Veteran television executive, producer and entrepreneur Cris Abrego can add another line to his growing list of titles: President of the Television Academy. Abrego was elected to the position Thursday night by the organization’s Board of Governors, as the TV Academy also reaffirmed its list of officers and governors for the board’s 2024-2025 term.
Abrego is the president of the Americas for global production company Banijay and also recently partnered with Eva Longoria. to launch Hyphenate Media Group, where he serves as executive director. At the TV Academy, Abrego will begin his two-year term as president on January 1.
“I am honored to take on this role and feel the significant weight of responsibility to lead the Television Academy into the future, especially at this transformative time in our business,” Abrego said in a statement. “Our members represent one of the most powerful and exciting industries in the world – our content drives local and global economies and has a formative impact on our culture. As the entertainment ecosystem continues to undergo seismic changes, I look forward to joining forces with our new officers and governors to lead our Academy and support our members as we forge a path forward together.”
Abrego is no stranger to the TV Academy, having served on its executive committee and also as president of the Television Academy Foundation since 2021. He succeeds Frank Scherma, who served as president of the TV Academy since 2019, and has been dismissed. after five years at the helm. (The TV Academy extended the terms of its Board of Governors for another year amid the COVID-19 pandemic, hence the longer term.) Scherma will continue to represent the TV Academy at the Primetime Emmys telecast on January 15, as the postponed ceremony was originally supposed to take place in September during Scherma’s tenure.
As part of the transition, the TV Academy has made a slight modification to the titles of its leaders: Maury McIntyre, who has led the organization’s daily operations as president since 2014, now also adds “CEO” to his title. (The CEO title had previously been part of the title of the group’s elected president.) McIntyre also renewed his contract to remain as president/CEO until 2026.
Other officials elected by the Board of Governors Thursday included Vice President Sharon Lieblein, Second Vice President Rickey Minor, Secretary Allison Binder and Treasurer Ann Leslie Uzdavinis. Those leaders will also serve a two-year term beginning January 1, 2024.
This also applies to the Academy’s new peer group governors, who will now serve a two-year term until 2025, along with previous co-governors whose own two-year terms expire at the end of 2024.
The new governors include Kaz Aizawa (animation), Raf Lydon (art directors/set decorators), Marc Hirschfeld (casting directors), Howard Meltzer (children’s programming), Christian Vincent (choreography), George Mooradian (directors of photography ), Charlie McBrearty (commercials), Devon Patterson (costume design and supervision), Brenda Brkusic Milinkovic (daytime programming), Anya Adams (directors), Dawn Porter (documentary programming), Christina Lee Storm (emerging media programming), Jeffrey A. Calderón (lighting, camera and technical aspects). arts), Stephanie Hampton (Los Angeles area), Vito Trotta (makeup artists/hairstylists), Kenneth Kegley (motion design and titles), Sherri Chung (music), Kim Estes (artists), Nena Erb (picture editors), Sabrina Wind (producers), Hollan Sobers (production executives), Jacob Fenton (professional representatives), Karen Jones (public relations), Scott Freeman (reality programming), Barry Zegel (science and technology), Phillip Palmer (sound), Eddie Bonin (special visual effects), Larry Rosenthal (stunts), Lee Hollin (television executives) and Nicole Demerse (writers).
In addition to extending McIntyre’s contract, TV Academy renewed agreements with chief financial officer and newly appointed chief operating officer, Heather Cochran, as well as chief marketing officer and senior vice president of media and brand management, Susan Spencer. Both executives extended their contracts until 2025.
As for Abrego, it is believed that he ran unopposed. Abrego is a highly respected executive whose credits include building the unscripted business 51 Minds Entertainment in 2003, which he turned into a powerhouse and later sold to Endemol. Prior to his current role as President of the Americas at Banijay, Abrego was CEO of Endemol Shine Holdings; at the beginning of this year he took a step back from the CEO position to focus on new ventures and acquisitions for the company.
