Bruce Davis is retiring as executive director of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences on June 30.
The longtime Academy exec, who joined the organization in 1981 and became its exec director in 1989, announced his intentions Tuesday night at a meeting of the Academy’s board of governors.
Academy president Tom Sherak said Davis first raised the possibility of retirement about a month ago.Sherak said the Academy’s officers would search for a successor, with the help of a recruiter, from candidates both inside and outside the organization.
Internally, Ric Robertson, who serves as executive administrator, is in a position to take the reins from Davis, and Sherak said, “Ric would be a candidate.”
During his tenure, Davis saw the Academy grow on a number of fronts. It moved its Margaret Herrick Library to a new facility on La Cienega Boulevard in 1991 and opened the Pickford Center for Motion Picture Study in Hollywood in 2002. It also has drawn up plans for a new motion picture museum in Hollywood but has suspended fund-raising on that project.
“Bruce’s top accomplishment in running an organization like this is longevity,” Sherak said. “He’s kept the place on a very even keel for a lot of years. He’s run the day-to-day operations and is truly the face of the Academy. There is nobody who has defended the organization over the years the way Bruce has. His footprints are on so many things in this place. He’s going to be sorely missed.”
