---
title: "The Academy's Chief Oscars Officer Steps Down Ahead of a Big Transition"
description: "Teni Melidonian, the Academy's chief Oscars officer and a two-decade veteran of the film organization, is leaving her full-time post and shifting to a consulting role, as the Los Angeles-based institution restructures ahead of its centennial and a coming move of Oscars rights to YouTube."
category: "Entertainment"
category_url: https://herald.la/category/entertainment
author: "Julian Mercado"
published: 2026-07-02T06:40:03.000Z
updated: 2026-07-02T06:40:03.000Z
canonical: https://herald.la/article/the-academy-s-chief-oscars-officer-steps-down-ahead-of-a-big-transition
tags: ["Oscars", "Academy", "AMPAS", "Hollywood", "Los Angeles", "entertainment"]
---
# The Academy's Chief Oscars Officer Steps Down Ahead of a Big Transition

Teni Melidonian, the Academy's chief Oscars officer and a two-decade veteran of the film organization, is leaving her full-time post and shifting to a consulting role, as the Los Angeles-based institution restructures ahead of its centennial and a coming move of Oscars rights to YouTube.

The organization that runs the Oscars is reshuffling its leadership, and one of its most senior figures is on the way out of a full-time role.

## The move

Teni Melidonian, the chief Oscars officer at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, is stepping down from her full-time position and transitioning to a consulting role for the coming year, according to reporting from the trade press including [Deadline](https://deadline.com/2026/07/chief-oscars-officer-teni-melidonian-steps-down-ampas-1236972910/) and [Variety](https://variety.com/2026/awards/awards/oscars-officer-teni-melidonian-exits-ampas-1236800583/). Melidonian has spent about two decades at the Academy, rising from the communications ranks to oversee strategy and production for its awards shows; her portfolio is being redistributed among other executives as part of a broader reorganization.

## Why now

Academy leadership has framed the changes as preparation for a consequential stretch. The Los Angeles-based organization is approaching its centennial, and it is preparing for a major shift in how the Oscars reach audiences: the Academy has announced that [YouTube will hold exclusive global rights to the ceremony beginning in 2029](https://press.oscars.org/news/academy-partners-youtube-exclusive-global-rights-oscarsr-and-other-academy-content-starting), after its long-running domestic broadcast arrangement continues through the 100th ceremony in 2028. Aligning staff and structure for that transition, leadership has said, is part of the rationale for the reshuffle.

## Why it matters here

For Los Angeles — where the Academy is based and where the Oscars remain a civic fixture — leadership turnover at the institution is more than an internal personnel note. The chief Oscars officer sits close to the decisions that shape Hollywood's biggest night, from how the show is produced to how it is packaged for a global audience that will soon watch it in a new way. Melidonian's shift to a consulting role keeps her institutional knowledge on hand through the change, even as the Academy signals that a new era — its second century, and a new home for the broadcast — is already being planned.

## Sources

- [Chief Oscars Officer Teni Melidonian steps down from AMPAS full-time role](https://deadline.com/2026/07/chief-oscars-officer-teni-melidonian-steps-down-ampas-1236972910/)
- [Chief Oscars Officer Teni Melidonian transitions to AMPAS consultant](https://variety.com/2026/awards/awards/oscars-officer-teni-melidonian-exits-ampas-1236800583/)
- [Academy partners with YouTube for exclusive global rights to the Oscars starting in 2029](https://press.oscars.org/news/academy-partners-youtube-exclusive-global-rights-oscarsr-and-other-academy-content-starting)