Priscilla de Callier

Priscilla has been a driving force behind the Institute from its inception. She brings many years of experience as a senior executive in positions in which she earned a reputation for detail-orientation, creative problem-solving and getting the job done in very complex, challenging, global environments. Earlier, she was a dancer with the Memphis Ballet Company and at the same time, Priscilla began figure skating and was coached by Gustave Lussi in Lake Placid, New York.  For many years she also studied piano with Mary Lou Krosnick and Bruce Steeg, a former conductor of the Washington National Ballet. Ballet, however, was more of a passion and she concentrated more heavily on that and moved to Stuttgart, Germany, where she was accepted at the Stuttgart Ballet School.  Afterwards, she began her career performing with Holiday on Ice Europe. Upon leaving the ice show, she attended university in Munich and Paris, after which she became involved in the operational side of the motion picture industry in 1978.  At Cannon Films, then one of the largest independent film production companies in the world, she rose quickly from Story Editor to Director of Publicity and then Vice-President of Publicity and Advertising globally. Later, she became Executive Vice-President, Publicity and Advertising, for 21st Century Film Corporation. Her professional accomplishments were recognized formally by her peers when, in 1988, she was inducted into the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences as a member. In addition, she is a graduate of the British College of Interior Design.