The Television Academy Foundation today named four new members to its board of directors: Scott Evans, entertainment journalist, television personality and host of Access Hollywood; Alix Jaffe, executive vice president, television, at Village Roadshow Entertainment Group; Paula Williams Madison, chairman and CEO of Madison Media Management LLC; and Babette Perry, partner at Innovative Artist's Broadcast Division. Board members have been elected to three-year terms, effective immediately.
Additionally, officers re-elected to the board for two-year terms are Foundation Chair Cris Abrego, Chairman of the Americas, Banijay, and President and CEO, Endemol Shine Holdings; Treasurer Deborah Bradley, executive vice president, global content Sales, A+E Networks; Secretary Billie Greer, president, Billie Greer Consulting; and Vice Chair Jonathan Murray, co-founder and executive consultant, Bunim/Murray Productions.
"We are thrilled to welcome our esteemed industry colleagues to the board," said Abrego. "We look forward to working together and implementing their collective professional expertise to continue the Foundation's mission to diversify and nurture television's next generation of leaders while capturing the stories of the industry's icons."
The Foundation prepares leaders and storytellers through its preeminent education and preservation programs: The College Television Awards and Summit, Student Internship Program, The Interviews: An Oral History of Television Project and the Media Educators Conference. The Foundation has nurtured thousands of talented students, providing essential resources that help them discover their voices, refine their skills and forge rewarding careers in every sector of the television industry. Foundation alumni include prominent writers, producers, documentarians, creative executives, network presidents and more.
Scott Evans
Emmy Award-nominated entertainment journalist Scott Evans currently hosts NBCUniversal's nationally syndicated shows Access Hollywood and Access Daily, contributing to wide-ranging entertainment news coverage around the world. Additionally, Scott hosts the podcast So Close, offering intimate conversations with entertainers, teachers, entrepreneurs, authors and experts about how they've pushed through moments that define their lives. Guests offering their perspectives have included Cynthia Erivo, Derek Hough and Jay Shetty. For two seasons, Scott hosted NBC's hit dance competition series World of Dance, and the first of its kind, shoppable live competition show America's Big Deal on USA network.
He previously co-hosted OWN's first weekly live talk show OWN Tonight. Evans began his on-air career anchoring the Peabody Award-winning program Channel One News, traveling internationally for four years to cover the world's biggest news stories.
Alix Jaffe
As executive vice president of television for Village Roadshow Entertainment Group (VREG), Jaffe currently oversees Village Roadshow Television's independent television business focused on scripted content.
Prior to joining VREG, Jaffe was president of Greg Garcia's production company, Amigos de Garcia, and served as executive producer on TBS's The Guest Book as well as producer on CBS's The Millers, both series created by Garcia. Before that Jaffe spent time working in the current department at CBS and in June 2004 was named vice president of current programs for the network overseeing many primetime series including Blue Bloods, How I Met Your Mother and Rules of Engagement. She also oversaw the late-night talk show The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson. Before relocating to Los Angeles in 2001, Jaffe served as director, CBS marketing, in New York.
Paula Williams Madison
Before becoming chairman and CEO of Madison Media Management LLC, a media consultancy company located in Los Angeles, Madison served as executive vice president of diversity at NBCUniversal (NBCU) as well as a vice president of the General Electric Company, then the parent company of NBCU. During her 22 years with NBCU, Madison held a number of leadership roles including president and general manager of NBC4 Los Angeles and vice president and news director of NBC4 New York before retiring in 2011.
Madison has been honored for her work by many organizations, including being named one of the "75 Most Powerful African Americans in Corporate America" by Black Enterprise magazine in 2005, listed in the Hollywood Reporter's "Power 100" and in 2014 was recognized as one of the "Outstanding 50 Asian Americans in Business." Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti appointed Madison to the Los Angeles Police Commission where she served as vice president from 2013-2015. Madison sits on several boards including her family's investment company, Williams Group Holdings LLC, which is the majority owner of The Africa Channel.
Babette Perry
Babette Perry is a partner at Innovative Artist's Broadcast Division. Prior to that she served as head of broadcasting at ICM before becoming the Senior Vice President of the West Coast Broadcasting Division at IMG.
Perry represents talent in a variety of areas and works with all national cable networks, broadcast networks, streamers, syndicators, local stations, radio stations and podcast companies and was recognized in Variety's 2022 Power of Women and Broadcast & Cable's "Women in the Game" in 2013. Talent she represents include Rachel Smith (Entertainment Tonight), Judge Greg Mathis (Judge Mathis), Garcelle Beauvais (The Real; The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills), Phil Keoghan (The Amazing Race; Tough as Nails), Jon Fortt (CNBC), Giselle Fernández (Spectrum News LA), anchor Elex Michaelson (FOX 11 News), Alyssa Farah Griffin (The View), David Alan Grier (In Living Color), Scott Wolf (Nancy Drew; Party of Five), Jessica Holmes (KTLA), and Atari CEO Wade Rosen.
For more information on the Foundation, please visit TelevisionAcademy.com/Foundation.
About the Television Academy Foundation
Established in 1959 as the charitable arm of the Television Academy, the Television Academy Foundation is dedicated to preserving the legacy of television while educating and inspiring those who will shape its future. Through renowned educational and outreach programs, such as The Interviews: An Oral History of Television Project, College Television Awards and Summit, Student Internship and Fellowship Programs and Faculty Conference, the Foundation seeks to widen the circle of voices our industry represents and to create more opportunity for television to reflect all of society. For more information on the Foundation, please visit TelevisionAcademy.com/Foundation.
###
Media Contacts:
Jane Sparango
jane@breakwhitelight.com
310.339.1214
Christina Parisi
breakwhitelight (for the Television Academy Foundation)
christina@breakwhitelight.com
310.962.3027
breakwhitelight for the Television Academy Foundation
For the complete press release, click here.