The board of governors voted on Thursday [7] to establish a new executive structure, replacing retiring executive director Bruce Davis with the former Film Independent head as CEO and long-time Academy executive Ric Robertson as COO.

Robertson will report to Hudson in the new leadership tandem and joined the Academy in 1981, rising to second-in-command in 1989 when he was appointed executive administrator.

Hudson has spent 20 years at the helm of Film Independent, the body responsible for the Independent Spirit Awards and the Los Angeles Film Festival.

“The Academy is the gold standard for the world’s most influential art form, and I am humbled by what the board of governors, the Academy members, and the staff have accomplished under Bruce Davis’s leadership,” said Hudson. “I am thrilled to have this opportunity to work with Ric, and to carry the Academy’s mission forward into the future.”  

“Having Bruce as a mentor has been tremendously valuable to me,” said Robertson. “It will serve me well as I move into this new management position and partnership with Dawn, as we help to write the Academy’s next chapter.”

Hudson and Robertson will assume their new positions on Jun 1.

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