Chris Dodd (ex-D-CT), who retired from the Senate after declining a re-election bid in 2010, is said to be close to accepting the top role at the Motion Picture Association of America. A temp is holding down the slot filled for decades by the legendary Jack Valenti.
The interim leader is Bob Pisano, who took over after the exit of Dan Glickman, who stepped into the breach following Valenti’s exit.
Valenti made the job synonymous with his own name by hanging on to it for almost 40 years, finally running his MPAA end credits back in 2004.
Dodd would join the NAB’s Gordon Smith (ex-R-OR) as a well-connected US senator taking the top slot at a major lobbying trade association in the communications and entertainment business category.
According to reports, the chief issue on Dodd’s plate will be trying to get Congress to more effectively battle online content piracy. He will also face the herding-cats challenge of finding cohesion among studios, many of which are part of diversified corporations, often with world-wide interests and divergent priorities.
