Representing all branches of the Academy, the 55-person Board of Governors is responsible for the governance, corporate oversight, and strategic direction of the Academy. Governors have a fiduciary responsibility to the Academy and preserve the institution’s financial health while ensuring fulfillment of the Academy’s mission.
The board approves annual goals and the annual budget presented by the CEO, and it approves policies concerning governance, membership and awards. Governors generally attend 7-10 board meetings annually and serve on a board committee. Governors also serve on their branch’s executive committee and are expected to attend Academy events throughout the year.
CEO Bill Kramer oversees a staff of more than 700 who conduct the Academy’s day-to-day business.
Governors 2025 - 2026
Actors Branch
Marlee became the first Deaf actor to win an Academy Award for Best Actor in her debut performance in Children of a Lesser God. She went on to star in Walker, Hear No Evil, and the Oscar winning Best Picture, CODA. Marlee was an Executive Producer of the Oscar nominated Live Action Short Feeling Through, and was the first Deaf person in the Directors Guild of America.
Lou Diamond Phillips has in excess of 160 film, TV and theater credits in a career that spans four decades, garnering numerous accolades including an Independent Spirit Award and nominations for two Emmys, a Golden Globe, and a Tony. He has served on the SAG-AFTRA National Board, SAG Foundation Board, and Advisory Boards for CAPE, ACT Today, and The University of Texas at Arlington.
Rita has acted in over 30 films including Asteroid City, Kimi, Sleepless in Seattle, It’s Complicated, Runaway Bride, Mixed Nuts, Jingle All the Way, and That Thing You Do. She produced A Man Called Otto, My Big Fat Greek Wedding 1, 2 and 3. Rita also Executive Produced Mamma Mia and Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again. Her song "Til You’re Home" was shortlisted for Best Original Song for the 95th Oscars.
Animation Branch
Jinko Gotoh is an award-winning producer. She is currently producing Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse. Her screen credits include Oscar nominated Klaus, The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part, The Little Prince, Oscar nominated The Illusionist, Oscar winning Finding Nemo, and Dinosaur. She started her animation career on Space Jam.
Marlon West is an award-winning animator, Head of Effects, and VFX Supervisor at Walt Disney Feature Animation Studios. His credits include The Lion King, Pocahontas, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Hercules, Tarzan, Fantasia 2000, Atlantis: The Lost Empire, The Princess and the Frog, Winnie the Pooh, Frozen, Moana, Frozen 2, Encanto, and Zootopia 2.
Casting Directors Branch
Mr. Hicks’ nearly 30-year career as a casting director includes over 80 motion pictures, including Hell or High Water, Zero Dark Thirty, Gravity, and Lars and the Real Girl. Richard is an Emmy winner, a past president of the Casting Society (CSA), and a graduate of RADA.
Kim Taylor-Coleman has received 2 Emmy nominations and 5 Artios Awards for her work on BlacKkKlansman, Lovecraft Country, Dear White People, Dope, and Zola. Other credits include Highest 2 Lowest, By Any Means and Straw. Kim is a Governor for the Casting Director branch and serves on the Academy Foundation board.
Ms. Zane has been a casting director for over three decades. Her feature credits include The Hunger Games franchise, The Planet of the Apes franchise, Dreamgirls, Catch Me If You Can, Ocean's 11, 12, 13, Traffic, Galaxy Quest, and American Beauty. Debra is a graduate of Sarah Lawrence College.
Cinematographers Branch
Australian-born cinematographer. Nominated twice, Beebe won the Oscar for his work on Memoirs of a Geisha. A two-time BAFTA winner, Dion’s other credits include Chicago, In the Cut, Collateral, Miami Vice, and Edge of Tomorrow. He was recently awarded the Pierre Angenieux Award for Cinematography at the 78th Cannes Film Festival.
Cameron’s work has established his place in the canon of cinematography. He’s directed episodes of Terminal List, Special Ops: Lioness and Westworld. DP credits include Man on Fire, Reminiscence, Pirates of the Caribbean, Collateral, Swordfish, and Gone in Sixty Seconds. Cameron is a BAFTA, Emmy, Clio, and AICP award winner.
