Sherry Lansing

Former Chair and CEO, Paramount Pictures Motion Picture Group

Sherry Lansing is the founder and current chair of the Sherry Lansing Foundation, a philanthropic organization focusing on cancer research, health and education. Ms. Lansing was the chair of the Motion Picture Group of Paramount Pictures from 1992 to 2005, where she oversaw the release of more than 200 films including Academy Award® winners “Forrest Gump” (1994), “Braveheart” (1995), and highest grossing movie of all time, “Titanic” (1997). A pioneering studio  executive, Lansing was the first woman in the film industry to oversee all aspects of a studio’s motion picture production.

Among other blockbusters helmed under Lansing’s management are “The First Wives Club,” “Saving Private Ryan,” “The Truman Show,” “Mission: Impossible,” “What Women Want,” “The Italian Job,” “The School of Rock,” “Mean Girls,” and “The Hours.”

Prior to becoming Chairman of the Motion Picture Group, Ms. Lansing headed her own production company, Lansing Productions, which produced Paramount Pictures’ “Indecent Proposal”. Before that, during her partnership with Stanley Jaffe, formed in 1983, Jaffe/Lansing Productions produced a variety of films for Paramount, among them, “The Accused”, ”Black Rain,” “Fatal Attraction,” “Racing With the Moon” and “School Ties.” From 1980 to 1983, Ms. Lansing served as President of Production at 20th Century Fox. She was the first woman to hold that position in the motion picture industry. Prior to joining Fox, Ms. Lansing served as Senior Vice President at Columbia Pictures.

Her distinguished career has earned her numerous honors, including an Oscar for her humanitarian work in support of fighting cancer and for the extensive list of charitable organizations for whom she has served. They include the Woodrow Wilson Award for Corporate Citizenship, the Milestone Award from the Producers Guild of America, the Overcoming Obstacles Achievement Award for Business, the YWCA Silver Achievement Award, the Outstanding Woman in Business Award from the Women’s Equity Action League, the Distinguished Community Service Award from Brandeis University, the Alfred P. Sloan, Jr. Memorial Award and an honorary Doctorate in Fine Arts from the American Film Institute. She was also the recipient of the Simon Wiesenthal Center Distinguished Service Award for the Performing Arts and was named the 1996 Pioneer of the Year by the Foundation of the Motion Picture Pioneers. In 2004, Lansing received the Horatio Alger Humanitarian Award.

In December 2004, Lansing was appointed to the Independent Citizens’ Oversight Committee of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine. The CIRM was established by California’s groundbreaking ballot measure, Proposition 71, which provides for $3 billion in funding for embryonic stem cell research. Lansing serves as the patient advocate for Cancer, as well as the chair of the Governance Committee and co-chair of the Scientific and Medical Accountability Standards Working Group.

Lansing serves on the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors of Friends of Cancer Research and as a Trustee of the American Association for Cancer Research. She continues to lend her energy and talents to such advisory boards and committees as the American Red Cross Board of Governors, Big Sisters of Los Angeles Future Fund, Teach for America, the American Foundation for AIDS Research, the board of trustees for the Carter Center and Stop Cancer, a non-profit philanthropic group she founded in partnership with Dr. Armand Hammer. She is a Regent of the University of California and serves as chair of the University Health Services Committee. Ms. Lansing also makes frequent trips to Africa as part of the Measles Initiative. Lansing graduated cum laude with a Bachelor of Science Degree from Northwestern University in 1966.