Bruce Davis, executive director of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, is to retire at the end of June, 2011, he announced to an Academy board meeting this week.

Davis has been with the Academy for thirty years and been executive director - the highest-ranking paid employee at the organisation - for more than twenty years. As such he has supervised administrative activities and a staff of more than 200 people, playing an important role in Academy ventures including the Oscars.

Academy president Tom Sherak has said that the search for a replacement for Davis has already begun and that he hopes to have someone in place by next March.