Oscar nominated for her film The Betrayal/Nerakhoon, Ms. Kuras is a two-time Primetime Emmy winner. Her cinematography credits include Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Blow, Summer of Sam, Swoon, and Pretend It’s a City and as a director, Ozark, Catch 22 and Terminal List. Her feature directorial debut, Lee, starring Kate Winslet, was released in 2024.
Costume Designers Branch
Mr. Castro’s film credits include Bird on a Wire, Sugar Hill, The Perez Family, Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love, Bride & Prejudice, and he is the recipient of 5 Costume Designers Guild Awards, including the Career Achievement Award in 2013.
Ms. Mussenden’s credits include The Hand that Rocks the Cradle, The Accountant, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (and two additional sequels), American Psycho, The Wolverine, Shrek and Shrek 2. She has served on the Academy Foundation Board and the Board of Trustees of the Academy Museum.
Emmy-winning Daniel Orlandi’s credits include Logan, The Blindside, Frost/Nixon, Ford v Ferrari, and The DaVinci Code. He was nominated for the BAFTA for Saving Mr. Banks and was nominated for 3 Costume Designers Guild Awards.
Directors Branch
Cardoso, a Sundance Audience Award winner and Fulbright scholar, directed Real Women Have Curves (National Film Registry), The Water Carrier (Student Academy Award), El Paseo de Teresa, Queen Sugar, Tales of the City, and the pilot for Harlan Coben’s Shelter. A former archaeologist, she's a professor at UC Riverside, led Sundance’s Latin American program, and served on the DGA National Board.
Ms. DuVernay’s directorial work includes Best Picture nominee Selma, Best Documentary nominee 13th, A Wrinkle In Time, Middle Of Nowhere, I Will Follow, Queen Sugar and her Emmy Award winning series When They See Us. She amplifies the work of Black artists, people of color and women of all kinds through her multi-platform arts collective, ARRAY.
Mr. Reitman is the Oscar-nominated director of Juno, Up In The Air, Thank You For Smoking, Young Adult, Tully, and Ghostbusters: Afterlife. He is the producer of Whiplash, Jennifer's Body, and the series Casual. He has received one Grammy Award and four Academy Award nominations. He is also the co-creator of the LACMA Live Read series.
Documentary Branch
Chris has directed, shot, and edited documentaries for over forty years including the Oscar-nominated The War Room. She received a DGA Award for Startup.com, Emmy Award for Elaine Stritch at Liberty and nomination for Unlocking the Cage. Feature credits include Moon Over Broadway, Kings of Pastry, and Depeche Mode 101. Lifetime awards from the IDA, Critics Choice, AFI, and Doc NYC.
Kilmurry is a documentary producer and executive producer. He's received a Primetime Emmy, 17 News and Documentary Emmys, and 8 Peabodies. Credits include SPEAK, The Last Spy, ADA - My Mother the Architect, Desperate Souls, Dark City and the Legend of Midnight Cowboy, and El Equipo. He was executive director of IDA and executive producer of POV on PBS.
Ms.Tsien has been working in documentaries for four decades as an editor, producer and consultant. Her producing credits include the 2024 Oscar-nominated documentary short Island In Between, and the 2021 Primetime Emmy Award winner 76 Days. She is a recipient of the 2018 Art of Editing Mentorship Award presented by Sundance Institute, and the 2020 DOC NYC Lifetime Achievement Award.
Executives Branch
Pamela Abdy serves as Co-Chair & CEO of WB Motion Picture Group, overseeing operations for WB Pictures, New Line, and WB Pictures Animation, as well as curatorial oversight of TCM, in partnership with Paul Thomas Anderson, Steven Spielberg and Martin Scorsese. In addition to serving as a Governor, she is a PGA member, an AFI Trustee, and part of THR’s Women in Entertainment Mentorship Program.
