Bob Daly steps down as AFI board chairman after 17 years

Robert A. Daly is stepping down as chairman of the American Film Institute's board of directors after 17 years as chairman, Deadline reported on 14 October 2026. The report puts his total service as a trustee of the film organisation at 45 years. He first joined the AFI board in April 1981.

He will exit the chairman post at the board meeting on 21 October, where a successor will be discussed, according to the same report. No successor has been named. The meeting closes one of the longest recent runs at the top of a major American screen organisation.

Daly took the chair after co-chairs Jon Avnet and John Cooke, Variety reported when he was elected in 2009. That history helps explain the numbers. Seventeen years as chairman sits inside 45 years as a trustee, a span that reaches back to the early 1980s.

His screen career began well before that board service. Daly spent 25 years at CBS before joining Warner Bros in 1980, Deadline reported. He then served as chairman and co-chief executive with Terry Semel for nearly two decades. Co-chief executive means the two men shared the top job, running the studio together.

AFI's Fiscal Year 2025 Annual Report still lists Robert A. Daly as Chair of the AFI Board of Directors, AFI shows. The same report lists Kathleen Kennedy of Lucasfilm Ltd. as Chair of the AFI Board of Trustees. The two boards are separate. One handles directors, the other trustees.

What makes this stand out is continuity. Few leadership spells in Hollywood run for 17 years. Fewer still follow four decades in the room.