BURBANK, Calif.—Hollywood Professional Association (HPA) has announced the honorees for its inaugural HPA League Honors, which recognize diverse members of the media and entertainment community who shine as examples of accomplishment, innovation and leadership.

On May 27, in a virtual ceremony, HPA League Honors will be awarded to five groundbreaking individuals: Annie Chang, Tammy Garnes, Patricia Keighley, Charles D. King and Iris Wu.

HPA President Seth Hallen said in a press statement, “These inaugural HPA League honorees are an extraordinary group of change-makers who have laid a foundation for future progress. We are honored to share their accomplishments.” He continued, “This work that Kari [Grubin], Renard [Jenkins] and the DEI committee and Honors jury have done is an illustration of the HPA’s ongoing commitment to recognizing our industry’s greatest professionals in new and meaningful ways.”

The Catalyst: Annie Chang, Vice President, Creative Technologies, Universal Pictures

The Catalyst honor recognizes a leader (from any discipline) who has successfully inspired and sparked positive change and innovation in media and entertainment while remaining a stabilizing force and a “mover and shaker” in the industry.

The Catalyst honor recognizes a leader (from any discipline) who has successfully inspired and sparked positive change and innovation in media and entertainment while remaining a stabilizing force and a “mover and shaker” in the industry.

The Excelsior: Tammy Garnes, Vice President of Education & Understanding, ARRAY

The Excelsior honor recognizes a leader who is running a business (or on a finance team) in the M&E industry (either manufacturer, service provider or end-user) and showed impressive business acumen and outstanding leadership while achieving remarkable business growth.

The Rainmaker: Patricia Keighley, Chief Quality Guru, IMAX Corp.

The Rainmaker honor recognizes a leader who deployed intelligent tactics & ensured their company or organization achieved its sales goals and revenue targets. The award honors excellence in financial performance and business growth.

The Star: Charles D. King, Founder & CEO, MACRO

The Star honor recognizes a content head or lead who adapted to the new normal and excelled in creativity to keep the end consumers entertained with engaging new(er) content and fresh approach.

The Alchemist: Iris Wu, Founder, Ambidio

The Alchemist honor recognizes a leader who spearheaded a noteworthy technology innovation that has brought tangible benefit to the industry either in post, workflow or presentation.  

Grubin and Jenkins said, “Having developed HPA ALL under the aegis of HPA’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion initiative, it is exciting to see it take shape. We encourage the community to join us, share the news, and step up to the plate at this exciting moment. We want to extend a heartfelt thank you to T. Shobana for her vision of creating the HPA League Honors.”

Recipients of the HPA League Honors were determined by a jury of industry experts. The HPA League Honors are the culmination of HPA’s ALL IN event, a weeklong exploration of diversity, equity and inclusion in the industry, taking place May 24–27.

Recipients of the HPA League Honors were determined by a jury of industry experts. The HPA League Honors are the culmination of HPA’s ALL IN event, a weeklong exploration of diversity, equity and inclusion in the industry, taking place May 24–27.

Sponsors for the HPA League Honors event include: Adobe, Blackmagic Design, Dell Technologies, Warner Media, Company 3, Deluxe, Envoi, Prime Focus Technologies, Tone Network, and Xperi.

For more information about HPA, HPA ALL, and the HPA League Honors, visit hpaonline.com.

LOS ANGELES–Annie Chang, vice president of technology for Marvel Studios, has accepted an invitation to join the Science and Technology Council of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, bringing the Council’s 2016–2017 membership roster to 25.

Annie Chang (second to left) has joined AMPAS' Science and Technology Council. During Chang’s 11 years at Disney, Marvel’s parent company, she has shaped technology standards and strategies, helped research and implement new technologies into feature post-production and mastering pipelines, and helped the studio transition from tapes to files and launch consumer distribution platforms. A fellow of the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE), Chang also is the co-chair of SMPTE’s 10E Essence Technology Committee and was a five-year chair of SMPTE’s Interoperable Master Format (IMF) standardization project. Chang joined the Academy as a Member-at-Large earlier this year.

The returning Council co-chairs for 2016–2017 are two members of the Academy’s Visual Effects Branch: Academy Governor Craig Barron, an Oscar-winning visual effects supervisor; and Paul Debevec, a Senior Staff Engineer at Google VR, adjunct professor at the USC Institute for Creative Technologies and a lead developer of the Light Stage image capture and rendering technology, for which he received a Scientific and Engineering Award in 2009.

The Council’s 22 other returning members are Wendy Aylsworth, Academy vice president John Bailey, Rob Bredow, Lisa Zeno Churgin, Elizabeth Cohen, Douglas Greenfield, Don Hall, John Hora, Jim Houston, Rob Hummel, Randal Kleiser, Academy governor John Knoll, Beverly Pasterczyk, Cary Phillips, Joshua Pines, Douglas Roble, Milt Shefter, David Stump, Steve Sullivan, Academy governor Bill Taylor, Academy governor Michael Tronick and Beverly Wood.

Established in 2003 by the Academy’s Board of Governors, the Science and Technology Council provides a forum for the exchange of information, promotes cooperation among diverse technological interests within the industry, sponsors publications, fosters educational activities and preserves the history of the science and technology of motion pictures.