Peter Kujawski is the Chairman of Focus Features, the specialty division of Universal Pictures, where he’s worked since its founding in 2002.
Hannah Minghella serves as the Head of Feature Animation and Family Film at Netflix. Previously she was the President of Motion Pictures at Bad Robot where she produced the Oscar winning adaptation of Charlie Mackesy’s book The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse for AppleTV+ and the BBC as well as The Blue Angels documentary for IMAX and Amazon. Most recently, Minghella produced David Robert Mitchell’s upcoming movie for WB. Prior to Bad Robot, Minghella spent 14 years at Sony Pictures Entertainment, most recently as President of TriStar Pictures.
Film Editors Branch
Nancy Richardson’s credits include Stand and Deliver, To Sleep with Anger, Selena, Thirteen, Lords of Dogtown, Twilight, Step Up, and Fighting with my Family. She has served as a Creative Advisor for the Sundance Directors Lab several times. She has also been a professor at UCLA’s Department of Film, Television and Digital Media.
Mr. Rivkin’s feature editing credits include Avatar: Fire and Ash, Avatar: The Way of Water, the original Avatar, for which he received an Oscar nomination, Alita: Battle Angel, the first three films of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, Ali, The Hurricane, and Robin Hood: Men in Tights.
Ms. Shropshire is an award-winning editor whose feature credits include Twisters, The Woman King, The Old Guard, Beyond the Lights, Talk to Me, Love and Basketball, and Eve’s Bayou. She is a Sundance Institute/Adobe Mentorship Award recipient for her commitment to supporting future rising stars in the craft.
Makeup Artists and Hairstylists Branch
Ms. Flowers’s credits include Spider-Man: No Way Home, Midway, There Will Be Blood, The Social Network, Hunger Games, Catching Fire, Iron Man 2, Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events, Angels and Demons, and films 3, 4, 7 & 8 in the Fast and the Furious franchise.
Gerald Quist has been a makeup artist in the motion picture industry for over 40 years. His film credits include Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, Mr. Holland’s Opus, Tropic Thunder, Drive, The Way Back, Fast and Furious, and The Sixth Sense. He's the recipient of 5 Primetime Emmy Awards and 17 Emmy Nominations and has been a member of the Makeup Artists and Hairstylists Branch of the Academy since 2009.
Ms. Williams is a working makeup designer and department head with over four decades of experience in film and television. Her feature credits range from cult classics like Rock 'n' Roll High School and The Howling, to critically acclaimed films such as The Master, Argo, Gone Girl, A Single Man, Inherent Vice, The Killer, and Mank. Her work on Mank earned her both an Academy Award and a BAFTA nomination.
Marketing and Public Relations Branch
David Dinerstein won an Academy Award for producing Summer Of Soul. He was a studio executive at 20th Century Fox, Paramount Pictures and Miramax Films. He has been involved in the production, marketing or distribution on over 200 films including Pulp Fiction, American Hustle, Her, The Illusionist, The Ice Storm, You Can Count On Me, The Full Monty, Paris Is Burning and Hustle & Flow.
Ms. Kim was most recently EVP, Marketing at Participant where she oversaw marketing on specialty films including narrative, documentary, international and series on the company’s behalf. Prior to Participant, she founded Inside Job, a marketing and distribution consultancy which she operates today, served as EVP, Marketing at Warner Independent Pictures and is currently working for MUBI.
Christina Kounelias is an award-winning marketing and communications executive, having worked in leadership roles at Warner Bros., New Line and Participant. Her campaigns range from the unprecedented Lord of the Rings trilogy, Elf and Austin Powers to Green Book, Roma and RBG. This is Kounelias' third term on the Board of Governors; she previously served as the Academy’s first-ever CMO. In 2022, she founded Delphi Media, which provides strategic marketing/comms consulting for entertainment and corporate clients.
Music Branch
Lesley Barber is best known for her score for Kenny Lonergan’s Oscar-winning Manchester by the Sea. Her other credits include Late Night, Mansfield Park, Irreplaceable You, Bonjour Tristesse, American Woman, How To Change The World, and You Can Count on Me amongst others.
