Tom Fontana has been elected prexy of the board of the Humanitas org, succeeding John Wells.
Hart Hanson (“Bones”), Ali LeRoi (“Everybody Hates Chris”) and David Shore (“House”) were also elected board members of the org that administers the annual Humanitas Prize kudos honoring writers. This year’s luncheon ceremony is set for Friday at the Montage in BevHills.
Fontana’s writing and producing credits include “Homicide: Life on the Street,” “Oz” and “St. Elsewhere.” He is a three-time Emmy winner, who also received a Humanitas Prize for his work on NBC’s “St. Elsewhere.”
“I am honored to have been selected by the board to serve as president of an organization whose goals I share and whose values I have always tried to incorporate into my own work,” Fontana said.
Fontana, who was elected to a three-year term, will take over on Friday when Wells’ term expires.
During his tenure as prexy, Wells worked with exec director Cathleen Young helped develop Humanitas’ New Voices initiative, which pairs emerging writers and trustees to develop TV pilots. The initiative has drawn commitments from more than a half-dozen networks and studios, with five scripts in active development.
The remaining Humanitas board members are writer-producers Neal Baer, Marshall Herskovitz, Carol Mendelsohn, John Sacret Young and Ed Zwick.
