The Hollywood Foreign Press Association has announced the election of its expanded board of directors, naming 12 members — five of whom have never served on the board — and is next set to select three more outside non-members, for a total of 15. Also next up, the HFPA will vote on a new president from within the board.
Tuesday’s announcement also included naming three members of the HFPA’s credentials committee, responsible for overseeing the ongoing reform plan to restructure the organization along the lines of accountability, ethics, and greater inclusion of the diversity of world journalism.
The new board comes following the HFPA’s ratification of its new set of bylaws approving reform measures, which included a requirement that the board of directors include three outside non-members.
“Our bylaw vote in early August was an important signal to the industry that we intend to keep our promises on reform,” said HFPA president Ali Sar. “Today’s election results build this new, stronger governance structure for the HFPA. We are confident that with this new Board – and soon, a new president – accountability, diversity and inclusion will be at the heart of everything we do.”
Here is the list of the first 12 new board of directors (three more non-members will next be selected):
Helen Hoehne
Gabriel Lerman (Has never served on Board)
Sabrina Joshi (Has never served on Board)
Yukiko Nakajima
Scott Orlin
Kirpi Uimonen
Henry Arnaud (Has never served on Board)
Barbara de Oliveira Pinto
Barbara Gasser (Has never served on Board)
Tina Johnk Christensen
Greet Ramaekers (Has never served on Board)
Armando Gallo
And here is the first three members of the new credentials committee (five more non-members will next be selected):
Michele Manelis (Has never served on Board)
Barbaros Tapan (Has never served on Board)
Alessandra Venezia (Has never served on Board)
All new board and committee members will undergo diversity, equity and inclusion and leadership training for their respective roles. HFPA members will vote for a new president of the organization directly from among the new board membership later this week. Also next up: electing three non-member board directors, five non-member credentials committee members, as well as a new chief executive officer, chief financial officer, chief human resource officer and chief diversity officer.
In May, the 85-member HFPA announced a timeline that would overhaul the organization, and last month, the HFPA approved the new set of bylaws that had been proposed to reform the organization, recruit more diverse and inclusive members and address the ethics and accountability issues that have long swirled around the organization.
Most recently, the HFPA had approved new gift, travel and conflict of interest policies that forbade members to accept promotional materials or other gifts from studios, publicists, actors, directors or others. The group has also been working on new membership goals in light of the reveal, first reported last spring by the Los Angeles Times, that the HFPA had no Black members.
Those charges of questionable practices and a lack of diverse membership led NBC to announce that it would not air the Golden Globes in 2022.
The new bylaws led to the election cycle for this new, expanded board of directors, including outside independent directors as well as a re-accreditation process for all existing members.
The HFPA, which hands out the Golden Globe Awards, has been under fire for months, following an initial exposé by the Times about both the small, insular organization’s questionable financial practices, as well as paltry record of diversity and representation (including an entire lack of Black members). The group has already released a framework for reform that includes measures to increase the number of people of color in its ranks. The org had already instituted new restrictions on gifts that the members could receive and payments for work on their committees.
Read the full bylaws that were approved in August here.