Hollywood Radio and Television Society Elects New HRTS Foundation Board Members (EXCLUSIVE)
The Hollywood Radio and Television Society has elected six new board members to its HRTS Foundation, the org announced Wednesday. The HRTS Foundation, first launched in 2022 (in honor of the HRTS’ 75th anniversary) is a charity that aims to foster “a more diverse, equitable and inclusive TV and entertainment industry.”
Joining the board: Aimie Billon, a partners and strategy consultant in cause-related storytelling; Keely Cat-Wells, to co-founder and CEO of Making Space; Tony Jonas, the founcer of Tony Jonas Prods.; Noriko Kelley, the exec VP of programming strategy at CBS Entertainment; Dick Lippin, the chairman, chief executive and founder of The Lippin Group; and Frederic Richter, a writer, researcher and NYU SPS faculty member.
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Existing members include HRTS Foundation directors Phillippe Maigret and Melissa Grego, HRTS Foundation secretary Robin Schwartz, HRTS president Odetta Watkins, Dan Erlij, Scott Hervey, Jordan Levin and Gary Marenzi. Additionally, Louie Ko has been named Treasurer of the HRTS Foundation.
“We are thrilled to welcome this diverse and experienced group of industry executives to the HRTS Foundation Board,” Maigret said. “This esteemed group, alongside many other dedicated HRTS members, will help us establish the next generation of voices in the entertainment industry and further build off the successes of the first year of the HRTS Fellowship.”
HRTS’ Grego added: “These new HRTS Foundation board members have clearly demonstrated their support for our mission of fostering a more diverse, equitable and inclusive TV and entertainment industry. I am truly excited to have them join our existing board members as we move into our second year and further build on the momentum we’ve already created with the foundation.”
Billion cultivates relationships for nonprofit organizations with a focus on entertainment and creative community engagement. Cat-Wells is an entrepreneur and disabilities rights advocate whose company is an accessible talent acquisition and learning platform for companies to train, access and retain pre-qualified disabled talent pools.
Kelley oversees the program planning and scheduling of all primetime programming for CBS. She is the first woman to head scheduling for any broadcast television network. Jonas, who’s also a professor at the University of Southern California, is a veteran of over 30 years in the entertainment business and formerly served as president of Warner Bros. Television.
Lippin has over 35 years of experience in the entertainment industry and oversees his international entertainment, communications, public relations and marketing organization. Richter has worked on projects for HBO, Netflix, Amazon, Showtime, MGM, Universal Television and more.
The HRTS Fellowship program just welcomed its second class, including Lawnyá Benton (JHRTS), Isabella Boccasino (JHRTS), Grace Fang (JHRTS), LaCreshia Griffin-Pope (JHRTS), Petra Holness (JHRTS), Sana Hussein (JHRTS), Nadira Johnson (JHRTS), Ingrid Nin (JHRTS), Mackenzie Rohan (JHRTS) and Hankai Yan (JHRTS). New student Fellows include Lauren Delisle (Academic), Alfredo (José) Facio, Jr. (Academic), Jessica Li (Academic), Tamar Sebesta (Academic) andJee Hoon (Fred) Seo (Academic).
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