Among his feature film scores are Raising Arizona, Miller's Crossing, Fargo, Gods and Monsters, Being John Malkovich, Before Night Falls, Adaptation, In Bruges, Twilight, and True Grit. He received Oscar nominations for the scores to Carol, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, and The Banshees of Inisherin, and an Emmy for his music to the HBO limited series Mildred Pierce.
His film and TV scores range from Say Anything, Dr. Dolittle, and The Simpsons to Queen of the Damned, 10 Things I Hate About You, and Battlestar Galactica. His studio, Woodshed Recording, has hosted U2, Chance the Rapper, Barbra Streisand, Coldplay, Lady Gaga, Miley Cyrus and many dozens more. He served as musical director for Chaka Khan, Tracey Ullman and the Muppets. Produced Eisley and Korn. Founder of Armory of Harmony, a 501c3 transforming guns into musical instruments.
Producers Branch
Jason Blum is founder and CEO of Blumhouse, a three-time Oscar nominee for Get Out, Whiplash, and BlacKkKlansman. He's produced over 200 films and series, including award-winning dramas and landmark horror franchises like Five Nights at Freddy's, Paranormal Activity, Black Phone, and The Purge.
Ms. Fox is the Oscar-nominated producer of films such as Michael Clayton, Syriana, Nightcrawler, Good Night and Good Luck, The Informant, We Need to Talk About Kevin, Roman J. Israel, Esq, and The Last Duel. Her films have received 17 nominations and 2 wins. She has produced the last six Governors Awards on behalf of the Academy.
Ms. Howell Taylor has produced over 25 films in the last 20 years, including Bradley Cooper's A Star is Born, which received 8 Academy Award nominations. Most recently, she produced The Accountant 2 for Amazon. Her film credits include Roofman, Captain Fantastic, The Accountant, Big Eyes, The Place Beyond the Pines, Blue Valentine and Half Nelson. Ms. Howell Taylor also produced the 92nd Academy Awards.
Production and Technology Branch
Wendy Aylsworth provides strategic guidance for entertainment technology companies. She transitioned the industry to digital cinema and converted theaters to show The Hobbit trilogy in HFR (WB). She developed/managed digital animation workflows for hits as Space Jam (WB) and Lion King (Disney). She has a Lifetime Achievement Emmy from the Television Academy and the Progress Medal from the SMPTE.
Production Design Branch
K.K. Barrett was nominated for an Oscar for HER, a BAFTA for Marie Antoinette and ADG Award nominations for Lost in Translation, Where the Wild Things Are, and Birds of Prey and HER (for which he won). His other credits include Being John Malkovich, and Adaptation.
Bulgarian-born. Most recently designed The Boys In The Boat, directed by George Clooney. Other notable films include The Tender Bar, the Oscar-nominated Little Miss Sunshine, Long Shot, Wonder, and Smoke. TV credits include the award-winning Lovecraft Country. Primetime Emmy and ADG Awards for the film Grey Gardens. Co-founder of the Production Designers Collective.
Missy Parker is a Set Decorator whose credits include Twisters, Matchbox, Flowervale, Hidden Figures and Pirates of the Caribbean, amongst many others. She has been nominated for several Art Directors Guild awards. This is her second term as a Governor representing the Production Design Branch.
Short Films Branch
Chris Tashima is an actor/director and member of the Short Films Branch since 1998. He won an Oscar for Visas and Virtue, a short he directed, co-wrote and starred in. He directed the short, Day of Independence, winning 25 festival awards. Notable shorts he appeared in include Requiem, Lil Tokyo Reporter and Kodama. Indie feature roles include Americanese, Under the Blood Red Sun and No No Girl.
Sound Branch
Born in Belfast and trained by BBC Northern Ireland, Production Sound Mixer and five-time Oscar Nominee Peter Devlin has spent the last 37 years mixing sound in the United States. An Academy member for the last 22 years whilst serving on the Sound Branch Executive Committee for ten years, Peter is also a former board member of CAS. His credits include: Bullet Train, WW84, and Black Panther.
