Dawn Hudson, the longtime CEO of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, will not seek an additional term when her current contract ends in May 2023, the Academy announced on Monday.
Hudson took the position in the summer of 2011, after the retirement of Bruce Davis, the Academy’s longtime executive director. The CEO position was created after Davis left, making Hudson the only person ever to have served in that post.
She will be actively involved in the search for a successor.
Hudson has been in office during a stormy and transformational period for the Academy that included the slumping ratings for the Oscar show; the #OscarsSoWhite protests; the Academy’s subsequent move to dramatically increase the size and diversity of its membership; the hugely expensive Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, which opened in September after years of delays; and the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced the Academy to change Oscar qualifying rules, screening practices and the show itself.