Motion Picture Academy Makes Big Executive Moves
Anne Thompson
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences (AMPAS) continues to shuffle its organization chart.
First, the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures has a new boss. Amy Homma replaces departing Director and President Jacqueline Stewart. After nearly four years at the Museum, the film scholar and TCM host is returning to her faculty position at the University of Chicago. Homma will report to the Museum’s Board of Trustees and Academy CEO Bill Kramer, who runs both the Academy and its museum.
Homma has been with the Academy Museum for five years and moves up from Chief Audience Officer, where she has been building the Academy Museum’s public engagement through eclectic programming and content. She has led the museum’s Film Programs, Education and Public Engagement, Community and Impact, and Digital Content teams, and grown the relationships between the Academy Museum, Academy members and the broader film community.
She previously served as the Academy Museum’s Vice President of Education and Public Engagement, during which time she developed a team to oversee the museum’s K-12 programming and public programs, which included lectures, symposia, panels, in-gallery talks and online programming. Prior to her time at the Academy Museum, Homma was a leader at the Smithsonian Institution as the Acting Deputy Director of the Arts & Industries Building and Director of Digital Learning at the Smithsonian’s Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden.
MacArthur Foundation Fellow Stewart is returning to the University of Chicago to resume her scholarship, writing, and teaching. Among her contributions to the Academy Museum are bilingual galleries, initiating the museum’s first strategic planning process, and the opening of many exhibitions, including Shifting Perspectives: Vertical Cinema and Regeneration: Black Cinema 1898 – 1971.
Kramer is promoting Jennifer Davidson, who has served as Chief Communications Officer since December 2021, to the expanded new role of Chief Marketing and Communications Officer, effective June 1. Davidson will oversee marketing and audience development, communications, digital/social and creative brand strategy for all arms of the Academy, including the Academy Foundation, Academy Museum and the Oscars.
Before the Academy, Davidson was Executive Vice President for Babygrande PR, creating and implementing strategic positioning, branding objectives, program publicity and corporate and business media outreach for a list of clients including ITV America and Wheelhouse Entertainment, among others. Prior to that time, Davidson served as Vice President, Media Relations at Sony Pictures Television, overseeing the studio’s domestic publicity for all series, pilots and awards campaign strategy.
Also gaining promotions are Jenny Galante, who takes on the new role of Chief Revenue Officer, effective June 1, and Matt Severson, director of the Academy’s Margaret Herrick Library, who is now the Executive Vice President, Academy Collection and Preservation, effective July 1.
As the Academy looks to the future, as ABC’s substantial Oscar licensing revenues will not be guaranteed after 2028, Galante will drive diversified and global revenue growth for all arms of the Academy, including the Academy Foundation and Academy Museum. She will continue to oversee strategic brand partnerships, including Oscars sponsors and advertisers, and lead efforts for Academy100, a $500 million global revenue diversification and outreach campaign the Academy publicly launched in early May.
Galante, who joined the Academy staff in 2013, most recently held the position of Executive Vice President, Revenue and Business Development and served as Senior Vice President, Business Development. Prior to joining the Academy, Galante managed corporate sponsorships for the Sundance Film Festival and Sundance Institute’s year-round artist programs and special events.
Academy veteran Severson, who joined the Academy in 1997 in the Photograph Archive, will oversee all collections, archival, preservation, registration, conservation and cataloging work of the Margaret Herrick Library, Academy Film Archive and Academy Museum. This role centers, for the first time, all collections and preservation efforts for the entire 23 million-item Academy Collection. He recently edited the Academy Museum exhibition catalog Agnés Varda: Director’s Inspiration, published by the Academy and DelMonico Books last year. He will replace Executive Vice President, Library, Archive and SciTech Randy Haberkamp, who will retire from the Academy this summer after 23 years. While he officially retires on August 2, Haberkamp will continue in a consultant role with the Academy until next spring.
“As the Academy evolves, we are bringing teams together to create a better sense of shared purpose across the organization,” noted Academy CEO Bill Kramer, “I am thrilled that we have an incredible team of dedicated and strategic professionals at the Academy who have greatly earned these promotions. I look forward to working with Amy, Jen, Jenny and Matt in their new roles. I also want to extend my deepest gratitude to both Jacqueline and Randy for their partnership and support. They are leaders of the highest level and will be missed by us all.”