Andy started his career in London, and moved to TODD-AO Hollywood in 1990. Since then, he's spent 25 years as SVP Ops for 20th Century Fox. He has accumulated 25 Academy Nominations with wins for Saving Private Ryan and Les Miserables. He served twelve years on the Sound Branch Executive Committee, and has a Career Achievement Award from CAS.
Mark Stoeckinger has been working as a supervising sound editor for over 40 years with more than 100 credits earning Academy Award nominations for Face Off, Star Trek and Unstoppable. He has served on the Sound Branch Executive Committee for 12 years. Mark has also been active in industry outreach and mentor programs through Formosa Group and the Academy Gold Program.
Visual Effects Branch
Rob Bredow is an Academy Award-nominated VFX supervisor (Solo: A Star Wars Story) and SVP, Creative Innovation at Lucasfilm, overseeing digital production, technology, art, and VFX. He produces projects like The Acolyte, Willow, and Solo, and other credits include Independence Day, Surf’s Up & Stuart Little. Rob chairs the Academy Software Foundation, driving industry collaboration & innovation.
Ms. Breton has been involved in a variety of films which have received Academy recognition and awards. Key projects include: Avatar, Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, Solaris, Star Trek IV, Star Trek V, StarTrek VI, and Dick Tracy. Ms. Breton was instrumental in the startup of Digital Domain, where she served as SVP, and DreamWorks Animation.
Andrew Roberts, an Oscar-nominated VFX Supervisor with 25+ years in film, TV & commercials, holds two Creative Arts Emmys, plus Emmy & VES nominations. Key credits: The Creator, Jurassic World: Rebirth, Joker: Folie a Deux, Killers of the Flower Moon, Godzilla vs Kong, Snow White, Avatar. He mentors underrepresented artists via Academy GOLD Rising, Disney’s “On the Block,” and AfroVFX.
Writers Branch
Karaszewski is best known for writing unusual true stories with Scott Alexander. Their credits include the Oscar-winning Ed Wood, The People vs. Larry Flynt, Man on the Moon, Big Eyes and Dolemite is My Name. He is a former Vice President of the Academy and former co-chair of the International Feature Film category. Larry received the Emmy, Golden Globe, PGA and WGA Award for The People v. O.J. Simpson.
Mr. Rodman wrote the films Joe Gould's Secret, August, and Savage Grace. He is past president of the WGAW, professor at USC’s School of Cinematic Arts, and an artistic director of the Sundance Screenwriting Labs.
Ms. Stevens has written seven feature films, including For Love of the Game, City of Angels, Fatherhood, and most recently The Woman King, for which she was nominated for an NAACP Image Award. She has served on the final selection committee for the Nicholl Fellowship, as a Gold Rising mentor, and is a longtime artistic advisor at the Sundance Writers Labs.
Governors-at-Large
(Nominated by the President and elected by the Board of Governors)
Haifaa Al Mansour is the first female filmmaker from Saudi Arabia and is best known for her award winning film Wadjda, the first feature film ever shot in the Kingdom and the first Saudi film directed by a woman. Her other directorial credits include Women Without Shadows, Mary Shelley, The Wedding Singer’s Daughter, Nappily Ever After, The Perfect Candidate, and the upcoming Unidentified.
Brown’s credits include Real Women Have Curves, Dear White People, The Inspection, and TV shows like Zombies, Project Greenlight, Star, and Run Sweetheart Run. She’s a fierce advocate for diversity and inclusion in Hollywood, committed to empowering underrepresented voices and transforming the industry through authentic storytelling.
Ms. Chang is the VP, Creative Technologies at NBCUniversal where she oversees new technologies and workflows for film productions. She is a recipient of the SMPTE Workflow Medal and is currently the AMPAS Science and Technology Council Chair, Academy Color Encoding System Co-Chair and active in the ASC Motion Imaging Technology Council, MovieLabs and UHD Alliance.