Variety, the Southern California children’s charity, has honored veteran Hollywood studio distribution executive Chris Aronson with the organization’s first Career Achievement Award, recognizing his work supporting and empowering children, youth, adults and families in need.

Aronson is currently president of domestic distribution for Paramount Pictures. He spent a long time at 20th Century Fox before the company was acquired by Disney in 2019.

After starting his career in cinema, he decided to move to Hollywood. He worked at MGM and also founded the cinema division of Rentrak, which provided comprehensive data collection, analysis and box office reports for the film industry (Rentrak later became Comscore).

“Chris is an admired and highly valued member of the film industry whose steadfast leadership, dedication to the industry, service to the community and commitment to philanthropy are unparalleled. We are honored to recognize Chris for all he does to give back to others,” says Steve Bunnell, President of Variety the Children’s Charity. (The charity has no affiliation with diversity the trade journal).

At Paramount, Aronson oversees domestic theatrical distribution and sales for the United States and Canada.

“Chris represents entertainment and goodwill across the country and around the world and is respected for his passion and dedication to the film industry and his tireless devotion to nonprofit organizations where he has held key leadership roles for decades,” said Mike Polydoros, CEO of Paper Airplane Media and Chairman of Variety the Children’s Charity.

Aronson is a former chairman and president of the Will Rogers Motion Pictures Pioneer Foundation, the Lollipop Theater, and a key member of Variety’s President’s Council.