AMPAS names new leadership in Dawn Hudson and Ric Robertson

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Former Film Independent head Dawn Hudson and longtime Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences executive Ric Robertson were named chief executive officer and chief operating officer, respectively, of the academy.

The academy’s Board of Governors voted Thursday to establish this new executive structure to replace its retiring executive director, Bruce Davis.

Hudson has spent the last 20 years as head of Film Independent, the nonprofit organization that produces the Spirit Awards and the Los Angeles Film Festival. The day before she was named chief executive of the academy, Film Independent announced it was partnering with the Los Angeles County Museum of Art to lead LACMA’s film programming.

Her replacement at Film Independent has not yet been announced.

Robertson joined the Academy in 1981 and was named executive administrator, the organization’s second-in-command in 1989. Academy President Tom Sherak said in a statement Thursday evening: ‘We are a different organization than we used to be.... Now, with the leadership team of Dawn as our CEO and Rick as our COO, we have the ideal combination of new vision and institutional continuity to move us forward.’

--Susan King