PRESIDENT’S REPORT

PRESIDENT’S report / 2021

T

he year 2021 turned out to be a second year of operating the International Academy in the middle of a pandemic and in an environment where our members had many challenges in traveling from country to country.

Nonetheless, and for all the difficulties during the year, the annual International Emmy® Awards Gala took place in person in New York on November 22nd. Five hundred people took their seats in the ballroom of the new Casa Cipriani and watched one of the Academy’s most exciting Galas in recent memory.

The Gala was the only live event of the year and even it had a virtual component, to accommodate nominees and Academy members who still could not leave their home countries.

Other Board & Members Meetings during the year were held virtually. The March meeting featured as a speaker Bela Bajaria, the Head of Global TV at Netflix, who was interviewed by Nellie Andreeva, Co-Editor-in-Chief TV at Deadline, and gave a compelling explanation of Netflix operating style and future plans in a much more competitive streaming environment. The November Board Meeting featured Simon Sutton, a former President of HBO and now the head of Luminary, the podcasting company, whose talk was entitled “Is Podcasting the new frontier of storytelling?” In his television days Simon was a Board member and Secretary of the Academy, and it was great to have him back.

PRESIDENT & CEO BRUCE PAISNER

Throughout the year, the Academy expanded and built on its innovative M+ virtual sessions, an opportunity for members to network with each other and hear from fellow members in both a formal presentation and informal discussions. Among the people who headlined M+ sessions this year were Ed Wells, EVP and Head of Global Media and Education at Sesame Workshop, and Nicolas Atlan, President of Gaumont USA.

The pandemic caused some loss of revenue, particularly related to the Gala, but other metrics were very strong. Membership crossed the 800 mark and Nominees for our International Emmys in November came from 24 different countries, a record. Clearly the International Academy serves an increasingly important role for media professionals around the world.

The Academy is moving aggressively on several fronts to anticipate the needs of our members. An increasing number of our discussions, panels, and presentations relate to streaming, the interplay of television and technology and international cooperation. I want to thank our multi-year partners who have stuck with us through another year that was challenging for them as much as it was for us. I am particularly grateful to Phoenix Satellite Television from China and its Founder, Liu Changle; Globo, the leading media company in Brazil and the Marinho family; Ay Yapim and its Chairman, Kerem Çatay; and JCSI a Ronald S. Lauder Company and its President, Michal Grayevsky. They all contribute to the Academy on many levels. Both Phoenix and Globo have sponsored Academy Days in their respective countries and Ay Yapim is now scheduled to hold an Academy Day in Istanbul in Spring of 2023.

Without the opportunity for in-person gatherings, We are currently scheduled to hold our Spring the Academy like most organizations relied on virtual 2022 Board & Members Meeting in Berlin, under communication, and for the most part that worked the auspices of ZDF, a longtime friend and supporter pretty well. Our Executive of the Academy, and ZDF’s Committee met several times this way, our Board “The Academy is moving new Director General Norbert Himmler. & Members Meetings were all virtual and Zoom aggressively on several fronts I am writing this report at Hearst and Teams became the main stay of interaction to anticipate the needs Tower in New York. Hearst has been my professional home among the staff. Like all independent non- of our members.” for many years, and I remain in awe of its executive leadership profit organizations, the and of the outstanding results Academy is dependent on a small and highly talented that it produces year after year. Steven R. Swartz, Hearst staff to keep things going. And although the financial President & CEO, has been a friend of mine and the pressures were not as great as during the first year of the Academy’s for many years and the support he provides pandemic, our staff still had to operate at a very high us, particularly with his personal commitment to our level of efficiency, and they did. We are all indebted to work, continues to be an important factor in our success. Camille Bidermann Roizen, our multi-talented Steve’s predecessor as CEO, Frank A. Bennack Jr., is Executive Director, and her outstanding colleagues for now Hearst Executive Vice Chairman and continues to bringing us through another unprecedented year. be a source of inspiration and assistance.

The Executive Committee provided outstanding council and guidance despite some changes in membership and a number of challenging decisions to make. My thanks to Fred Cohen, our Chairman, Kevin Beggs, our Treasurer, Bruce Tuchman our Secretary, and to Adina Pitt, Piv Bernth, Adriana Cisneros, Armando Nuñez Jr., Abbe Raven, and Rainer Siek. Adriana and Rainer both left the Committee midyear and Adina Pitt joined in the Fall. It is not easy to run an organization based on people around the world coming together on a regular basis when they simply cannot do so, but I think we have found new ways at least to maintain and in some cases, even improve communication and interaction. I look forward to the time – not too far off I hope – when we can combine these techniques with our old and rewarding agenda of getting together in-person.