Banijay executive Cris Abrego has been elected chair of the Television Academy Foundation.
Abrego, who was most recently named Banijay’s chairman of the Americas and president and CEO of Endemol Shine Holdings, will serve a two-year term beginning Jan. 1, 2021 through to Dec. 31, 2022.
At Banijay, Abrego oversees a portfolio of award-winning businesses, including Endemol Shine North America, Bunim/Murray Productions, Authentic Entertainment, Truly Original, 51 Minds Entertainment, Stephen David Entertainment and YellowBird U.S.
Meanwhile, in Latin America, Abrego has full oversight of Banijay’s Spanish-language sales and development arm, Endemol Shine Latino, as well as the Mexico City-based studio Endemol Shine Boomdog and Sao Paulo’s Endemol Shine Brasil.
Making the Band. He has won two primetime Emmy Awards for
Born This Way, a series documenting the lives of young adults with Down syndrome, and the documentary
Autism: The Musical. His most recent documentary titled
TransHood premiered on HBO in November 2020.
In 2012 Murray was inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame. He has served multiple terms on the board of the Television Academy representing the Reality Peer Group and has been a co-chair of the Creative Arts Emmy Awards committee.
Murray and Bunim/Murray Productions have been avid supporters of the Foundation s annual Summer Internship Program through the years, hosting and hiring numerous interns who have come through the program.