Entertainment

Amanda Berry to step down as Bafta chief executive in 2023

She has been at the charity for more than 20 years.
She has been at the charity for more than 20 years.

Bafta chief executive Amanda Berry will step down from her role in 2023 after 25 years at the organisation, it has been announced.

The charity’s chief operating officer Kevin Price will also depart in September 2022, after 20 years.

Ms Berry said: “In 2023 I will have been at Bafta for 25 years. When I first joined Bafta I honestly thought I would stay for three or four years, but my passion, dreams and ambition for the organisation just kept growing.

“As we approach Bafta’s 75th anniversary next year I have reflected on what I, Kevin and the truly brilliant team at Bafta have achieved, and it feels like the right time to plan to pass on the mask.

“It has been an absolute honour to have led Bafta.

“We are the only global arts charity representing film, games and television, and I am incredibly proud of our work enabling talented people from all backgrounds to progress their careers in these industries, as well as our ability to reach and inspire global audiences with our awards ceremonies, events and content.”

Bafta will formally reopen its headquarters at 195 Piccadilly next year after extensive redevelopment, which Ms Berry has hailed as a “landmark moment”.

She joined Bafta in 1998, becoming chief executive in 2000.

BAFTA Film Awards 2021
Amanda Berry at the Bafta film awards at the Royal Albert Hall in London earlier this year (Ian West/PA)

Mr Price will take over as acting CEO three months before he leaves in September 2022, while Ms Berry takes extended leave.

She will officially exit the role in autumn 2023.

Krishnendu Majumdar, Bafta chair, said: “Amanda has been a loyal and outstanding chief executive of Bafta for over 23 years.

“Under her leadership she has cemented Bafta’s annual film awards ceremony as one of the most important and credible film industry occasions in the world.

“Her passion for supporting talent and her steadfast belief that ‘talent is everywhere but opportunity is not’ is evident in the huge expansion of Bafta’s year-round global learning and talent development programme.

“From creating the ‘Brits to Watch’ in 2011, which has gone on to become the globally recognised talent initiative Breakthrough, to the well over 200 learning and new talent events that Bafta delivers every year, Amanda has ensured Bafta’s purpose has stayed at the heart of the organisation.

“When she steps down in 2023 she will leave a very different organisation to the one she joined in 1998 and when the time comes I will be the first to wish her continued success.”