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Retirement Plan for Employees of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
The plan provides a traditional defined-benefit pension for career employees of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Retirement Plan for Employees of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
The plan provides a traditional defined-benefit pension for career employees of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The Academy's membership rolls include over 8,000 film-industry professionals, but the pension covers the institution's full-time staff — archivists, curators, programmers, administrators — rather than its famous voting body. The plan's public footprint is minimal; it files Form 5500 as required, but allocates no dedicated investment website and publishes no manager line-up. The pension's assets sit alongside a constellation of Academy-owned real estate and cultural holdings. That portfolio includes the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures at Wilshire and Fairfax, the Pickford Center for Motion Picture Study in Hollywood, the Margaret Herrick Library, and the Academy Film Archive. The plan's investment strategy and asset-class mix are not publicly detailed. No equity, fixed-income, real-asset, or alternative-return targets have been disclosed, and the Academy has not released a retirement-plan annual report separate from its consolidated audited financials. The finance committee is chaired by Jim Gianopulos, the former Paramount Pictures and 20th Century Fox studio chief, now serving as Academy Treasurer. Oversight sits with the Academy's CFO Andrew Horn and SVP & Controller E. Lake Setzler III. Bill Kramer, the Academy's CEO, operationalized the turnaround of the Academy Museum and oversees the broader institution, but direct investment-staff names and the delegation structure to outside consultants or OCIO providers remain unpublished. The pension's structural differentiator is the entity it serves: an honorary organization with a globally recognized brand and a cultural mission — not a profit-maximizing corporation or a public agency. That context suggests liquidity demands tied to a modest retiree base, with a liability stream that runs parallel to, rather than scaling with, the Academy's high-profile fundraising and museum operations.
General information
Firm type
Pension Fund
Year founded
—
AUM
Undisclosed
Location
Region
North America
Country
United States
City
Beverly Hills
Corporate office
8949 Wilshire Boulevard, Beverly Hills, CA, United States
Principals
Jim Gianopulos
Treasurer and Chair of the Finance Committee
Bill Kramer
CEO of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
Andrew Horn
CFO of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
E. Lake Setzler III
Senior Vice President and Controller of the Academy
Frequently asked questions
Who oversees investment decisions for the retirement plan?
The plan falls under the Academy's finance committee, chaired by Treasurer Jim Gianopulos. Day-to-day financial oversight is handled by CFO Andrew Horn and SVP & Controller E. Lake Setzler III. The Academy has not disclosed whether it uses an external OCIO provider, investment consultants, or an internal investment office to manage the pension's assets.
How large is the pension fund, and how is its asset allocation structured?
The Academy has never publicly disclosed the pension plan's AUM or target asset allocation. No equity, fixed-income, private-market, or real-asset exposure breakdown is available. The plan's Form 5500 filings exist in the regulatory record but are not supplemented by any investor-facing transparency report.
Is this pension fund tied to the Academy's broader endowment or museum operations?
The pension is a separate defined-benefit plan for Academy employees. It sits alongside — but is legally distinct from — the Academy's cultural assets, which include the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, the Margaret Herrick Library, and the Academy Film Archive. There is no indication that museum or endowment capital co-mingles with retirement-plan assets.
Which investment managers or external GPs does the plan use?
The Academy has not published a roster of external investment managers, fund commitments, or direct co-investment partners. No named GP relationships or consultant mandates have been disclosed in the public domain.
Does the plan accept outside capital or co-invest alongside other pension funds?
No. The plan is a single-employer defined-benefit pension for Academy staff. It does not operate as an investment manager, does not raise capital from third parties, and has not publicly participated in co-investment clubs alongside other pension funds or institutional allocators.
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