40TH ANNUAL ACADEMY OF THE ARTS ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS DINNER

Katie Couric (@katiecouric) is an award-winning journalist and #1 New York Times best-selling author of her memoir, Going There, which was published in October 2021. She is also a co-founder of Stand Up To Cancer (SU2C), which has raised almost $800 million for cancer research. Couric was the first woman to solo-anchor a network evening newscast, serving as anchor and managing editor of the CBS Evening News from 2006 to 2011, following 15-years as co-anchor of NBC’s Today show. 

Carl Bernstein is a Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist renowned for his investigative reporting on the Watergate scandal alongside Bob Woodward at The Washington Post, coverage that contributed to President Richard Nixon’s resignation and set new standards for investigative journalism. The pair later wrote the best-selling books All the President’s Men and The Final Days. Bernstein has authored several other notable works, including memoirs and political biographies. His articles have appeared in major publications like Time, USA Today, and Rolling Stone. Bernstein served as editor and executive vice president of Voter.com. He has also worked as Washington bureau chief and correspondent for ABC News; and, while at the Washington Post, was also a part-time rock critic.

Leila Maw Straus has lived in New York since leaving London in 1981.  She is a graduate of Leeds University and LSE and has loved the theatre and the arts since she first worked in London in the seventies.

Whilst living in London, Straus worked for the Boston Consulting Group, ran her own Market Development Service, and worked in group corporate planning and evaluation of diversification opportunities for the Granada Group PLC.  She then became Managing Director for Granada Television International in New York.  She has served on several not-for-profit boards and is currently Chair of the National Theatre America Board.  

Straus was recognised by the Queen in the 2014 New Year Honours list, awarded an MBE for her services to philanthropy and the arts. The Straus Family Foundation broadly aims to serve the common good and encourage equal opportunity. Her late husband Mickey was Chair of Guild Hall for many years.

Victor Garber has six Emmy, four Tony Award nominations, and has been inducted into the Theater Hall of Fame. Garber co-starred in the Academy Award®-winning film, “Titanic”, and co-starred in Ben Affleck’s Academy Award®-winning film, ARGO. He is also portrayed San Francisco Mayor George Moscone in Gus Van Sant’s Academy Award®–nominated film “Milk.” Additional film credits include “Happiest Season,” "Dark Waters", "Sicario" & "Self-Less". His work on television includes “Alias,” “The Last Thing He Told Me,” “And Just Like That,” “The Orville,” “Power Book II: Ghost,” & “Schitt’s Creek”. Will next be seen in Hulu’s new series “Not Suitable For Work.” 

Photo: Andrew Egan

Sarah Sze (b. 1969) creates a singular visual language that moves fluidly between painting, sculpture, drawing, and installation. Working across physical and digital materials, she composes immersive fields of images and objects that reflect the speed and density of contemporary life, slowing perception to reveal how meaning forms, fractures, and reassembles. She represented the United States at the 2013 Venice Biennale and received a MacArthur Fellowship; her work is held in major museum collections worldwide. 

Photo: Deborah Feingold

Colson Whitehead is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of eleven works of fiction and nonfiction, and is a two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize, for The Nickel Boys and The Underground Railroad, which also won the National Book Award. A recipient of MacArthur and Guggenheim fellowships, he lives in New York City. 

Photo: Chris Close