jack valenti

Warren Skaaren Lifetime Achievement Award

Jack Valenti, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Motion Picture Association, is this year's recipient of the Warren Skaaren Lifetime Achievement Award. Named for the late screenwriter and founder of the Texas Film Commission, the award honors Houston-born Valenti's commitment to excellence in the industry, nationally and internationally. Valenti's tenacity was evident even in his military tenure, where he flew 51 combat missions as a B-25 pilot-commander in Italy, for which he received numerous decorations, including the Distinguished Flying Cross. Hired as a Special Assistant to the President by Lyndon Johnson following President Kennedy's assassination, Valenti resigned his White House post in 1996 to head the MPAA. Valenti is the author of four books, has been awarded France's Legion d'Honneur, and received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Jack Valenti is a Life Member of the Directors Guild of America.

Dan Rather

Dan Rather is a journalist and former news anchor for the CBS Evening News and is now managing editor and anchor of a television news magazine, Dan Rather Reports, on the cable channel HDNet. Rather was anchor of the CBS Evening News for 24 years, from March 9, 1981, to March 9, 2005. He also contributed to CBS' 60 Minutes. Dan emceed the Texas Film Hall of Fame in 2008.