BAFTA is expanding its North American operations with the launch of a single North America board, which unites the organization’s New York and Los Angeles entities.
Kathryn Busby, president of original programming at Starz, has been appointed the inaugural chair of the board. She will be joined by actor Elliot Knight and Karl Stewart, CEO of Thunder Child and president of 1TwentyFour as deputy chairs.
The single united board aims to strengthen BAFTA’s “global mission to inspire, support and celebrate across film, games and television, delivering greater benefits to its membership, programme participants and audiences wherever they are,” according to the organization.
Matthew Wiseman, BAFTA Los Angeles’s CEO has been promoted to executive director and head of North America while Lisa Harrison, BAFTA New York’s director, becomes director of operations for North America.
Betsy Rodgers, SVP of business & legal affairs at IFC Entertainment and RLJE Films, has been appointed secretary while Josephine Coyle, director of post production finance at Walt Disney Studios will serve as treasurer.
BAFTA members Alexis Alexanian, Tara Grace, Pippa Harris, Nyasha Hatendi, Alexa Jago, Jonathan Katz, Joyce Pierpoline, Marc Samuelson and Jonathan Sehring round out the board.
Busby and Knight will also join BAFTA’s Board of Trustees. Already appointed to the board of trustees are chair of BAFTA Krishnendu Majumdar, Sara Putt, Sir Lloyd Dorfman, Anna Higgs, Patrick Keegan, Andrew Miller, Ade Rawcliffe, Siobhan Reddy, Bal Samra, Paul Taiano and Dr Jo Twist.
“I am truly honored to have been elected chair of the inaugural BAFTA North America Board,” Busby said in a statement. “I could not be more excited to work alongside our New York, Los Angeles, and London-based board members. BAFTA is a vibrant and diverse global organization, and I am proud to be involved in championing creativity, social change and opportunity for all.”
BAFTA chair Majumdar said: “With the election of Kathryn Busby as chair of our new North America board, we can truly say that BAFTA is a global arts organisation with a shared set of values and ambitions. Today’s announcement is the culmination of many years’ groundwork in bringing our U.K. and U.S. operations together and promises closer collaboration and the continued expansion of our not-for-profit activities in the USA and beyond, such as BAFTA Breakthrough and the GSA BAFTA Student Awards. My thanks to all the staff, our members and our committees who have worked towards today’s announcement and I look forward to a new era of collaboration with our colleagues in North America.”
Source: Read Full Article
