Jeanell English, Executive Vice President of Impact and Inclusion, is stepping down from her role at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
English was promoted to the newly created position in July 2022 by Academy CEO Bill Kramer. In her role, she led the Academy’s initiatives to address underrepresentation in the industry and talent development programs such as Academy Gold.
Over the past year, she has played a key role in major initiatives and changes within the organization, including developing the infrastructure for the Academy’s Inclusion Standards and paving the way for community, advocacy, education and empowerment of its members and staff. She also designed and implemented the Academy’s first mid-career talent development program, the Academy Film Accelerator, which champions the careers of filmmakers from underrepresented communities.
A former executive at Discovery, English joined the Academy staff in 2020. Prior to joining the Academy, English worked for over a decade in global diversity and inclusion strategy, employee engagement, corporate social responsibility, intercultural training and talent management.
His exit follows several other key Hollywood diversity and inclusion leaders who have been fired or left their positions. This includes Karen Horne, who led DEI’s efforts for Warner Bros. Discovery, Vernā Myers, Netflix’s first inclusion manager who stepped down after five years and LaTondra Newton, Disney’s chief diversity officer and senior vice president, who left to join the board. in another company.
The Academy is in the first year of implementing the Diversity and Inclusion Standards which were first announced in 2020 as part of its Aperture 2024 initiative. While the standards have been announced and explained there three years ago, vocal critics like Richard Dreyfus have since complained about the organization’s efforts.
Following the recent announcement of 398 industry professionals invited to join the Academy, membership now stands at 34% women, 18% from underrepresented communities and 20% from out of states -United.