The Recording Academy said Wednesday that its new president and chief executive would be Deborah Dugan, the former chief of RED, the nonprofit group co-founded by Bono of U2 that works to combat AIDS and other diseases in Africa.
Dugan, the first woman to hold the top job at the 62-year-old academy, will take command of an organization that offers artists prestige and valuable TV time, yet has been embattled on many fronts. Last year, Neil Portnow, Dugan’s predecessor, was widely condemned for saying women in music should “step up” to advance their careers.
In response, some female executives demanded that Portnow resign, and the academy appointed a task force to examine the organization’s “various barriers and unconscious biases.”
The most recent Grammys ceremony, in February, was hosted by Alicia Keys, and female performers dominated the stage. The singer Dua Lipa alluded to Portnow’s comments when she accepted the award for best new artist, saying she was honored to be recognized among so many other women.
“I guess this year we really stepped up,” Lipa said.
The Grammys have also faced strained relationships with many artists, particularly hip-hop and R&B; stars, like Drake and Frank Ocean, who have said the awards are out of touch. This year, singer Ariana Grande dropped out of a planned performance and openly feuded with Grammy producers on social media.
On a conference call with reporters, Dugan expressed her excitement about the job by invoking a line from Nietzsche: “Without music, life would be a mistake.” She added that she was committed to promoting diversity, but offered few details.
“I intend to do everything I can to make the Recording Academy, the entertainment industry and our society more inclusive and more equitable,” she said.
In a statement circulated by the academy, Bono praised Dugan and her work with RED.
“She’ll always be part of the RED band,” he said, “and I look forward to seeing what she’ll do in her new role, cracking the ceiling and helping the Recording Academy crack open a new future in the process.”
Dugan may also be under pressure to expand the viewership for the Grammys’ annual telecast. The audience for this year’s show, on CBS, its longtime network, was 19.9 million, slightly up from last year. But the numbers have been down from the first half of the decade, when the show routinely attracted more than 25 million viewers.
The Recording Academy had been widely expected to name a woman to its top role, and many were expecting an industry insider. Dugan, who is scheduled to take over in August from Portnow, the academy’s leader since 2002, has valuable experience as a media executive and nonprofit chief who deals with celebrities and major brands — both essential to the Grammys.
She started her career as a Wall Street lawyer, was a record executive at EMI and is a former president of Disney Publishing Worldwide. She is also a co-chairwoman of The Moth, a series of storytelling events and radio programs. Since 2011, she has been the chief executive of RED, which, according to the organization, has generated more than $600 million to fight AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria through the sale of branded products from companies like Apple, Gap and Starbucks.
Dugan highlighted that experience in a promise to uphold the academy’s mission to “support, encourage and advocate” for the music world.
“What I do is try to amplify many voices in a world that often crushes them,” she said. “I am just looking at this new opportunity as a service, how to be relevant and reflective of the artist community in a time of rapid change.”
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.