Cheryl Boone Isaacs

Cheryl Boone Isaacs
Boone Isaacs in 2015 at the announcement of nominees for the 87th Academy Awards
Born	Cheryl Boone 1949 (age 67–68) Springfield, Massachusetts, U.S.
Residence	Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Education	Whittier College
Occupation	Film marketing, public relations
Years active	1977–present
Organization	Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
Title	President, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
Term	2 years
Predecessor	Hawk Koch
Spouse(s)	Stanley Isaacs
Children	1

Cheryl Boone Isaacs (born 1949) is an American film marketing and public relations executive. She has represented the Public Relations Branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), known for its annual Academy Awards (Oscars), on the AMPAS Board of Governors for 21 years as of 2013. On July 30, 2013 she was elected as the 35th president of AMPAS. Boone Isaacs is the first African American to hold this office, and the third woman (after Bette Davis and Fay Kanin).

Boone Isaacs was born in Springfield, Massachusetts, to father, postal worker Ashley Boone, Sr., and a homemaker mother. Her family was middle class and she grew up near Springfield College until her family moved to the Sixteen Acres neighborhood of Springfield. She is the youngest of four children, two older brothers and an older sister.

In 1967, Boone Isaacs graduated from Springfield Central High School, known at that time as Classical High School. In 1971, she graduated from Whittier College with a degree in political science. During college she spent time in a study abroad program in Copenhagen, Denmark.

After college, Boone Isaacs worked as a flight attendant for Pan Am based out of San Francisco. At the age of 25, she ended up following her older brother Ashley Boone, Jr. who worked as an executive, to Hollywood.

In 1977, Boone Isaacs began working in publicity at Columbia Pictures. Her first job was publicizing the Steven Spielberg film Close Encounters of the Third Kind.