Bob Pisano resigns as president of MPAA
Bob Pisano is stepping down as president and chief operating officer of the Motion Picture Assn. of America after nearly six years on the job.
Pisano’s departure was expected after the board of the MPAA, which acts as Hollywood’s chief lobbying arm on Capitol Hill, hired former U.S. Sen. Christopher J. Dodd as its chairman and chief executive this year.
The MPAA is not expected to fill Pisano’s position. A spokesman for the group said Pisano’s departure was a “mutual decision” reached with Dodd.
Pisano, who held the post since 2005, had been a candidate for the top job after Dan Glickman resigned last year. Pisano, 68, was interim chief executive from January 2010 through March of this year, when, after an extensive search, Dodd was selected to be the group’s new leader.
A former studio and Screen Actors Guild executive, Pisano was known for his strong administrative skills and expertise on piracy and other policy issues important to the MPAA and its members. But he lacked the political clout in Washington that MPAA’s directors wanted.
Dodd, a well-known politician, is trying to restore some of the luster the organization enjoyed when it was run for decades by legendary lobbyist and deal-maker Jack Valenti.
In an email to the MPAA staff announcing his decision, Pisano said: “Though I’m grateful to have had the opportunity to help lead the organization, I’m also increasingly conscious of the fact that I’ve reached that moment in life when quality time with one’s family is an increasingly precious gift. I am delighted that Chris has asked me to act as an advisor after my official departure date, and I have told him I’m willing to help in any way that I can.”
Pisano “raised the profile of the MPAA’s programs both in the United States and abroad,” Dodd said in a statement. “He has helped guide the MPAA’s worldwide operations at a time of extraordinary technological change and in the face of growing threats to our members’ intellectual property that has been enabled by that change.”
Warner Bros. Entertainment Chairman Barry Meyer praised Pisano, who previously practiced law in the Los Angeles and Paris office of O’Melveny & Myers.
“Under his guidance,” Meyer said, “the MPAA made great strides in advancing issues important to the studios and the industry as a whole.”
