the membership committee and prior to that, the membership and governance committee. She is also co-chair of the Academy’s Asian affinity group.
“Janet is a tremendously dedicated and strategic leader who has an incredible record of service at the Academy,” Academy CEO Bill Kramer said in a statement. “She has been instrumental in launching and elevating several Academy initiatives on membership recruitment, governance, and equity, diversity, and inclusion. I am thrilled that she is taking on the esteemed role of Academy president and look forward to working closely with her on our shared vision to serve our membership, celebrate the collaborative arts and sciences of motion pictures, and inspire the next generation of filmmakers.”
These officers were also elected:
- Teri E. Dorman, vice president (chair, membership committee)
- Donna Gigliotti, vice president/secretary (chair, governance committee)
- Lynette Howell Taylor, vice president (chair, awards committee)
- Larry Karaszewski, vice president (chair, history and preservation committee)
- David Linde, vice president/treasurer (chair, finance committee)
- Isis Mussenden, vice president (chair, museum committee)
- Kim Taylor-Coleman, vice president (chair, equity and inclusion committee)
- Wynn P. Thomas, vice president (chair, education and outreach committee)
Gigliotti, Karaszewski, Linde, Mussenden and Thomas were re-elected as officers. It will be the first officer stint for Dorman, Howell Taylor and Taylor-Coleman.
Here is a complete listing of the Academy’s 2022-23 board of governors:
Actors Branch: Whoopi Goldberg, Marlee Matlin, Rita Wilson
Casting Directors Branch: Richard Hicks, Kim Taylor-Coleman, Debra Zane
Cinematographers Branch: Dion Beebe, Paul Cameron, Mandy Walker
Costume Designers Branch: Ruth E. Carter, Eduardo Castro, Isis Mussenden
Directors Branch: Susanne Bier, Ava DuVernay, Jason Reitman
Documentary Branch: Kate Amend, Chris Hegedus, Jean Tsien
Executives Branch: Pam Abdy, Donna Gigliotti, David Linde
Film Editors Branch: Nancy Richardson, Stephen Rivkin, Terilyn A. Shropshire
Makeup Artists and Hairstylists Branch: Howard Berger, Bill Corso, Linda Flowers
Marketing and Public Relations Branch: Megan Colligan, Laura C. Kim, Christina Kounelias
Music Branch: Lesley Barber, Charles Bernstein, Charles Fox
Producers Branch: Jason Blum, Lynette Howell Taylor, Jennifer Todd
Production Design Branch: Tom Duffield, Missy Parker, Wynn P. Thomas
Short Films and Feature Animation Branch: Bonnie Arnold, Jon Bloom, Marlon West
Sound Branch: Gary C. Bourgeois, Peter Devlin, Teri E. Dorman
Visual Effects Branch: Rob Bredow, Brooke Breton, Paul Debevec
Writers Branch: Larry Karaszewski, Howard A. Rodman, Eric Roth
Governors-at-Large: DeVon Franklin, Rodrigo García, Janet Yang
